Avant-Garde/Avant-Garde Geographies

This article looks at the import of thinking through the concept of the avant-garde in human geography in terms of its political linkage of the esthetic to the social and the connections to be made between the spaces of art, culture, and politics. Following a broad introduction contextualizing the term historically and geographically, the article unpacks the conceptual underpinnings of the avant-garde through three key categories – that of experience, performance, and expression. This article then concludes by emphasizing the aporia that lies at the heart of the avant-garde project, undermining its political effectiveness and leaving it poorly judged by history; and thus further signals the fact that to all intent and purposes, the avant-garde is a defunct term for the twenty-first century.