I really enjoyed the Burgin quote Hutcheon brings into her essay when talking about parody and representation . . . “We can no longer unproblematically assume that ‘Art’ is somehow outside of the complex of other representational practices and institutions with which it is contemporary – particularly today, those which constitute what we so problematically call the 'mass-media.’” (p. 95-6)

I saw strongs ties to the Warhol discussion of last week, which prompts me to bring up this article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7022598.stm

I found Jameson’s discussion on Warhol and Van Gogh particularly enlightening in illustrating the fundamentally distinct features of the modernism and postmodernism. In Van Gogh’s work, we are connected to a particular moment in history; these peasant shoes are tied to the marginalized peasant, and its work is to compensate for this misery by creating a Utopia in the artwork.

The Jameson was a powerful read. Here are a few thoughts and questions, to which I'd very much love to hear some input from others.

• "...if postmodernism is the substitute for the sixties and the compensation for their political failure, the question of Utopia would seem to be a crucial test of what is left of our capacity to imagine change at all" (p. xvi).