The Regime of Authenticity

The Regime of Authenticity consists of a thematic interpretation of some of the key tropes of Modernism: modernity, authenticity, presence, originality, truth, historical necessity. The aim here has been to differentiate and deconstruct certain fundamental patterns of crucial importance in the interpretation of modern art in order to present a more complex and multi-layered understanding of “Modernism” and “modern art”. The key starting-point in this regard has been to analyse the era of modern art on the basis of a larger context (modernity) than that offered by a purely art-historical study so as to uncover the contours and anchor points in a narrative that has served as an interpretive template underlying modernist historiography. This theoretical and epistemological investigation of modernity has been augmented by an analysis of the changes to the institutional structure of the art world and the establishment of a particular sphere of value. Using this approach, I attempt to identify some key nodes in the vast and all but incomprehensible pattern constituted by modernism as an institution.