New Conceptions of space. Experimentation and Crisis of Representation in Modernism

The radical artistic experiments which succeed each other at a vertiginous rate in the early decades of the 20th century are the result of a new perception of reality (and thus of space), which also generates a situation of epistemological scepticism, and consequently a crisis of representation involving an inevitable rejection of traditional forms (experienced as obsolete) and the consequent inevitable search for new forms. As in many other crises, also the crisis of representation shows its double face: on the one hand it brings about a disquieting sense of disorientation, displacement, and bewilderment, and on the other, it generates a fruitful dialogue and interaction between all the arts, which, once they have freed themselves from the claustrophobic enclosure of their individual codes, renew themselves in a radical manner never seen before