Conference: AHRC Metamodernism International Conference, Melbourne

LaTrobe University
Date: February 2023

I would like to acknowledge that this conference is being held on the lands of the Wurundjeri people and I wish to acknowledge them as Traditional Owners. I would also like to acknowledge the Dja Dja Wurrang people in my hometown of Hepburn.

Thank you to the organisers of the Metamoderism International Conference for inviting me to speak today.

As I prepared for this conference, I went through my own Metamodernist experience, delving deep into what writer Greg Dember suggests is the Hyper-Self-Reflexivity of “highlighting the author’s own lived, inner experience.” My name is Kim Percy and I am an artist, designer, university teacher and first year PhD candidate at Federation University in visual art. This presentation is a speculative study of some metamodern terms that apply to art through the examination of several artists including Chihura Shiota, Peter Tyndall, David Spriggs and Tinky.

As stated, I am an artist. I am also dyslexic, so my world view is tinted by my genetic, neurological difference that affects not only my comprehension of written language but also delivers me strengths that are often associated with dyslexia such as; visual memory, spatial intelligence, pattern recognition and narrative reasoning.

The link to metamodernism came to me through a conversation about art and dyslexia with artist Tammy Honey. I explained that I was having issues communicating my thesis with some people who were not dyslexic or neurodiverse and she recommended that I explore metamodernism as it could be an effective way to frame my use of language.

During my research, I came across a list of methods that ‘appear in metamodern art’ written by Greg Dember titled After Postmodernism: Eleven Metamodern Methods in Arts published in Medium, 2018. He observed that metamodernism was often reduced to the notion of oscillation between modernism and postmodernism, or between opposites and he sought an expanded list of terms that evoke a wider response because “the central motivation of metamodernism is to protect interior, subjective Felt Experience from the ironic distance of postmodernism, the scientific reductionism of modernism, and the pre-personal inertia of tradition.”

For the purpose of this presentation, I will use Dember’s list of methods as a constructive mechanism for critiquing visual contemporary art.

Note, Dember states that his list can be reduced or expanded depending on the individual, and there are a few additional points that I will incorporate such as meta-narrative and meta-directional.

Dember’s list is as follows (which I have paraphrased):

1) Hyper-Self-Reflexivity (“Life as Movie”)

Self-reflection was used within postmodernism to draw attention to a work and to dissolve the boundaries between the work and the viewer, whereas hyper-self-reflexivity extends to affirm the inner or felt lived experience of the artist.

2) The Narrative Double Frame (Eshelman’s Performatism)

Based on Perform-atism this concept uses the notion of the frame to allow for fantasied narrative to exist within reality. For example, if the viewer enters a dreamworld, new narrative rules may co-exist within the one work.

3) Oscillation Between Opposites

A more traditional Metamodern concept
4) Quirky

A redeeming feature, quirky allows for difference and weirdness within fluid boundaries of acceptable.
5) The Tiny (metamodern minimalism)

In order to create vulnerability and intimacy using simple, small or minimal art=
6) The Epic (metamodern maximalism)

Unabashed use of extravagance or self-expression in scale, subject or delivery.
7) Constructive Pastiche

Allows a work of art to bring the kinds of cultural combinations that people experience in real life, in spite of conventional divisions between them.
8) Ironesty

“irony/sarcasm/sardonicness/snark employed in the service of making an earnest point, or expressing a heart-felt emotion”
9) Normcore

Employing aspects of normality to emphasis difference or interest
10) Overprojection (Anthropomorphizing)

The use of animals or objects to express human sentiments.
11) Meta-Cute

Evoking childlike innocence and simplicity, that are meant for usage by adult-age people

The first artist I will discuss is Peter Tyndall, who currently has a retrospective at Buxton Contemporary at Southbank surveying an art practice spanning 50 years. Tyndall is a highly regarded conceptual artist who creates unified, thoughtful art and as stated by Buxton Contemporary, “is recognised today as one of the leading figures in the development of postmodern art in Australia.” I argue he is also a metamodern artist as his practice aligns with most methods on Dember’s list. Initially, I would like to bring your attention to Tyndall’s use of title conventions:

Title
detail
A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
someone looks at something ...

LOGOS/HA HA

Medium
A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
someone looks at something ...
CULTURAL CONSUMPTION PRODUCTION

For each work of art, Tyndall uses the same title. According to the write up on Buxton Contemporary’s website, it is; “Partly a critique of the social context of the art museum and its labelling conventions, the practice also considers how works of art are titled, and who has the right to describe an artist’s work.” The website continues:

“The first line indicates that the work you are looking at is only a detail, or smaller part of something larger, embracing both the image and the world within which it exists. In the subsequent lines, the Person, or viewer, becomes implicated as the subject to the object of the Work of Art – or the ‘something’ being looked at. This working title is then followed by a meta-title LOGOS/HA HA that references the first three lines, and a subtitle with information specific to the work in question.”

The intricate use of words to invite the viewer into the artwork creates meta-narrative, meaning that it succeeds simultaneously as a tool, on multiple levels; providing a critique of labelling conventions; an exploration on how we view and consume art; and it questions historical references associated with the process of making art.

Tyndall's large pop-art is often sparce with only a few elements such as words, objects, or patterns produced in limited colour schemes, including white, black, red, and yellow. Unlike many pop artists, Tyndall paints meticulously by hand, each line, letter, or mark is executed with precision rendering the works both Tiny, the simpleness of the elements are meta-minimal yet Epic as the scale and artisanship verge on the maximalism or grand.

A repetitive element in Tyndall’s paintings is the matrix or frame, as explained on the Buxton Contemporary website.

“The matrix is another key element within Tyndall’s practice and developed from the simplified version of the frame. He describes the frame’s interior as a ‘projection space’ where traditionally an image would exist and subsequently be interpreted, or projected upon, by the viewer. By the same logic, the wall on which the frame hangs is also a projection space, as is the building that contains the wall, and so on. Within this philosophical framework, the matrix offers a diagrammatic representation of the infinite interconnectedness of everything.”

The Narrative Double Frame refers to Raoul Eshelman concept from his 2000 essay Performatism in which;

“Eshelman’s double frame conceives of an outer frame and an inner frame locked together. The outer frame is a world story imbued with enough fantasy elements that the reader is forced to make a choice to buy into all of it, if they are going to commit to engaging the work. Now, temporarily trapped inside the outer frame, they are free to unironically engage the emotional content of the inner frame, which is the story of a particular set of characters and events.”

Pictorially, the frame in Tyndall’s case is often empty yet, if referring to the whole artwork including the title as being the frame, then the lines within the painting offer the infinite interconnectedness of everything.

The last of Dember’s list that I will relate to Tyndall’s work is Constructive Pastiche; “Pastiche is the juxtaposing of seemingly disparate elements, from historically separated genres and/or cultures. As one way to frame it, in the context of metamodernism, pastiche is potentially constructive, whereas under postmodernism it was dissociative.” Tyndall brings together disparate concepts through elements such as religious iconography, historical references, contemporary symbols and words from media or stories. Adorning my wall at home, is a work by Tyndall featuring two words in red and black ‘Free China.” It is simple yet eloquent, by juxtaposing these words Tyndall speaks to the overarching subjects of protest, Buddhism, China’s occupation of Tibet, and is a cultural reference to protest posters citing ‘Free Tibet’. Protest is a medium that Tyndall utilises within his art practice.

“Every Friday evening from 5.00 – 5.30pm, Tyndall joins a protest in the main street of his local town in Central Victoria, carrying handmade banners in support of current issues like refugee rights, climate change, and the Tibetan independence movement. For Tyndall, protest and artmaking are collective endeavours, and he remains deeply engaged with and connected to his community.” (Buxton Contemporary)

I have known Peter Tyndall since I moved to Daylesford in 2000. In fact, Peter was one of my first photoshop students. He has a sincere belief in the positiveness of the human spirit, expressing this belief in quirky, meta-minimal artworks, making him a genuine metamodern artist.

Artist Chihura Shiota creates intricate and complex sculptural installations out of string. Her work prompts an emergence of wonder as the eye travels from one string to the next, quickly becoming overwhelmed in the complexities of the lines. What starts as a simple thin red thread, rapidly gets lost in the web of crisscrossing strings, and transforms into a metaphor for the intricacies of the human condition. Without navigation and labels, the eye loses the ability to see the individual thread and gets lost within the overwhelming tangle of incomprehensible lines. When standing back, the installation takes on an abstract form that is tremendous and resilient, yet when the viewer looks closely, the monumental form gives way to fragility drawn with a tenuous mark. It is a paradox of order and chaos and encompasses the concept of the meta-narrative through its ephemeral metamodern notion of collapsing distances “between the self and others, and between the self and society,” as remarked by writer Abramson in his article Ten Basic Principles of Metamodernism. I decipher his words as embracing everywhere, all at once, in a meta-directional viewpoint. One work that speaks to neurodiversity, particularly dyslexia, is Counting Memories featuring numerals snarled within black threads rising above a classroom desk. As a dyslexic artist, this work strikes a chord with me as it refers to the learning struggles I had as a student and visually expresses the way I think.

In terms of Dember’s list, The Epic is an obvious item due to the sheer scale of her installations yet Hyper-Self-Reflexivity is the method that encompasses Shiota's exploration of life, death and memory. Deeply personal, Shiota comments in an article from ArtsHub that;

‘There are things that sink deep into the recesses of my mind, and others that fail to take either a physical or verbal form, no matter how hard you try, but they exist as souls without a tangible form.’

Shiota invites the viewer to respond to her personal work through carefully chosen symbols such as boats, desks, or suitcases. These objects create an anchor point or symbolic door in which she invites the audience into the space, to then follow the web of threads which have been likened to connections between people and the connection between life and death. In an interview in Coeur et Art;

“Shiota draws lines with yarn in the air and spans connections between the physical body and what is beyond... The yarn creates tension like a human relationship – it tangles, it interacts, it creates voids and evokes memories.”

As an affirmation of the felt inner experience of the artist, Shiota’s immense environments oscillate between feelings of intimacy and the cosmic depending on the viewpoint of the individual.

Another artist who shares Shiota's meta-directional art style is David Spriggs, who produces large, sculptural works made from printed, acrylic layers. Each layer is an abstract artwork yet combined, the layers create a multi-conceptual image or experience. As the viewer moves around the sculpture, the artwork changes and new insights can be discovered through the interwoven lines and marks, enforcing the metamodern notion of simultaneously observing multiple visual experiences at once. Like Shiota, Spriggs artwork embraces the statement from the Metamoderism Manifesto “Artistic creation is contingent upon the origination or revelation of difference therein.”

There are several items on Dember’s list that I have not given much attention to such as Meta-Cute, Quirky, Ironesty and Overprojection. An artist that fits snuggly into these categories is Liz Sonntag aka Tinky who creates whimsical, miniature dioramas installed in unlikely places like cracks in brick walls down the back streets and alleys of Melbourne. As public art, Tinky imbues her work with social commentary in the form of puns, saying, “the miniature people all have their own personalities and character.” If we overlay Double Narrative Frame onto Tinky’s miniature scenarios, the audience is asked to accept that the crack in the wall is one frame and enter into the brightly, coloured diorama as the second narrative, often a fantasy world where people live on banana peels and in sardine cans and embark on adventures, have love affairs and find mishaps at work. Through humour and inanimate objects, Tinky can have conversations about situations that may be difficult or awkward, balancing feelings of rejection, embarrassment, or shame within quirky, meta-cute characters and ironic quips.

As a neurodiverse artist, I strive to use visuals to articulate how I perceive my difference to others. One example is a video work titled ‘Finding Difference’ in which I have filmed close up of moving water and superimposed footage in a circle layered on top. There is a variation on the tonality and the timing orchestrating a subtle impression of disassociation through the miss-match of visuals. The experience is one of being slightly out of kilter, an analogy for feeling different from many around me. I designed this work to be viewed as a repetitive and meditative space for the unconscious decluttering of the mind and aims to provide solace from what writer Brent Cooper referred to as Metamodernism and abstraction helping to improve the signal-to-noise ratio. If I apply Dember’s list to my own work, I lean towards Hyper-Self-Reflexivity as my primary method validating my personal journey of the self-awareness being a person with an invisible disability and the weight of public disclosure.

Dember’s list of methods is not definitive, but it becomes a useful framework to discuss art as metamodern. I have drawn together several artists that may not be widely recognised as metamodern but rather artists that I find have correlation with Dember’s list. There are also other metamodern lists that I could have applied, however, Dember’s list created a well-rounded and inclusive structure that pushed me to consider art in ways that I normally do not and can apply to my own art practice in the future.

References

Dember, G. 2018, After Postmodernism: Eleven Metamodern Methods in the Arts, Medium, https://medium.com/what-is-metamodern/after-postmodernism-eleven-metamodern-methods-in-the-arts-767f7b646cae (accessed 23/1/2023)

Vermeulen, T. van den Akker, R. 2010. Notes on Metamodernism, Journal of Aesthetics and Culture Vol 2

The Metamodern Model, 2020, Deep Fix, https://deepfix.co/blog/the-metamodern-model (accessed 27/1/2023)

Vermeulen, T. Ragnar Kjartansson, 2010, Notes on Metamodernism https://www.metamodernism.com/2010/07/15/ragnar-kjartansson/ (accessed 27/1/2023)

Vermeulen, T. van den Akker, R. Art Criticism and Metamodernism, ArtPulse

http://artpulsemagazine.com/art-criticism-and-metamodernism (26/1/2023)

Holsworth, M. Peter Tyndall at Buxton Contemporary, 2023, Black Mark Melbourne Art and Culture Critic https://melbourneartcritic.wordpress.com/tag/southbank/ (accessed 24/1/2023)

Penman, J. Exhibition Review: Peter Tyndall, 2023, ArtsHub https://www.artshub.com.au/news/reviews/exhibition-review-peter-tyndall-2604022/ (accessed 12/1/2023)

Buxton Contemporary Exhibition Notes 2023 https://buxtoncontemporary.com/peter-tyndall-read/ (accessed 8/12/2022)

Benjamim, R. Explore: Peter Tyndall, Ian Potter Museum vizardfoundationartcollection.com.au/the-nineties/explore/peter-tyndall/ (accessed 12/1/2023)

Turner, L. Metamodernist Manifesto, 2011, http://www.metamodernism.org/ (accessed 27/12/2022)

Cooper, B. Book Review of “The Listening Society” A Metamodern Guide to Politics, 2017, Medium, https://medium.com/the-abs-tract-organization/the-listening-society-ed10f559f824 accessed 22 December 2022

Ten Basic Principles of Metamodernism, Abramson, S. Huffpost, 2015, updated 2017, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ten-key-principles-in-met_b_7143202 (accessed 27/12/2022)

Fairley, G. Unravelling Chiharu Shiota’s Threads of Humanity, 2022, ArtsHub https://www.artshub.com.au/news/reviews/unravelling-chiharu-shiotas-threads-of-humanity-2560458/ (accessed 28/12/2022)

Nelli, I. Conversations: Chihura Shiota, Coeur & Art, 2019, https://coeuretart.com/conversations-chiharu-shiota/ (accessed 27/1/2023)

Partridge, F. We Chat With Australian Artist Liz Sonntag aka Tinky, 2020, The Aither, https://theaither.com/2020/06/10/art-talk-we-chat-with-australian-artist-liz-sonntag-aka-tinky/ (accessed 27/1/2023)

David Spriggs website https://davidspriggs.art/ (accessed 1/6/2022)