What does the term ‘Avant-Garde’ mean?
Avant-garde is a French term that in English means ‘vanguard’ which is essentially the front line of an army or the ones that go ahead first. it was first used as an artistic term in the early 19th century and is often attributed to the french social theorist Henri de Saint-Simon, who in 1825 said; “We artists will serve you as an avant-garde, the power of the arts is most immediate: when we want to spread new ideas we inscribe them on marble or canvas.” [de Saint Simon, H. (1825)]
This term is often used to describe new art movements, avant-garde art itself first flourished in 1850 with the realism movement pioneered by Gustave Courbet and the mantle was later handed to other movements and pioneers such as surrealism lead by André Breton, cubism pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, the Abstract movement developed by Hilma af Klint and Wassily Kandinsky, the list goes on. this term means to innovate art, refresh it for a new generation of creators, abstract from the norm and try something new, this is the way art has always evolved and how it will continue to do so no matter what form it takes. Art isn’t just a form of media, it goes far beyond that, it can be a tool of cultural and social change, a tool in which the creators and observers alike can use to express themselves in an unfiltered fashion.
Is avant-garde still possible in the modern age, specifically in games?
with the broadness of the term and our new ways of sharing information i’d argue that avant-garde is still alive and kicking, although many artists borrow from one another a majority of artists seem to be capable of going on their own personal movements, many gaining notoriety and praise for innovation and expression and even inciting messages and ideas to society via social media and id also argue game design has become more avant-garde now than ever before, of course there have been many classics in game innovation (super Mario 64, Ocarina of time, oddworld: abes oddyssey, shadow of the colossus, okami etc) but the rise in indie/independent game development along side art directors taking centre stage in larger companies ‘artistic video games’ are now more prevalent than ever.
Perhaps the biggest factor in the rise of artistic games is the fact that most people with a creative vision and certainly many artists have access to game development tools they can use to paint an interactive piece of art onto a digital canvas. Games such as unravel, little nightmares, ori and the blind forest, hollow knight and monument valley are some solid examples of games that have stunningly stylish visuals, wonderful soundtracks, unique game play and vague interpretative story telling that leave profound impressions on the players long after the game has finished. The beauty in all this is that it allows your audience to actually invest themselves within your art as some kind of avatar rather than just being an observer, this allows players to form strongly emotional and deeply personal attachments to a video game and its atmosphere.
in conclusion, i strongly believe games are moving in an avant-garde direction with constant innovation being made in artistic direction and new ways to convey a narrative and generate an atmosphere. despite some industry practises and developers holding the industry back, creativity always finds a way to surface and change everything.
As an addendum id like to add that 2016 was a huge year for games with a creative art direction and narrative structure along side experimentation for what exactly games can do to convey art and create flourishing world design and compelling character design.
Bibliography
–Tate. (2017). Avant-garde – Art Term | Tate. [online] Available at: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/a/avant-garde [Accessed 27 Nov. 2017].
-Tate. (2017). Realism – Art Term | Tate. [online] Available at: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/r/realism [Accessed 27 Nov. 2017].
-The Art Story. (2017). Cubism Movement, Artists and Major Works. [online] Available at: http://www.theartstory.org/movement-cubism.htm [Accessed 27 Nov. 2017].
-Campbell, C. (2017). Introduction and video special | The games of 2016. [online] Polygon.com. Available at: https://www.polygon.com/a/2016-game-preview-100-games/introduction-and-video-special [Accessed 27 Nov. 2017].
_Ustwo.com. (2017). Monument Valley. [online] Available at: https://ustwo.com/work/monument-valley [Accessed 27 Nov. 2017].