POSTPOSTPOST

POSTPOSTPOST is both the only unpitchable neologism for the zeitgeist and a meta-hyper-aware, critique-in-overdrive mode of cultural production. It is an acknowledgement through denunciation of Post-postmodernism; commonly referred to as the 90’s New Sincerity movement. It is the rejection of the rejection of postmodernism. Yet, it is not a return to postmodern irony, nor an oscillation between irony & sincerity. It is a timeless omnipresence in every ephemeral juncture. It does not seek definition nor explanation, rather exists as an urge - intense enough to build a brand around. For now, it is interested in dueling systemic structures that uphold the degenerating condition of contemporary ‘high culture’. POSTPOSTPOST as a project is a series of writings, art projects, fashion collaborations and a short documentary film set in a true-story-based fictional world. The first POSTPOSTPOST canon essay is published on DoNotResearch. The rest is published through this publication, a self-funded centurial publication.

Dazed interviewed POSTPOSTPOST about it, FlashArt reviewed it, and DAMN Magazine featured it. Novembre also gave it a home in its Frieze Seoul/LowClassic 2023 lounge. Other than the canonical publication, POSTPOSTPOST has also written for RealReview 15. Below is an unrelated excerpt from an essay about POSTPOSTPOST’s take on Object Oriented Ontology and its relevance to the avant-garde. More POSTPOSTPOST essays are being added to this doomscroll as we go.

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After OOO’s reset, this sought-after aesthetic effect is one that attempts to go beyond the constraints of language, is fully aware of its medium and its boundaries, and brings us closer to accessing an unknowable reality. Every other structure of critique now recedes back as merely relational and non-substantial for progress. Now art history knowledgeability, brushstroke prowess, genre, rigorous research, nuanced descriptions, political views, or gender are all rendered inessential. Useful in varying degrees, but inessential. The return to formalism can now be a celebration of difference, in direct opposition of ‘elitism’. Foucault established that knowledge is never detached from the circulation of power, but a true adoption of OOO’s flat ontology can be the revolutionary act that devalues certain forms of knowledge that have served as hindrances to progress. A flat ontology that welcomes the most unlikely experiments and experimenters. Let the hunt for estrangement begin.

Michael Young writes on Speculative Objects — “Many of the arguments surrounding Conceptual Art exemplify “overmining”. These arguments state that the conditions of art are not found in its objects, but only through the relations that humans establish with them. This leads to a second crucial difference of this treatise. This text does not ask, “Is this Art?” Instead, it queries, “Is this Real?” […] This creates an aesthetic experience that initiates doubt about the reality of the thing itself. This reframing proposes that the problem of aesthetics is more fundamental to the construction of an ontology than deciding if an object is or is not art. For this discussion of realism and estrangement, it proves more interesting to follow the fluctuations of the real, rather than the fluctuations of the category of art.”

I’m quoting this to forward my proposition on what comes after this progression of paradigms in art and aesthetics. Now that the problem of aesthetics is ontological, it is time for the ready-made or found-object to be thought of in non-physical terms. In OOO, not only thoughts and concepts are objects, but also experiences. What would it mean if experience is the new found-object? an experience that can truly bring you closer to accessing a deeper reality? Here, POSTPOSTPOST, a cultural movement under development that is most concerned with the avant-garde in culture, extends an invitation to OOO to take a look through its lens. Its ridiculous name mocks its predecessor, “Post-postmodernism”, but simultaneously, inevitably acknowledges it. The text stylization in uppercase is a response to the excessive & loud state of pop culture, rendering it less likely to be integrated in traditional academic language or ‘artspeak’. It’s intentionally chopping ‘modernism’ off its tail cementing its irrelevance. And obviously, it voices the generational imperative to “post, post and post” to exist.

POSTPOSTPOST aims to stretch and pull all possible strings that shape the boundaries between what can be taken seriously in academia versus what’s prevalent in contemporary popular, even low-brow (for lack of a better term) culture. It is most concerned with the increasingly volatile political climate that is seemingly contingent on claims of “Truth”. Contemporary high culture is despairingly self-indulgent, out-of-touch and embarrassingly disengaged from the public arenas with the most activity - so it takes a shot at regaining some discursive balance through unorthodox and inappropriate methods. It does not shy away from engaging the frowned-upon notions of branding and commercialism, rather diverges them to its advantage.

It’s a proponent of weaponizing nonsense to tear down language barriers. It is, obviously, anti-genre and medium-agnostic. It is an experience that leaves you thinking there must be more to what you’re experiencing - and it is usually making use of parafictional and meta-ironic (not to be confused with post-ironic) techniques. Familiarity and predictability are its real enemies. If the work isn’t presenting a directly confusing, unnerving, nonsensical or mysterious element, then it’s not adding something new to the table. It claims that it is the closest you can get to re-enchantment today. It draws from shitposts, cringe content and badfilms for inspiration. It is clear that a lot of its aspirations are very related to OOO ideas - except it’s taking a leap of faith and abandoning all nuance. POSTPOSTPOST can be a vehicle that demonstrates the full potential of OOO philosophies.

We’ve lost count of how many times “How is this real?” echoed in our collective subconscious. The intense excess and collective trauma being witnessed every day are bizarrely pushing the standards of ‘normal’ beyond conceivable bounds. Time and time again bordering on the standards of ‘fiction’. This further proliferates the already ubiquitous ambivalence and ironic distance. Unlike irony or post-irony, meta-irony is an active agent. POSTPOSTPOST can often wear that as its bulletproof vest, immune to depth or sincerity. It starts with throwing any modernist, materialist, solution-oriented thinking out the window. It’s only interested in serving as audacious stoppage to a hyper-normalized desensitized existence. This is an attempt to design a tool that brings back anxiety. A tool dense enough to cloak all attempts at meaning or modernist transcendence, rather an interruptive, obtrusive, hot-headed, loud, vibrant, quirky dance of non-sense that celebrates immanence. A tool perverted and insidious enough to evade appropriation and commodification, and accelerated enough to escape algorithmic prognosis. Here’s to taking not-taking-things-seriously, very seriously.

Welcome to POSTPOSTPOST time