Panmodern vs. High Baroque

NEW YORK, NY November 29, 2004–In an article “Chelsea Enters Its High Baroque Period” in yesterday’s New York Times art section, Roberta Smith describes the continually-evolving chaos in Manhattan’s Chelsea art district. “Meanwhile, the Chelsea carnival continues, simultaneously expanding, imploding and absorbing. All species of art gallery are evident, and at every stage of development. Chelsea, like SoHo, is making itself up as it goes along. A contemporary art scene on this scale has never happened before, and it's hard to imagine it ever happening again.”

Without getting into any arguments or discussions about the possibility of such a unique and random series of events “ever happening again.” I am drawn to the last paragraph which states “Catch it now, because in a few years, Chelsea nostalgia will have replaced SoHo nostalgia, and the current state of affairs will have become the good old days.”

True enough and well-put. The question is not whether it will happen again, because it always does, uniqueness and randomness notwithstanding. The question is where and when and how. That is what the big time Marketeers wish they could know. Because someday, no matter what it is, it will all be replaced and “Chelsea” will be remembered only as the title of a melodrama or sitcom starring good-looking teenagers on “the WB.”

The unintentional subtext of Ms. Smith’s paragraphs is the implicit urgency of you, the consumer, getting involved with the current scene before the bloom is off the rose. But “in a few years” Blooming Idiots that chase this type of trendiness will be of one of two types, or both. Type 1, the Perpetuon, will be so busy chasing the next trend that they will not have the time to look back while Type 2, the Timefukkker, will not only long for the good old days, but will spend the rest of their lives doing so. Whether they will have been caught up on its glamour, its riches, its artifice or its rejection, they will become stuck in time because this passing moment is “their” era. Not only will the art scene of the moment become their obsessional lifetime vantage point but so will the music, the fashion, the food, the very smells of the era. Ten years from now those smells will be stinky and rancid but after two decades they will be not only exonerated, but put up on a pedestal for all to envy because that is the route everything must take in the Panmodern era.

The current art scene, like the current Anything scene, will join the ranks of previous important Must Be TV come and gone. Like rap and punk and heroin chic, it will fall face first onto the slag heap of consumer history, for sale and forsaken until another strata of melted, formerly white hot “What’s Hot” barely-identifiable globs of post-industrial panmodern waste plop down atop it, like so many societal bowel movements, cooling, frothing, and foaming at the mouth of the flavor of the month. Bring your credit card! Everything Must Go!

Wake Up to Panmodernism

I could say "Welcome to Panmodernism." But that would imply you were not already here. That would imply you are not NOW and were not YESTERDAY already living in a state of Panmodernism. And you were. And you are. Take it from me, we all have been- for a long, long time. So Wake Up to Panmodernism, kids.

First of all, I mean it literally. For the rest of your life, you have a place to go when you wake up in the morning. Grab a coffee, sit down at your computer and read this website. It will help you get some perspective on the day ahead.

This website will explore Panmodernism. This website will explore the meaning of Panmodernism. The implications of Panmodernism. For instance, you may wonder "what is Panmodernism?" We will explore that here. You may wonder "What is panmodern? How do we know when something is panmodern?" That, too, will be discussed here. You have come to the right place. You may wonder, Should words like "panmodern" and "panmodernism" always be capitalized? Or Are there definitions we need to know in order to discuss Panmodernism? Or you may just wonder, "Is there something wrong with me?" Well, the answer to that question just may be found here, too.

The fact is, I am not sure. I mean, I am pretty sure there is something wrong with you and yes, it is probably largely due to Panmodernism. But other than that, the questions about Panmodernism remain open as of today. Undecided. To be discussed. To come. However, we are not starting with a blank slate. I have some ideas about Panmodernism and I will post them here. You may also want to have a look at my website P A N M O D E R N . C O M.

And then there is originality. Panmodernism is very intertwined with the subject. Some of these are my ideas but I didn't start out with all of them. Perhaps I started out with none of them. They were passed down to me by many generations of Panmodernists. Furthermore, I am interested in your thoughts. That is why this is called the Panmodern Feedback Loop. I will write about Panmodernism and then I will listen to your comments. Then I may respond to them. Hence the loop idea. So say what you want.

I will now begin to jot down my ideas. They are way overdue. We have all been living in Panmodern times for a long, long while. It is time to make some sense of this confusing Panmodern Age.

So wake up to Panmodernism, kids, today and every day. It might help.