The webzine Notes on Metamodernism ran from 2009 to 2016. It was part of a long term interdisciplinary transnational research project documenting developments in twenty-first century culture that could no longer be explained in terms of the postmodern, but needed to be conceived of by another critical discourse – metamodernism. Notes on Metamodernism was founded in May 2009 by Timotheus Vermeulen and Robin van den Akker and edited together with Nadine Fessler, Hila Shachar, Luke Turner and Alison Gibbons. In its seven year run, the webzine featured around fifty critics and theorists from a range of backgrounds, writing about trends and tendencies in current affairs, network culture, contemporary architecture, design, fashion, art, music, literature, theatre, performance, photography, film and television, and theory. The webzine has been featured in popular media globally, is indexed by most national and research libraries, and is included in various citation metrics including google scholar. This is Notes on Metamodernism‘s archive.
Metamodernism: a brief introduction
Metamodernism is a term that has gained traction in recent years as a means of articulating developments in contemporary culture, which, it is argued (and our generation appears to intuitively recognise) has seen a move beyond the postmodern mode of the late 20th century. In the wake of the myriad crises of the past two decades—of climate change, financial meltdown, and the escalation of global conflicts—we have witnessed the emergence of a palpable collective desire for change, for something beyond the prematurely proclaimed “End of History”…
Selected essays
Oscillating Towards the Sublime
by Sara Helen Binney | Literature | April 2, 2015
Last Exit Underclass
by Karen van den Berg | Music | May 1, 2013
Thirteen theses on (the end of) liberal democracy
by Timotheus Vermeulen | Politics | February 25, 2013
The New Aesthetic’s Speculative Promise
by Luke Turner | Theory | July 2, 2012
Metamodernism, quirky and feminism
by Gry Cecilie Rustad | Film and TV | February 29, 2012
Locked Up: Siri Hustvedt’s ‘The Blazing World’
by Nadine Fessler | Literature | September 7, 2015
The ‘Dead Girl’ Aesthetic & Ballet Online
by Hila Shachar | Theatre | August 21, 2015
Resonances and Reverberations
by Rebecca Partridge | Art | June 9, 2015
A Closeness Always Faint
by Elliott Mickleburgh | Film and TV | June 5, 2015
Misunderstandings and clarifications
by Timotheus Vermeulen and Robin van den Akker | Theory | June 3, 2015
Robert Peston In The Desert Of The Real
by Dan Gregory | Network Culture | May 29, 2015
The Oscillating Zombie
by Zachary Hyde | Literature | May 7, 2015
The Role of the (Graphic) Designer…
by Jack Clarke | Art | April 16, 2015
Oscillating Towards the Sublime
by Sara Helen Binney | Literature | April 2, 2015
“That’s how quickly your life can change”
by Alison Gibbons | Literature | February 12, 2015
‘Computer Chess’ and the reclaiming of history in film
by Ruud Klomp | Film and TV | January 26, 2015
Metamodernism: A Brief Introduction
by Luke Turner | Theory | January 12, 2015
“Take that you intellectuals!” and “kaPOW!”
by Alison Gibbons |Literature | January 7, 2015
Miranda July: Interrupting the Conventions of the Personal
by Emma Sullivan | Literature | November 24, 2014
That Future Islands performance…
by Craig Pollard | Music | November 13, 2014
Common Authorship: Towards an Authority of Art
by Andrew Woods | Network Culture | November 4, 2014
[Re]construction: Metamodern ‘Transcendence’ and the Return of Myth
by Brendan Dempsey | Theory | October 21, 2014
Andy Holden’s Maximum Irony! Maximum Sincerity
by Elinor Morgan | Art | September 29, 2014
A Living Archive: The Performance Territory as Social Interstice
by Amani Maihoub | Theatre | September 15, 2014
I Love Roses When They’re Past Their Best
by Charles Walley | Literature | August 5, 2014
Beyond Postmodern Narcolepsy
by Niels van Poecke | Music | June 4, 2014
Composing Beauty
by Vincent Meelberg | Music | May 5, 2014
On LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner’s Metamodern Performance Art
by Abigail Ann Schwarz | Art | April 8, 2014
The Selvage of Incoherence
by Jenny Rowell | Literature | March 25, 2014
“I agree to this”: Third Angel and the Price of Fame
by Alison Gibbons | Theatre | January 29, 2014
A Word in Common
by Stephanie Bailey | Art | January 20, 2014
Speculative Engineering
by Elliott Mickleburgh | Architecture | January 6, 2014
Levitated Mass
by Stephen Knudsen, James Elkins et al | Art | December 18, 2013
Quiet Moves
by Luke Turner | Art | November 12, 2013
A Tale for the Time Being
by Alison Gibbons | Literature | October 16, 2013
Poetry and the Price of Milk
by Jennifer Ashton | Literature | October 3, 2013
Participation and Affect
by Debbie Atkinson | Art | July 2, 2013
Show All History
by Elliott Mickleburgh | Art | June 24, 2013
See Something, Say Something
by Stephanie Bailey | Film and TV | May 20, 2013
Moving from I to It
by Cristina Bogdan | Art | May 9, 2013
Last Exit Underclass
by Karen van den Berg | Music | May 1, 2013
The Anti-Rebel
Art | April 24, 2013
Photography, Imperfection, Education
by Daniel C. Blight | Art | April 11, 2013
In Pursuit of Elusive Horizons
by Luke Turner | Art | March 13, 2013
Thirteen theses on (the end of) liberal democracy
by Timotheus Vermeulen | Politics | February 25, 2013
Parallel Campaigns
by Paula Doepfner | Literature | February 11, 2013
Disappearing Into One
by Luke Turner | Art | January 17, 2013
The Image Object Post-Photoshop
by Luke Turner | Art | December 10, 2012
The Ethics of Nostalgia
by Hila Shachar | Film and TV | November 22, 2012
Geometries of Utopian Desire
by Luke Turner | Art | November 8, 2012
The Privilege of the Sponge
by Alexander Wolff | Literature | October 23, 2012
Trash Talk
by Max Hermens | Art | October 11, 2012
Playing Touchy-Feely
by Vincent Meelberg | Music | September 25, 2012
Interpassive Scepticism
by Max Majorana | Art | September 17, 2012
David Foster Wallace’s Hideous Men & London’s Olympic Epiphany
by Luke Turner | Theatre | September 12, 2012
For the love of literature
by Mara Maticevic | Literature | September 4, 2012
New French Extremity: An Exigency for Reality
by Cristina Bogdan | Film and TV | August 14, 2012
The Fear of Failure
by Stephanie Bailey | Art | July 24, 2012
The New Aesthetic’s Speculative Promise
by Luke Turner | Theory | July 2, 2012
Which Side Are You On?
by Timotheus Vermeulen | Art | June 19, 2012
The Palimpsest and the Cannibal
by Karen Vestergaard Andersen | Art | June 12, 2012
To engage in literature
by Nadine Fessler | Literature | May 29, 2012
‘The border is everywhere’: excursions in the politics of identity
by Zoe Anderson | Politics | May 10, 2012
Photography as Metamodern Alchemy: the work of Stuart Bailes
by Luke Turner | Art | May 9, 2012
Defining the rootless label: a romantically ironic appeal
by Hannah Ebben | Music | April 5, 2012
Questioning Multiculturalism
by Simone Stirner | Politics | March 28, 2012
Discussing Metamodernism
by Editorial | Art | March 26, 2012
Metamodernism, Quirky and Feminism*
by Gry Cecilie Rustad | Film and TV | February 29, 2012
Less art, more substance. New tendencies in contemporary theatre
by Birgit Schuhbeck | Theatre | February 22, 2012
Duel is not a ‘gimmick’
by Jeroen Popelier | Literature | February 3, 2012
Architecture’s New Terrain
by Luke Butcher | Architecture | January 25, 2012
The lunar tic
by Timotheus Vermeulen | Theory | January 18, 2012
Metamodern architecture
by Robin van den Akker and Timotheus Vermeulen | Architecture | December 9, 2011
Thread Therapy
by Nadine Fessler | Art | November 30, 2011
Some thoughts on the metamodern museum
by Martijn Stevens | Art | November 19, 2011
Ryan Gander’s Locked Room Scenario
by Luke Turner | Art | November 9, 2011
Notes on the state of the subject
by Simone Stirner | Theory | November 2, 2011
The Awesome, or the metamodern sublime
by Kyle Karthauser | Theory | October 28, 2011
Seeking Substance in Historical Costume Films
by Hila Shachar | Film and TV | October 24, 2011
Illuminating language (II)
by Nadine Fessler | Literature | October 13, 2011
Learning with Ulf Aminde
by Abigail Christenson | Art | October 6, 2011
Illuminating Language
by Nadine Fessler | Literature | September 29, 2011
For Inclusion in the Syllabi
by Luke Turner | Network Culture | September 21, 2011
Discreet luxury
by Constantin von Maltzahn | Fashion | August 31, 2011
Reality Monger
by Kyle Karthauser | Literature | August 15, 2011
Spatial Agency: Other Ways of Doing Architecture
by Luke Butcher | Architecture | August 2, 2011
“Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose!”
by Gry Cecilie Rustad | Film and TV | July 26, 2011
Quirky, Tone and Metamodernism
by James MacDowell | Film and TV | July 19, 2011
‘for the love of…’
by Robin van den Akker | Network Culture | July 15, 2011
The Hepworth Wakefield
by Luke Butcher | Architecture | June 15, 2011
The Young Berlin Artists
by Timotheus Vermeulen | Art | June 8, 2011
Real Fiction (II)
by Nadine Fessler | Literature | May 19, 2011
The trick with the rabbit and the tricking rabbit
by Stephan Dahl | Economy | May 16, 2011
Democratising the statement of fact
by Reina-Marie Loader | Film and TV | May 5, 2011
Return to Innocence (?)
by Constantin von Maltzahn | Fashion | April 28, 2011
Real Fiction (I)
by Nadine Fessler | Literature | April 15, 2011
“Serve the public trust. Protect the innocent. Uphold the awesome.”
by Kyle Karthauser | Network Culture | April 11, 2011
Bjarke Ingels (II) – at Warpspeed
by Luke Butcher | Architecture | April 4, 2011
Metamodern fables
by Robin van den Akker | Art | March 25, 2011
Hard and soft
by Timotheus Vermeulen | Theory | March 16, 2011
Lucas Ossendrijver and the Sensible
by Constantin von Maltzahn | Fashion | March 11, 2011
Charles LeDray
by David Lau | Art | March 2, 2011
Of heart and discourse
by Kyle Karthauser | Film and TV | February 24, 2011
Small scale, big change
by Luke Butcher | Architecture | February 18, 2011
The joke that wasn’t funny anymore…
by Gry Cecilie Rustad | Film and TV | February 10, 2011
Il faut être absolument metamoderne!
by Leonhard Herrmann | Literature | February 1, 2011
Sjaak Hullekes’ metamodern fashion
by Constantin von Maltzahn | Fashion | January 27, 2011
Thom Browne’s Metamodern Fashion
by Constantin von Maltzahn | Fashion | January 19, 2011
The New Weird Generation (II)
by Niels van Poecke | Music | January 6, 2011
Mobile Men
by Nadine Fessler | Film and TV | December 29, 2010
Herzog & de Meuron (2)
by Robin van den Akker and Timotheus Vermeulen | Architecture | December 4, 2010
The fall of the PI(I)GS
by Robin van den Akker | Economy | November 23, 2010
The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear
by James MacDowell | Politics | November 19, 2010
The door opens inwards
by Timotheus Vermeulen | Art | November 10, 2010
The Limits of Postmodern Theory (from a gaming perspective)
by Michael McKenny | Network Culture | November 7, 2010
Domestic politics in metamodern times
by Robin van den Akker | Politics | October 26, 2010
What meta means and does not mean
by Timotheus Vermeulen and Robin van den Akker | Theory | October 14, 2010
Hard-boiled wonderland, blue velvet and the end of postmodernism
by Timotheus Vermeulen | Theory | September 23, 2010
The New Weird Generation (I)
by Niels van Poecke | Music | September 8, 2010
The Fountain – A call to discussion
by Reina-Marie Loader | Film and TV | September 5, 2010
Henrik Vibskov
by Hanka van der Voet | Fashion | August 30, 2010
James Franco
by David Lau | Film and TV | August 26, 2010
CocoRosie
by Hanka van der Voet | Music | August 16, 2010
Quirky
by James MacDowell | Film and TV | August 13, 2010
Sejla Kameric
by Timotheus Vermeulen | Art | August 12, 2010
New Romanticism
by Timotheus Vermeulen and Robin van den Akker | Theory | August 9, 2010
Rodarte
by Hanka van der Voet | Fashion | August 8, 2010
Herzog & de Meuron (1)
by Robin van den Akker | Architecture | August 5, 2010
Strategies of the metamodern
by Timotheus Vermeulen and Robin van den Akker | Theory | August 1, 2010
Glory At Sea
by James MacDowell | Film and TV | July 28, 2010
Best Coast
by Hanka van der Voet | Music | July 27, 2010
David Thorpe
by Timotheus Vermeulen | Art | July 20, 2010
Previous uses of the term metamodernism
by Timotheus Vermeulen and Robin van den Akker | Theory |July 17, 2010
One Bryant Park, NYC
by Robin van den Akker | Architecture | July 16, 2010
Ragnar Kjartansson
by Timotheus Vermeulen | Art | July 15, 2010
What is metamodernism?
by Timotheus Vermeulen and Robin van den Akker | Theory |July 15, 2010
Introduction to metamodernism
by Timotheus Vermeulen and Robin van den Akker | Theory |July 15, 2010
In 2010, we migrated Notes on Metamodernism from our initial location at mtmdrn.blogspot.com to metamodernism.com. As a result of this migration, all the articles first published in 2009 appear in the 2010 rubric.