Question 1

When we engage in ____________, we are engaging in the belief that we can know something at its core.

Accepted Answer

Master narratives are overarching stories or beliefs that explain the world and our place in it. Engaging in master narratives involves the belief that we can know something at its core, as these narratives provide a sense of structure and meaning to our lives.

Question 2

In the era of the ____________-that is, the era of digitization and an emerging information economy-Baudrillard predicted that ____________ would come to precede the real and become a condition for its production.

Accepted Answer

Baudrillard introduced the concepts of hyperreality and simulacra in the era of digitization and an emerging information economy. He believed that the hyperreal would precede the real and become a condition for its production, and that simulacra (copies or imitations without an original) would replace the notion of reality. Therefore, the best choice is B, with hyperreal preceding simulacra as a result of digitization and an emerging information economy.

Question 3

____________ occurs when a text refers to its own means of production.

Accepted Answer

Reflexivity occurs when a text refers to its own means of production, creating a self-awareness that draws attention to the process of creation itself. This can include references to the author or the act of writing, and often invites the audience to consider the relationship between art and reality.

Question 4

____________ is a form of imitation usually deployed as a satiric commentary on the original text, a form that precedes postmodern style but has taken hold in postmodern culture.

Accepted Answer

Parody is a form of imitation that plays on the themes, style, or characters of the original text in a satirical way. Pastiche, on the other hand, is a more general term that refers to the mixing of different styles and elements without necessarily satirizing the original. Simulation and discourse are not relevant to the definition of parody.

Question 5

Cultural theorists and legal scholars have long argued that all culture is to a certain extent ____________, combining styles and elements of previous culture, design, genre, sound, and image.

Accepted Answer

The term "remixed" refers to the process of combining different elements of previous culture, design, genre, sound, and image to create something new. This is a common practice in many forms of art and music, as well as in other areas of culture such as fashion and architecture. The concept of remixing has been widely discussed in cultural theory and has been applied to various forms of creative expression. Therefore, A is the best choice.

Question 6

____________ can often involve pilfering from history and combining historical elements in ways that empty the signifiers of historical meaning, combining them in (sometimes mismatched) fragments of style.

Accepted Answer

Pastiche involves borrowing from and combining different historical elements without giving them their original intended meanings. This can result in a mismatched style or eclectic mix of elements.

Question 7

____________ is the mode through which we see postmodernism's critiques of modern design in full force.

Accepted Answer

Irony is a mode of expression that conveys a meaning opposite to its literal meaning. It is often used to critique or satirize something. In postmodern design, irony is used to critique the modernist emphasis on functionality and simplicity.

Question 8

Who first engaged with postmodernity and postmodernism?

Accepted Answer

Jean-François Lyotard was one of the first philosophers to engage with postmodernity and postmodernism in his 1979 book "The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge." While David Harvey, Fredric Jameson, and Seyla Benhabib have also written extensively on the topic, Lyotard's work is often cited as one of the earliest and most influential contributions to the field.

Question 9

Architects Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, and Steven Izenour insisted that architects look to ____________ for inspiration because postmodern architecture must be more attentive to the tastes and styles characterizing the spaces that are truly enjoyed by the masses in their everyday lives.

Accepted Answer

In their book "Learning From Las Vegas," Venturi, Scott Brown, and Izenour argued that architects should look to the Las Vegas Strip for inspiration because it represented a type of architecture that responded to the desires and tastes of popular culture. They saw it as an example of how architecture could embrace commercialism, popular culture, and communication to create a more meaningful and engaging built environment.

Question 10

Art critic TJ Demos writes that Diana Birnaum's Technology/Transformation: Wonder Woman (1978) moved beyond appropriation and feminist cultural critique of mass culture imagery to demonstrate ____________.

Accepted Answer

Demos argues that Birnbaum's work, Technology/Transformation: Wonder Woman, goes beyond just appropriation and feminist critique to demonstrate the transformative potential of video as an expressive medium during its early years.

Question 11

What was the effect of the 1945 U.S. bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on postmodernity?

Accepted Answer

The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had a profound impact on postmodern thought, leading many to question the idea that pure scientific progress could be achieved without considering morality and the impact on humanity. This shift in thinking led to a greater emphasis on social and ethical considerations in the pursuit of knowledge and progress.

Question 12

____________ initially prohibited Ai Weiwei from receiving the materials needed to complete his project for an Australian exhibition on free speech.

Accepted Answer

The Lego Group initially prohibited Ai Weiwei from receiving the materials needed to complete his project for an Australian exhibition on free speech. In 2015, the company cited their policy of not endorsing or allowing their products to be used for any political agenda as the reason for their decision. However, they later reversed their decision and provided the materials to Ai Weiwei after facing backlash and criticism.

Question 13

Jeff Wall remakes ____________ in his A Sudden Gust of Wind (1993).

Accepted Answer

Jeff Wall remakes Katsushika Hokusai's famous woodblock print A High Wind on Yeijiri in his photograph A Sudden Gust of Wind.

Question 14

____________ writes that pastiche critiques the concept of the modern subject as the center and author of discourse: "Accepting that [we] are in the realm of the already said may be a source of anguish" if we are invested in ideas of the originating position of knowledge and authority.

Accepted Answer

The answer of ____________ writes that pastiche critiques the concept...

Question 15

In 1989, Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw coined the term "intersectionality" to describe intersecting social identities and their related systems of oppression, domination, or discrimination. Within intersectionality, multiple identities intersect to create a whole that is different from its components. Intersecting identities include gender, race, social class, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, religion, and ability, to name a few. What concept from this book is intersectionality most similar to?

Accepted Answer

Intersectionality is most similar to the concept of discourse because it focuses on the ways in which different social identities intersect to create a whole that is different from its components.

Question 16

In Keanu (2016), Rell (Jordan Peele), recently dumped by his girlfriend, bonds with a kitten in a basket left on his doorstep. When a local gang leader steals the kitten he has named Keanu, Rell and his best friend, Clarence (Keegan-Michael Key), must embed themselves in his gang and survive a dangerous series of events for which they are comically ill-prepared to retrieve Keanu. Not only does this movie contain multiple references to Key and Peele's eponymous comedy sketch show, it is based on 2014's John Wick, an action thriller, itself a parody of the genre, starring Keanu Reeves. In the movie, a Russian mobster kills Wick's puppy, the last gift from his dead wife, leading Wick on a bloody trail of revenge. Keanu's extensive use of parody mirrors the approach of ____________ to the popular postmodern tactic.

Accepted Answer

The use of parody in Keanu mirrors the approach of the Scream franchise to the popular postmodern tactic. Both Keanu and Scream satirize and subvert the traditional conventions of their respective genres through self-referential humor and the use of metafictional elements. The other choices, such as The Lego Movie, The Projects series, and Star Trek slash fiction, may contain elements of parody, but do not mirror the specific approach used in Keanu.

Question 17

Félix González-Torres was a Cuban-American visual artist who, at 39, died due to complications related to AIDS. His partner, Ross Laycock, died five years before González-Torres. One piece inspired by this loss, Untitled (1991) is a billboard of the top half of an empty bed. Against a white wall are white pillows, sheets, and a white comforter, rumpled from recent use. The image is incredibly specific and personal yet reveals little about those who had slept in the bed, evoking instead a sense of loss. González-Torres's work that signals absence best relates to whose artistic practice?

Accepted Answer

Christian Boltanski's artistic practice also deals with themes of absence and loss, often using found photographs and objects to evoke a sense of memory and personal history.

Question 18

In the mid-1990s, when singer David Young moved into Hancock Park, a quiet, affluent neighborhood in Los Angeles, he painted the house and gate white and lined the front lawn with nineteen white replicas of Michelangelo's David (1501-1504). While Young had personal reasons for installing them that speak to his genuine appreciation for this piece, his neighbors did not appreciate his use of ____________ in postmodern architecture.

Accepted Answer

Kitsch refers to art or objects that are considered to be in poor taste or overly garish. The use of nineteen replicas of Michelangelo's David in a residential front lawn could be seen as excessive and inappropriate by the neighbors, thus making it an example of kitsch in postmodern architecture.

Question 19

Cindy Sherman's Untitled Film Stills series (1977-80) is comprised of self-portraits of the artist dressed and posed as cliché female film characters. She draws attention to the artifice of these archetypes by making clear that the audience knows that they are staged. In many cases, she does this by not hiding the cable release, a device attached via cable to a camera that allows the photographer to make images without being behind the camera. Her insistence on displaying the constructedness of these archetypes runs contrary to the ethos of the work of ____________.

Accepted Answer

Nikki S. Lee's work involves her integrating into various cultural and social groups, transforming her appearance and behavior to fit in, and then documenting her experiences through photographs, often taken by participants or passersby. Unlike Sherman, Lee's work blurs the line between the authentic and the constructed, as she immerses herself into these roles without overtly revealing the artifice behind them.

Question 20

While waiting for a train at Union Station, Dolores looks up from her iPhone and notices that everyone in the seats around her is on their phone as well. A man walks up to her to ask for the time, and Dolores is surprised; he has violated the rules of the ____________ in which they both find themselves.

Accepted Answer

The concept of "nonplace" refers to locations that are impersonal and lack a strong sense of identity. Union Station, a transportation hub, can be considered a nonplace, and in such spaces, people tend to be focused on their individual tasks and not on social interaction. The fact that the man approached Dolores for the time violates this norm. The other options do not fit as well because they refer to different concepts (virtual vs. physical, imaginary vs. real).

Quiz 8: Postmodernism: Irony, Parody, and Pastiche