What on earth is postmodernism?
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The name indicates that it is what came after the modernist movement in art/literature/music/architecture/etc. (I’ll just say “art” for simplicity) which was itself happening from the 1940s-60s and focused on understanding WWII and the new post-war order.
More than any intellectual movement that came before it or (perhaps) since, post-modernism consciously rejects traditional structures and hierarchies. It challenges the idea that art is produced by an artist, imbued with a meaning of their choice, then consumed or decoded by an audience. Post-modernists attempted to create art without meaning or purpose, or that actively required the participation of the audience in its realization. Identities and definitions are constructed, often out in the open for everyone to see. Everything is open to experimentation and interpretation.
Prototypical post-modern works can be featureless (blank canvases or silent songs), obsessed with documenting their own intention and production (books that refer to themselves or the author), or actively reject traditional critique or interpretation (intentionally confusing or contradictory elements or themes)
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