Avant-garde
For the Spanish indie rock band, see Avantgarde (band).For the 80s progressive metal band, see Avant Garde (band).Avant-garde in
French means
front guard,
advance guard, or
vanguard. People often use the term in French and English to refer to people or works that are
experimental or novel, particularly with respect to
art,
culture, and
politics.
According to its champions, the avant-garde pushes the boundaries of what is accepted as the
norm within definitions of art/culture/reality.
The
vanguard, a small troop of highly skilled
soldiers, explores the
terrain ahead of a large advancing army and plots a course for the army to follow. This concept is applied to the work done by small bands of
intellectuals and
artists as they open pathways through new cultural or political terrain for society to follow. Due to implied meanings stemming from the military terminology, some people feel the avant-garde implies
elitism, especially when used to describe cultural movements.
Thus avant-garde in music may refer to an extreme form of
musical improvisation in which little or no regard is given by
soloists to any underlying
chord structure or
rhythm.
The term may also refer to the promotion of radical social reforms, the aims of its various movements presented in public declarations called
manifestos. Over time,
avant-garde became associated with movements concerned with
art for art's sake, focusing primarily on expanding the frontiers of
aesthetic experience, rather than with wider social reform.
The origin of the application of this French term to art can be fixed at
May 17,
1863, the opening of the
Salon des Refusés in Paris, organised by painters whose work was rejected for the annual
Paris Salon of officially sanctioned academic art. Salons des Refusés were held in 1874, 1875, and 1886.
By some assessments, avant-garde art includes
street art, for example
graffiti and any other movement which pushes forward the accepted boundaries.
For instance: Where
Marcel Duchamp's urinal may have been avant-garde at the time, today if someone created it again it would not be avant-garde because it has already been done. Avant-garde is therefore
temporal and relates to the process of art's unfolding in time. It can be applied to the forerunners of any new movements. However, Duchamp and his work, remain avant-garde because he pushed art forward.
Proponents of the avant-garde argue it is relevant to art because without these movements art itself would stagnate and become dormant and merely
craft, repeating the same style over and over. The term is most commonly applied to the
visual arts,
fashion,
film, and
literature, but also to intellectual and new approaches to
music,
cuisine, politics or culture.
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Abstract expressionism*
Bauhaus*
COBRA*
Constructivism*
Cubism*
Dada*
Dogme 95*
Expressionism*
Futurism*
Fluxus*
Impressionism*
Incoherents*
Lettrisme*
Mail art*
Modernism*
Neoism*
No Wave*
Primitivism*
Free Jazz*
Pop art*
Situationist*
Social realism*
Spart*
Surrealism*
Experimental film*
Experimental literature*
Experimental music*
Experimental theatre*
Zeitgeist*
Molecular gastronomy*
Demoscene*
Donatello (Renaissance sculptor; his later works can be considered avant-garde)
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The Residents (American Musicians and Filmmakers)
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Björk (Icelandic artist)
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Kate Bush (British artist)
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Graham Bowers (British artist and composer)
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Stan Brakhage (American filmmaker)
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Arksun (British composer and electronic music producer)
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John Coltrane (American Musician)
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Pavel Filonov (Russian artist)
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Wassily Kandinsky (Russian artist)
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Felix Kubin (German electronic musician, sound artist)
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Arcturus (band) (Norwegian metal band)
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Ved Buens Ende (Norwegian metal band)
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Buckethead (American musician)
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John Cage (American composer)
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William Carlos Williams (American poet)
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They Might Be Giants (American band)
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El Lissitzky (Russian artist)
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Kazimir Malevich (Russian artist)
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Marcel Duchamp (French artist)
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Edgard Varèse (French composer, later naturalized American citizen)
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Iannis Xenakis (Greek composer and architect)
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Charles Ives (American composer)
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Henry Cow (British band)
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Andy Warhol (American artist)
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Del the Funkee Homosapien (American lyricist)
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Srečko Kosovel (Slovene poet)
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Marc Chagall (Russian artist)
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Alexander Rodchenko (Russian artist)
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Olga Rozanova (Russian artist)
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David Lynch (American director)
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Jean-Luc Godard (French director)
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Roger Avary (American director)
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Kayo Dot (American avant-rock band)
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maudlin of the Well (American avant-metal band)
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Mike Patton (American musician)
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Vladimir Tatlin (Russian artist)
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Sergei Tretyakov (Russian artist)
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Frank Zappa (American composer), and his close friend,
Captain Beefheart*
Nicolás Rosselló (Chilean artist)
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John Zorn (American musician and composer)
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Daniel Libeskind (American architect)
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Frank Gehry (Canadian architect)
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Plural Dolt (American band)
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12 Rods (American band)
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Xihilisk (English artist)
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International Society for Creative Guitar and String Music (Avant arts and music collective)
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Man Ray (US/France photographer and filmmaker)
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Yoko Ono (Japanese artist)
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Karlheinz Stockhausen (German Electronic Musician)
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Terry Riley (American Minimalist Musician)
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Autechre (English IDM Music producers)
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Mouse on Mars (German IDM Music Producers)
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Mille Plateaux (German Avante-Garde music label)
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Pink Floyd (English band;
Ummagumma,
Atom Heart Mother (suite))
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The Beatles (English band;
Revolution 9,
A Day in the Life)
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Mamoru Oshii (Japanese filmmaker)
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The Velvet Underground (American band)
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Patti Smith (American Artist)
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The Pea Tear Briggs Experience (American band)
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Einstürzende Neubauten (German industrial band)
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Architecture in Helsinki (Australian band)
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Laurie Anderson (American composer)
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Antonin Artaud (French playwright)
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Les Claypool (Founding member of rock band Primus)
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Pier Paolo Pasolini (Italian Director)
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Sonic Youth (American Rock Band)
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Anthony William Herndon (American artist)
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Melt-Banana (Japanese band)
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Yes (British Band)
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Mark E Smith*
John Lydon (in particular his work with PiL)
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Avant-garden (an experimental music project based in England)
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Intelligentsia*
cinema avant garde (en, fr, es, de)
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Iranian Avant Garde Media Iranian Underground Art Community
