Spaghetti, 2/8/09

I would like to respond to WollyBully7's post about the notion of non-conforming, or the avant-garde. Lyotard conveys the notion that the current creative environment is not conducive to the new, the creative, the avante-garde. He recognizes, just as WollyBully7 has pointed out, the prevalence of the "cookie-cutter theory." As Doc Rog pointed out, nothing new is really accepted with open arms in the art world anymore. I remember he used the example of a TV show idea. he said that it is unlikely that someone would propose a completely new concept to a production company, because, as Lyotard agrees, the whole purpose of art (at least in our competitive capitalist society) is to make money. So naturally, producers are going to want to create something that they know will easily generate revenue, and the best determiner of that is history, or what has done well in the past, and they attempt to mirror that model.
I got to wondering in class however, about the concept of "new," or of "avant-garde." We defined value as determinable by popularity or demand. Therefore, reality TV shows such as "The Real World" are popular because they have done well in the past and are eaten up by the public. however, didn't the concept for htat show have to be original at some point? Doc Rog told us a story about a student he had in the past hwo came up with an idea for a show similar to that of "The Real World," and he told us that he and his fellow collegues shot the idea down, criticizing it for it's marketability and eventual success (as measured by revenue, of course). Lo and behold, "The Real World" has now been successfully airing for several seasons. So at some point, that concept had to be new.
So in terms of the Baldwin Park example, sure for the insider's view, all the houses look alike and it can be a somewhat bland neighborhood (an excellent example of urbane urbanism). I would argue, however, that the neighborhood as a whole was once an original concept that was new and different from past plans. And different doesn't always mean unsuccessful. For Baldwin Park, I would say the project proved to be very successful. Lots of people live there, the stores and schools have good business, so by our capitalist standards, it is a relatively successful place. And in evaluating it in terms of being an "avant-garde" concept, I think at one point, that type of project was.