Avant garde Quote by Rosalind E. Krauss
“More than a rejection or dissolution of the past, avant-garde originality is conceived as a literal origin, a beginning from ground zero, a birth.”
About This Quote
Source Book: Art Theory Essays, 1992
Avant‑garde originality is framed as a fresh start, a birth from nothingness.
In simple terms: Avant‑garde is a literal origin.
Key Takeaway
Value radical new beginnings.
Themes
art
originality
philosophy
Mood
intellectual
exploratory
Type
theoretical
philosophical
When to use this quote
- creative practice
- art criticism
- innovation
Key Concepts
ground zero
birth metaphor
Questions to Reflect On
- How does starting from zero affect your work?
- What precedents can you still honor?
A Different Perspective
Emphasizing origin may ignore continuity with tradition.
![“As for "A Grave," it has a significance apart from the literal origin, which was a man who placed himself between my mother and me, and the surf we were watching from the middle ledge of rocks on Monhegan Island [in Maine] after the storm. ("Don't be annoyed," my mother said. "It is human nature…” quote by Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/820/marianne-moore-3315_grave_as-for-a-grave-it-has-a-significance-apa_3194459.jpg)
![“The most surprising thing to me is what an incredibly intense effort it's been to create a world from the ground up. I had run a show that had already existed and had been created by the show-runner, Meredith [Stiehm]. It's a very different experience to come in at ground zero and meet people and…” quote by Veena Sud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/930/veena-sud-27264_casts_the-most-surprising-thing-to-me-is-what_262618.jpg)
![“By exposing the multiplicity, the facticity, the repetition and stereotype at the heart of every aesthetic gesture, photography deconstructs the possibility of differentiating between the original and the copy. [Photography calls] into question the whole concept of the uniqueness of the art…” quote by Rosalind E. Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/3ba/rosalind-e-krauss-42138_aesthetic_by-exposing-the-multiplicity-the-factici_88008.jpg)
![“Avant-garde theatre, with its distrust of the individual (that bourgeois invention), tends to go beyond [character] and the psychological approach in search of a syntax of types and characters which are "deconstructed and post-individual.” quote by Patrice Pavis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/c22/patrice-pavis-72351_approach_avant-garde-theatre-with-its-distrust-of_59690.jpg)
