Off-modern
Encyclopedia
Off-modern, a word invented by Svetlana Boym
, is defined as a detour into the unexplored potentials of the modern project. It recovers unforeseen pasts and ventures into the side-alleys of modern history at the margins of error of major philosophical, economic and technological narratives of modernization and progress. Off-modern reflection involves exploration of the lateral potentialities of the project of critical modernity. In other words, it opens into the “modernity of what if” rather than simply modernization as it is. As such, the term can be understood as an intervention in the larger theoretical discussion surrounding modernity
, postmodernity
, hypermodernity
, altermodern
ity, late modernity
, and post-postmodernism
.
The word "off-modern” was coined by Boym in The Future of Nostalgia, finished in 2000 and published in 2001. The concept became elaborated in the first decade of the 21st century in The Off-Modern Manifesto (2003–2004) and The Architecture of the Off-Modern(2008) and in her media projects “Cities in Transit,” “Portable Homes,” “Black Mirrors” and “Hydrant Diaspora.” The Off-Modern Manifesto circulated on the web from Cyprus to New Delhi, from Zagreb to New Zealand and was republished in NeMe and in Art-e-fact and ArtMargins. The term was embraced by other artists including the RAQs collective from New Delhi as well as the Albanian (and international) artist Anri Sala and many others like the Off Modern group in South London who, since 2008 have been exploring the idea of the Off Modern through impromptu artistic happenings.
Svetlana Boym
Svetlana Boym is the Curt Hugo Reisinger Professor of Slavic and Comparative Literatures at Harvard University, and a media artist, playwright and novelist. She is also an associate of the Graduate School of Design and Architecture at Harvard University. Much of her current work is focused on...
, is defined as a detour into the unexplored potentials of the modern project. It recovers unforeseen pasts and ventures into the side-alleys of modern history at the margins of error of major philosophical, economic and technological narratives of modernization and progress. Off-modern reflection involves exploration of the lateral potentialities of the project of critical modernity. In other words, it opens into the “modernity of what if” rather than simply modernization as it is. As such, the term can be understood as an intervention in the larger theoretical discussion surrounding modernity
Modernity
Modernity typically refers to a post-traditional, post-medieval historical period, one marked by the move from feudalism toward capitalism, industrialization, secularization, rationalization, the nation-state and its constituent institutions and forms of surveillance...
, postmodernity
Postmodernity
Postmodernity is generally used to describe the economic or cultural state or condition of society which is said to exist after modernity...
, hypermodernity
Hypermodernity
Hypermodernity is a type, mode, or stage of society that reflects a deepening or intensification of modernity. Characteristics include a deep faith in humanity's ability to understand, control, and manipulate every aspect of human experience...
, altermodern
Altermodern
Altermodern, a portmanteau word defined by Nicolas Bourriaud, is an attempt at contextualizing art made in today's global context as a reaction against standardisation and commercialism...
ity, late modernity
Late modernity
Late modernity is a term that has been used to describe the condition or state of some highly developed present day societies...
, and post-postmodernism
Post-Postmodernism
Post-postmodernism is a term applied to a wide-ranging set of developments in critical theory, philosophy, architecture, art, literature, and culture which are emerging from and reacting to postmodernism.-Periodization:...
.
The word "off-modern” was coined by Boym in The Future of Nostalgia, finished in 2000 and published in 2001. The concept became elaborated in the first decade of the 21st century in The Off-Modern Manifesto (2003–2004) and The Architecture of the Off-Modern(2008) and in her media projects “Cities in Transit,” “Portable Homes,” “Black Mirrors” and “Hydrant Diaspora.” The Off-Modern Manifesto circulated on the web from Cyprus to New Delhi, from Zagreb to New Zealand and was republished in NeMe and in Art-e-fact and ArtMargins. The term was embraced by other artists including the RAQs collective from New Delhi as well as the Albanian (and international) artist Anri Sala and many others like the Off Modern group in South London who, since 2008 have been exploring the idea of the Off Modern through impromptu artistic happenings.
Selected bibliography
- Svetlana Boym, The Future of Nostalgia (Basic Books, 2001)
- Svetlana Boym, "Architecture of the Off-Modern" (Princeton Architectural Press, 2008)
- Svetlana Boym, Another Freedom:The Alternative History of an Idea (The University of Chicago Press, 2010)