Beyond Given Knowledge

Investigation, Quest and Exploration in Modernism and the Avant-Gardes

Harri Veivo, Jean-Pierre Montier, Françoise Nicol, David Ayers, Benedikt Hjartarson, Sascha Bru, Harri Veivo, Jean-Pierre Montier, Françoise Nicol, David Ayers, Benedikt Hjartarson, Sascha Bru

• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9783110561876
• eBook ISBN: 9783110567687
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: History of Modern Art
• Index: Literature

The effort to go beyond given knowledge in different domains – artistic, scientific, political, metaphysical – is a characteristic driving force in modernism and the avant-gardes. Since the late 19th century, artists and writers have frequently investigated their medium and its limits, pursued political and religious aims, and explored hitherto unknown physical, social and conceptual spaces, often in ways that combine these forms of critical inquiry into one and provoke further theoretical and methodological innovations. The fifth volume of the EAM series casts light on the history and actuality of investigations, quests and explorations in the European avant-garde and modernism from the late 19th century to the present day. The authors seek to answer questions such as: How have modernism and the avant-garde appropriated scientific knowledge, religious dogmas and social conventions, pursuing their investigation beyond the limits of given knowledge and conceptions? How have modernism and avant-garde created new conceptual models or representations where other discourses have allegedly failed? In what ways do practises of investigation, quest or exploration shape artistic work or the formal and thematic structures of artworks?

Colour Illustrations

Col. fig. 1 (above): Arnaldo Ginna, Nevrastenia, 1908, © Musei Vaticani. Col. fig. 2 (below): Arnaldo Ginna, Accordo cromatico, 1909, © Ginanni Corradini.

Col. fig. 3: Arnaldo Ginna, Musica della danza, 1912, © Verdone.

Col. fig. 4: Karel Teige’s image poem, “Departure for Cythera” (1923–1924). Courtesy of Prague City Gallery.

Col. fig. 5: Christopher Wood, Buildings at Passy, Paris, 1927. Image courtesy of Museums Sheffield.

Col. fig. 6: Christopher Wood, Fair at Neuilly, Paris, 1923. Image courtesy of Towner, Eastbourne.

Col. fig. 7: Christopher Wood, PZ134, Cornwall, 1930. Image courtesy of Towner, Eastbourne.

Endnotes

1 Edith Södergan, « Vierge moderne », in : Le pays qui n’existe pas et Poèmes, trad. Carl Gustaf Bjurström et Lucie Albertini, Paris 1992, 43.

2 Edith Södergan, cité dans Ebba Witt-Brattström, « Edith Södergran », https://litteraturbanken.se/red/forfattare/SodergranE/presentation/SodergranE_presentation.pdf. (consulté de 5 octobre 2017). Ma traduction.

3 Edith Södergran, « Remarque liminaire », in : Poèmes complets, trad. Régis Boyer, Paris 1973, 87.

4 L. Moholo-Nagy, « Literature », in : Richard Kostelanetz (éd.), The Avant-Garde Tradition in Literature, Buffalo 1982, 78–141, ici 131. Ma traduction.

5 Voir par exemple Lawrence Buell, « The Ecocritical Insurgency », New Literary History, 30, 1999, n° 3, 699–712; et Stéphanie Posthumus, « Vers une écocritique française : le contrat naturel de Michel Serres », Mosaic, 44, 2011, n° 2, 85–100.

6 Allison Carruth, « The Green Avant-Garde : Food Hackers and Cyberagrarians », Resilience, 2, 2014, n° 1, 48–65, pas de pagination. Voir aussi Cecilia Novero, Antidiets of the Avant-Garde: From Futurist Cooking to Eat Art, Minneapolis 2010. Sur les paysages recyclés, voir Elisa Poli, « Landscape Ready-mades », in : Michela De Poli et Guido Incerti, An Atlas of Recycled Landscapes, Milano 2014, 13–15.

7 Voir Nathalie Heinich et Roberta Shapiro (éds.), De l’artification. Enquêtes sur le passage à l’art, Paris 2012.

8 Sur ces discussions, voir par exemple Paul Stephens, « What Do You Mean by ‘Literary Experimentalism ?’ : Notes Toward a History of the Term », Arizona Quarterly, 68, 2012, n° 1, 143–173 ; Theo D’Haen, « European Postmodernism : The Cosmodern Turn », Narrative, 21, 2013, n° 3, 271–283 ; et Elizabeth E. Guffey, Retro. The Culture of Revival, London 2006.

9 F.-T. Marinetti, « Le Futurisme », Le Figaro 20 février 1909, https://monoskop.org/images/6/64/Marinetti_FT_1909_Manifeste_du_Futurisme.webp (consulté le 5 octobre 2017).

10 Voir Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, The Futurist Cookbook, Lesley Chamberlain (éd.), transl. Suzanne Brill, London 2014.

11 Voir Sianne Ngai, Our Aesthetic Categories. Zany, Cute, Interesting, Cambridge (Mass.) et London 2012, et bien entendu Rosalind E. Krauss, The Originaliyt of the Avant-Garde and Other Modernist Myths, Cambridge (Mass.) 1985.

12 From amongst the many titles, see Enrico Crispolti, Il mito della macchina e altri temi del futurismo, 2nd ed. Trapani 1971; Roberto Tessari, Il mito della macchina: Letteratura e industria nel primo Novecento italiano. Milano 1973; Fanette Roche-Pézard, “La Peinture futuriste italienne devant le monde de l’industrie: Fascination, illustration, écarts (1909–1915)”, in: Denis Woronoff (ed.), Les Images de l’industrie de 1850 à nos jours, Paris 2002, 134–139; Jeffrey Schnapp, “Propeller Talk”, in: Modernism / Modernity 1, 1994, 3, 153–178. Ada Masoero, Renato Miracco, and Francesco Poli (eds), L’estetica della macchina: Da Balla al futurismo torinese, Milano 2004; Rita Fantasia, “La macchina e l’arte: Lineamenti della poetica futurista; Marinetti e l’Uomo Moltiplicato; Il futurismo e l’analogia”, in: Rita Fantasia and Gennaro Tallini (eds.), Poesia e rivoluzione: Simbolismo, crepuscolarismo, futurismo, Milano 2004, 153–179; Chiara Gatti, Francesco Tedeschi, and Filadelfo Ferri (eds.), 1905–2005: L’estetica della velocità: “Poesia” e universo futuri...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• Exploring the Intersections of Science, Technology and Art
• Other Forms of Knowledge
• Inquiries into the History of the Avant-Gardes and Modernism
• List of Contributors
• Index
• Colour Illustrations