<
https://theconversation.com/100-years-of-surrealism-how-a-french-writer-inspired-by-the-avant-garde-changed-the-world-forever-237464>
"A century ago, French writer André Breton published a manifesto that would go
on to become one of the most influential artistic texts of the 20th century.
Breton’s
Manifesto of Surrealism launched a movement that transformed not
only visual art, but also literature, theatre and film.
Surrealism drew on developments in psychology to herald a revolutionary new way
of doing, seeing and being. It is, as art critic Jonathan Jones once noted,
“the only modern movement that changed the way we talk and think about life”.
Surrealism also fundamentally changed the way we make art. Its cultural impact
and legacy can be felt in, to pluck three random examples, the cinematic
dreamscapes of David Lynch, the lyrical cut-ups of Bob Dylan and the monumental
sculptures of Louise Bourgeois.
The term itself has entered our everyday lexicon. By the same token, some
question its significance and aesthetic merits. Moreover, to borrow a couple of
rhetorical questions posed by Mark Polizzotti in a book marking the movement’s
centenary: “Does Surrealism still matter? Has it ever mattered?”
These questions are hardly new. They’ve been around since the movement’s
inception – and continue to be asked in our historical moment of catastrophe.
As Polizzotti writes:
young people of the 21st century could hardly be faulted for wondering what
a bunch of eccentric writers and artists showing off their dream states
could have to do with such pressing concerns as social and racial injustice,
a faltering job market, gross economic inequities, the decimation of our
civil liberties, questions of gender identity and equality, environmental
devastation, education reform, or, once again […] the spectre of world war.
The answer, Polizzotti points out, is simple: “Surrealism engaged with all of
these crises.”
While Surrealism started as a literary movement, it quickly evolved into a
formidable platform for critiquing dominant sociopolitical inequalities and
systems of oppression.
In both word and deed, the surrealists opposed warmongering and colonial
expansion. They railed against religious dogma and championed the freedom of
sexual expression.
Breton perhaps put it best in 1935. “From where we stand,” he said, while
tipping his hat to Karl Marx, “we maintain that the activity of interpreting
the world must continue to be linked with the activity of changing the world.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
