Lecture Response - Defining the Avant-Garde

I had never been told the exact translation and resulting connotations of 'Avant Garde' despite roughly understanding what it represented. I am not particularly interested in the kind of art that can be described as Avant Garde as I feel that it crosses the line from being original into often, just plain attention seeking and a competition to see who can 'out-shock' each other among the artists in this field. I found the lecture interesting nonetheless in terms of seeing how artists had been innovative in the choice and application of obscure materials. E.g. Marcus Harvey's 'Myra Hindley', which despite being controversial in the way it was constructed, is a powerful image and very well produced. In our Critical Studies Seminar we looked further into the notion of shock tactics in the Avant Garde world; how certain artists question morality and repress society. I was quite disturbed by the efforts that Chinese Avant Garde artists Sun Yuan and Peng Yu went to in their quest to be 'original'. I don't really have time for people who freeze corpses and eat a penis in the name of art.