| This Biennale Centenary, therefore, offered me the opportunity to attempt a critique of the system of avant-gardes and of certain idees recues. |
| This article examines the interconnections between Said's critical oeuvre and a range of theoretical positions apropos of the European and American Avant-gardes. |
| Never, in fact, until that moment, had the legitimacy of pictorial practice in the context of the development of avant-gardes been theorized with such seriousness. |
| Theatres, where projects combining all the most progressive visual, literary and musical ideas could be staged, were natural meeting places for avant-gardes. |
| In continental Europe, the crossover between the visual arts and rock and roll was fostered by the overlapping of the artistic and musical avant-gardes and an awareness of industrial culture. |
| The introductory essay overviews the subject of how avant-gardes function in the context of mass popular culture and high art. |
