Ai Remix: Reading Response 1

InThe Death of Postmodernism and Beyond, Alan Kirby discusses postmodernism and how it is not the pervasive, intellectual and cultural pursuit anymore. Postmodernism, expressed as irony and suspicion of grand narratives, has been rendered obsolete in modern high-speed technology and society. The new time, for Kirby, is one that features a different relationship to authority and knowledge driven initially by the emergence of digital technology and mass engagement.

This new paradigm, tentatively labeled by Kirby "pseudomodernism" or "digimodernism," is marked by media that demands active participation on the part of viewers. Pseudomodern writing, in contrast to postmodern writing, (which had exercised ironic detachment and spoken back to past forms) is composed in the moment and performed through performers. Power is not even held by authors, critics, or institutions but is more so spread over networks of contributing users, commenters, and content writers in production. Kirby regards this shift as fundamental, transforming how people create and consume media with the world. It differs from the embracing of collapse and undecidability in postmodernism in that the new era is one of immediate engagement, and superficial information.

Briefly, Kirby announces the demise of postmodernism as a style or intellectual spectacle, but as an enlightened paradigm concerning the world. In its stead is a participatory culture where technology and interactivity redefine the terms on which truth and culture are constructed!