PAUME aims to further the cause of avant-garde art, that much is clear. However, this aim should not be mistaken for trying to be revolutionaries. We don’t want to pretend to be doing something completely new and radical. In fact, much has already been invented before and the denominator ‘radical new’ is misleading. To be truly original in art requires something else than the shock-effects some contemporary artists are aiming for. Shocking people is not exactly radical, either. In fact, one may argue that art has seen all extremes and, paraphrasing Kurt Weill, will probably come full circle and reinvent itself. If you have done everything, it is not a sign of weakness to reappraise the past in a contemporary setting. This is not a call for conservatism, it is a call to keep reinventing yourself and your vocabulary. That is what drives the avant-garde.
