‘Altermodern Painting’ is a study which uses representational painting practice to interrogate experiential aspects of altermodernity. Considering processes of spatialisation, the development of network forms and the manner in which they are encountered and interconnected, it looks toward a new method of representational painting in the context of the altermodern space of flows.
First published in 1992, Marc Augé’s Non-‐places: Introduction to the Anthropology of Supermodernity examines the transitional, functional, and anonymising global places cited as becoming increasingly prolific in the late twentieth century. Seventeen years later, Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri (Commonwealth, 2009) and Nicolas Bourriaud (Altermodern, 2009) articulate the altermodern as an ‘other’ modernism suited to describing a developed twenty-‐first century sense of global interconnectedness.
In order to better articulate this complex term of the altermodern, it is necessary to engage with questions of space offered by contemporary networks. The spatial forms of the line, the intersection of lines and the point of intersection, stem from Marc Augé’s consideration of anthropological place, and are employed as thematic elements in this study. These elements are closely connected to movement and transition, and are utilised to order the collections of paintings and textual investigations which unpack the tenets of the altermodern. ‘Altermodern Painting’ draws upon terminology relating to movement and spatial processes to investigate individual positioning within, and movement through, contemporary networked spaces.
Discussion of the altermodern takes into account continued advancements within communication, global travel and interactions with a virtual apparatus. This study also proposes that Augé’s positioning of the ‘non-‐place’ can be examined with reference to the network to better articulate ‘ground level’ conditions of altermodern experience.
This study encompasses aspects of spatial practices, movements within a virtual apparatus and the use of the informational network within the context of an increasingly flowing and malleable environment readily available to individuals. Representational painting practice is employed as a method to unpack crucial component parts of altermodern discourse; the experience of the network, the non-‐place and the fragment.
This research project is presented as a combination of practice and text. Early textual sections focus on examining the theoretical basis of the altermodern with reference to spatialisation processes. Consideration then moves to the ways in which the network, the non-‐place, the fragment and the process of creating a contemporary personal archive, are usefully connected to altermodern experience. The visual projects, titled in this volume as Bridging Sections, are introduced in the text and then visual documentation of each distinct body of work is included. The documentations of the practice-‐based research are positioned to be read as visualisations of the themes of the text, and also as investigations which further the research process. ‘Altermodern Painting’ considers how an artist, specialising in representational painting, can create works which reflect on the contemporary blending of user-‐centric physical and virtual experiences which characterise an emerging altermodern ground level. It also shows how the development of such visual practice serves to develop comprehension of the altermodern as a central term within contemporary practice and research.
