Altermodern?

     I really enjoy the idea of altermodern.  It was only a matter of time  before the latest ism was applied to our current attitude toward art.  All social and philosophical stand points are based on or are a reaction to the past present and future.  There is no reason movements in art would be any different.    I found, upon studying each of the three artist, there are often elements of altermodern they posses, however in my mind may not be truly altermodern.
     

The artist Aaron T Stephan is an artist that posses some of the things that are considered to be altermodern. However I don't feel his work speaks the altermodern language quite as well as some other contemporary artists.
This piece, from a body of work named Building houses/ hiding under rocks speaks to more of a postmodern ideal. He has taken refuses books and built structures out of them. The idea of build a house out of books, seems more like taking and object, changing it's context and presenting it as art. A very postmodern idea.
One could also look at the strictly conceptual side of the piece. Looking at the idea of information or knowledge and how it is obtained or held. Stephan presents a situation where the viewer can actually walk into a room constructed from "knowledge". I feel the altermodernist would like this idea of quasi knowledge. The question of knowledge, where dose it come from and how it is obtained is one of the most important ideas artist have to navigate these days.
The other side of the same coin is the fact that no one is actually gaining any of the information that is written in these books. The piece relies simply on the fact that they are books.
A question I start to ask my self is what is the affect of the time the piece was created and how it is portrayed to the world. Being constructed 2008 of course it was going to be shown on the internet. Not to mention the on line interview by the Quint Gallery. By simple virtue of being posted on line dose that make it altermodern? I don't think so.
I don't believe Aaron T Stephan is an altermodern artist. Some of his ideas can be viewed as altermodern however I believe he is working with more a postmodern mindset.
His personal cite. http://aarontstephan.com/home.html
Quint Gallery. http://quintgallery.com/tag/aaron-t-stephan

This piece by Jeff Koons,Triple Hulk Elvis quantifies so many tings altermodern. The idea of appropriated or misappropriated information is very much a altermodern idea.
The ideas presented in TED Talks revolve around What I feel was Koons artistic process while creating this piece. Taking a pop icon such as the Incredible Hulk and superimposing what appears to be an image of Elvis singing sounds quite postmodern. However I feel there is a certain aesthetic along with a cultural background that makes it less postmodern and more altermadern. The imagery speaks directly to the pop eye candy born in postmodernism but with more current techno twist.
I feel that this work is really designed to be affective viewed on the computer. Not to say it would be out of place gracing the walls of a gallery but it is understood that it was created there and there it will stay. In my mind, this poses another question of "new gallery". To view great art work anybody can sit down in front of their computer and be connected with just about everything the art world has to offer. How important is the gallery or museum to the altermodern? Has it been replaced by the computer?
I think this piece by Koons starts to ask many of these questions. Maybe, in it's own right this piece is answering some of them as well. This idea I struggle with a bit, I suppose I will wait around for the art world to answer them for me.

http://www.friendsofart.net/static/images/art3/jeff-koons-triple-hulk-elvis-iii.jpg

The work by Sara Worden speaks directly to the altermodern ideas of the effect of globalization on agriculture.
Altermodernist looks at this idea of global verses local and nowhere is that more present than the current state of agriculture. Worden's performance/ installation, She waits for rain, to me, asks some of these questions. What is the affect mass agriculture has had on a small town in Mexico? How can this small community fix it's agriculture to put it back to the more sustainable way of life that existed there until the last few decades?
These question are question that the altermodern are interested with. The affect of globalization and what is it doing on a much smaller scale. She waits for rain looks at the importance of water to this community and how it has been effected by large scale farming in the area. It also looks back as it looks ahead. By performing on the grounds of an abandon house Worden plays with the idea of history in response to a current day problem. The way life was and the way it is today.
Worden also built a community garden using plants from the installation. The idea of taking something that maybe view as a problem and turning it into a solution is also an idea I would loosely consider altermodern. Again I would look at the idea of appropriation or re-purposing.
I do feel Sara Worden is altermodern. From her subjects such as global agritulture, I feel she looks back to the way things once where and combine them with the way things are today. She address a problem and then suggests a solution.
http://saraworden.blogspot.com/