I'm curious: I have been seeing quite a few people (even outside of strictly academic/medievalist circles) argue for a type of "neo-Medievalism" pervading culture and economics. The consolidation of wealth among a wealthy few, an "indentured" peasant class forced to rent land to produce value for the elite, and the rise of almost "Sturm und Drang" emotional discourse in art/literature pervading cultural spheres seem to indicate this return--not to mention the considerable interest in medieval aesthetics that have been dominating television and movies for the past decade! Is this moment of surrealist revival part and parcel of a "neo-Medievalism"?
oooo interesting!! I've toyed with the idea that with the tech broligarchs running a lot of our access to culture, discourse and attention we are defs seeing a more feudalist state reemerging - will have to think on the overall medievalist vibes of it all... Pinterest Predicts for 2025 did list #castlecore as the aesthetic movement of the year sooooooo..... https://business.pinterest.com/pinterest-predicts/2025/castlecore/
Thank you for this insight. To call today’s artistic movement neo-surrealism—or even surrealism—doesn’t quite capture what’s happening, and even artists are missing the mark. During the French Revolution, realism was dominant. Between WWI and WWII, and in the aftermath, surrealism and Dada resonated deeply, but they also failed in many ways. Artists like Hannah Höch and many others were underrepresented, while Freudian, often misogynistic, themes were rampant.
Today, we are more visually and intellectually nuanced. Postmodernism was not the final word. We are in an age of infinity—not borrowing from the past as a simple neo-movement, but rather correcting, reinterpreting, and expanding upon it. What we are achieving in relation to surrealism is not surrealism. It is not Duchamp’s anti-art. It is something deeper—a movement toward truth. It functions like an elevator in and out of Plato’s cave, shifting between illusion and reality with greater awareness.
I like where you are going with this thought. I don't necessarily think the market phenomenon is really concerned with truth or how to categorize this movement relative to other artist, but more about how certain aesthetics resonate in different geopolitical/economic regimes. But i do agree we are seeing more introspective and recursive art movements -- there is an economic reason that we are able to do this too!! maybe something to explore in a later post
I'm curious: I have been seeing quite a few people (even outside of strictly academic/medievalist circles) argue for a type of "neo-Medievalism" pervading culture and economics. The consolidation of wealth among a wealthy few, an "indentured" peasant class forced to rent land to produce value for the elite, and the rise of almost "Sturm und Drang" emotional discourse in art/literature pervading cultural spheres seem to indicate this return--not to mention the considerable interest in medieval aesthetics that have been dominating television and movies for the past decade! Is this moment of surrealist revival part and parcel of a "neo-Medievalism"?
oooo interesting!! I've toyed with the idea that with the tech broligarchs running a lot of our access to culture, discourse and attention we are defs seeing a more feudalist state reemerging - will have to think on the overall medievalist vibes of it all... Pinterest Predicts for 2025 did list #castlecore as the aesthetic movement of the year sooooooo..... https://business.pinterest.com/pinterest-predicts/2025/castlecore/
Thank you for this insight. To call today’s artistic movement neo-surrealism—or even surrealism—doesn’t quite capture what’s happening, and even artists are missing the mark. During the French Revolution, realism was dominant. Between WWI and WWII, and in the aftermath, surrealism and Dada resonated deeply, but they also failed in many ways. Artists like Hannah Höch and many others were underrepresented, while Freudian, often misogynistic, themes were rampant.
Today, we are more visually and intellectually nuanced. Postmodernism was not the final word. We are in an age of infinity—not borrowing from the past as a simple neo-movement, but rather correcting, reinterpreting, and expanding upon it. What we are achieving in relation to surrealism is not surrealism. It is not Duchamp’s anti-art. It is something deeper—a movement toward truth. It functions like an elevator in and out of Plato’s cave, shifting between illusion and reality with greater awareness.
I like where you are going with this thought. I don't necessarily think the market phenomenon is really concerned with truth or how to categorize this movement relative to other artist, but more about how certain aesthetics resonate in different geopolitical/economic regimes. But i do agree we are seeing more introspective and recursive art movements -- there is an economic reason that we are able to do this too!! maybe something to explore in a later post