'History of the Avant-Garde': lecture by Mark Cousins, 2nd February, 1998

Extent: 1 audio cassette (90mins), 4 digital files (643.52 MB)

Comprises audio recording of a lecture entitled 'History of the Avant-Garde' given by Mark Cousins on 2nd February 1998. Recordings consist of a Maxwell 90 audio cassette tape, 2 digital preservation files (525 MB, .wav format) and 2 digital access files (118.52 MB, .mp3 format). Duration of access version: 48min 26sec.

Copyright: Architectural Association

Creator: Mark Cousins

Admin History: The recording is of the 10th lecture in the series entitled 'The New', given by Mark Cousins as part of the AA General Studies programme, 1997-98. Through the analysis of Freud, Mark Cousins discusses a topographical relationship between desire and the object. As the nature of desire is never to be satisfied, its structure is entirely unfulfillable. Cousins links the arguments of desire and the lost object with the idea of the new, where the role of the Avant-garde has to be produced and accompanied by a discourse alongside its recognition of the new. He argues that the idea of unprecedented, unseen, unheard of, is less of an idea of creating the new, but more of a struggle of its recognition, which requires an ambassadorial announcement of being the new.

Custodial History: Audio cassette recording was made by the AA Audio Visual Department and retained by the AA Photo Library until 2019, when it was transferred to the AA Archives.

Aquisition: Audio cassette was transferred from the AA Photo Library to the AA Archives in 2019. Digital preservation and access copies were created by the AA Archives in 2021.

Archive Note: Catalogue description by Ke Bo Tsai

Publication Note: AA Events List, Spring Term, Week 4, 2-6th February, 1998