Postmodern theory's retreat amidst postmodern art's return: neglect of IP law as a possible cause of postmodernism's "death"

Abstract

Despite the centrality of appropriation to postmodernist aesthetics, despite the embroilment of postmodernist artists in copyright actions, and despite the steady toughening of intellectual property (IP) law during the postmodern period, the majority of postmodern theory has largely neglected IP and copyright. The few critical considerations of IP in recent, "postmortem"-style retrospectives on the rise and fall of postmodern theory invite elaboration, in order to show postmodern theory’s continuing relevance and capacity for interpreting contemporary culture. A theory of the postmodern reoriented to IP law as a globalized regulatory infrastructure of contemporary cultural production, distribution, and consumption seems a useful analytic tool for interpreting both the DIY culture of everyday digital life and the more professional work of recent and current artists and intellectuals.

MLA citation: McCutcheon, Mark A. “Postmodern theory's retreat amidst postmodern art's return: neglect of IP law as a possible cause of postmodernism's ‘death’.” Research Symposium, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Athabasca U, 23 Sept. 2015.