Post‐it Culture: Post‐modernism and Art and Design Education

This paper examines the phenomenon of Post‐modernism and its growing relationship to art and design education and its limitations in that context. It examines how and why an authentic architectural style developed into a late twentieth century philosophy, was exploited by visual artists, and was then applied to art and design education. The paper looks at a range of issues and concepts coterminous with the growth of post‐modern thought, particularly the idea of post‐historicism. In that sense it posits Post‐modernism as one narrative amongst a number. The language of Post‐modernism is also explored, as is the idea of a ‘post‐medium age’. It is then suggested, using the argument of Post‐modernism itself, that art and design education for the next millennium depends upon the recognition of the need for a range of new narratives.