The Latest Art. Beyond Modernism

Valeria Kosiakova—PhD in Cultural Studies, Associate Professor at the Russian State University for the Humanities "Higher School of European Cultures", founder of the "Punctum" center, researcher of visual culture. Dmitry Pozdnyakov—a specialist in the history and theory of cinema and visual arts, cultural scholar.
Why is 20th-century art so inexplicable and diverse? It makes us laugh, frightens us, sometimes returns our sense of beauty, and then takes it away. How to understand what is considered art today? What is the difference between contemporary art and actual art, modernist and postmodernist?
This publication, dedicated to visual culture of the 20th century, provides answers to these and many other questions. The authors have gathered and analyzed artistic works from the past and present centuries. The 20th century is so diverse that it is impossible to describe its culture in one word or reduce it to several main trends, but therein lies its essence and variety. Today, society has discovered a multitude of forms in art. This book does not simply enumerate phenomena, key masterpieces, or outrageous exhibitions, but interprets and explains the unique picture of the world of new and contemporary aesthetic practices. It includes the most interesting and radical postmodern transformations that occurred in the second half of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st.