Category
Textual or Investigative
Description
The progression of history, along with its technological, philosophical, and cultural shifts, is reflected in the music humans create and relate to. The shift towards a metamodern philosophical framework within the last two decades of Western culture has influenced the of music today. Our concept and description of metamodernism is taken from Timotheus Vermeulen’s and Robin van den Akker’s 2010 article, “Notes on Metamodernism.” They posit that metamodernism is defined by oscillation between “modern enthusiasm” and “postmodern irony” (pg. 1) and between “modern commitment” and “postmodern detachment” (pg. 2). It is of crucial note that this oscillation is not balance, nor is it a postmodern “neither-nor” intended to cancel out modern ideals. It is a pendulum-swinging “both-neither” (pg. 9-10), resulting in the “willful self-deceit to believe in—or identify with, or solve—something in spite of itself” (pg. 4). In art, metamodernism is expressed as a return to a neo-Romantic aesthetic, characterized by the “re-signification of ‘the commonplace with significance… and the finite with the semblance of the infinite,’” creating meaning through paradox (pg. 12).
Metamodernism in Music
Textual or Investigative
The progression of history, along with its technological, philosophical, and cultural shifts, is reflected in the music humans create and relate to. The shift towards a metamodern philosophical framework within the last two decades of Western culture has influenced the of music today. Our concept and description of metamodernism is taken from Timotheus Vermeulen’s and Robin van den Akker’s 2010 article, “Notes on Metamodernism.” They posit that metamodernism is defined by oscillation between “modern enthusiasm” and “postmodern irony” (pg. 1) and between “modern commitment” and “postmodern detachment” (pg. 2). It is of crucial note that this oscillation is not balance, nor is it a postmodern “neither-nor” intended to cancel out modern ideals. It is a pendulum-swinging “both-neither” (pg. 9-10), resulting in the “willful self-deceit to believe in—or identify with, or solve—something in spite of itself” (pg. 4). In art, metamodernism is expressed as a return to a neo-Romantic aesthetic, characterized by the “re-signification of ‘the commonplace with significance… and the finite with the semblance of the infinite,’” creating meaning through paradox (pg. 12).
