Excerpt of interview of Timotheus Vermeulen about Metamodernism from Tank Magazine:
Cher Potter: You and Robin [van den Akker] never took to the idea of a manifesto. However, the artist Luke Turner has put one together for you, consisting of eight principles with the ambitious and heart-warming final call: “We must go forth and oscillate”. Do you feel it does the theory justice?
Timoteus Vermeulen: I feel Luke’s manifesto summarises well some of the developments we would say characterise metamodernism. However, for Robin and myself, metamodernism is not a program, is not a call for whatever kind of protest. On the contrary. Although we are personally quite excited by some of the trends and tendencies in the arts and literature, we are far less thrilled about certain recent events in politics – such as the rise of right-wing populism, or the disintegration of the political centre, to name just a few. Again, I should emphasise: metamodernism is an attempt to come to terms with what is happening all around us, not a blueprint for how to achieve it.
Full interview, here.
