The Avant Garde

"Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English, to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics." - Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avant-garde.

I've been excited to see all the events happening in Denver and the
surrounding areas this summer in anticipation of the DNC. dialogcity.org is a great site that has invited international artists to Denver to put on interactive "dialogical site specific" exhibitions.

Another great event going on this and next week is the
Boulder International Fringe Festival.
It may not really be "fringe" if I care to be consistent, but it is interesting never the less.

As I looked over the site and all the contributing artists I came away slightly confused as to what exactly was I looking at. Contemporary art is all over the map, which in my mind is a good thing because it allows for a variety of expression. My confusion arises with the misuse of the terms innovation and avant garde. I always thought these terms referred to work outside the mainstream of the art world. Works that were literally on the edge or fringe of society. Seems as if the contemporary definition of avant garde refers to those artists in the"scene", fully excepted, welcomed, and integrated. Its become like one of those girl scout/boy scout badges you can collect along the way to...fame?

I noticed that the Home Depot employees collect similar badges that they hang from their uniform aprons as they advance through the ranks.