CRASH 99 Issue is about exploring the new paradigm of today's life.

“In Greek, ‘epoke’ is a ‘parenthesis’, and from my point of view, we are in the process of closing the modern parenthesis. It began with the 17th century and stretches at least through the first half of the 20th century. An epoch is about three to four centuries.

Between two epochs, there are periods that are somewhat like twilights. From my perspective, this is what we are currently living through. It began in the 1950s, so the years around Lettrism, design and architectural postmodernism. It will last a few decades. We are still in this twilight period. My hypothesis is that during these periods, we still have a sense of the values that are no longer dominant, even as we are stammering towards a society that is yet to be born. We are unable to establish a new system.

The philosopher Jean-François Lyotard notably demonstrated that the postmodern condition is marked heavily by the end of standard grand narratives (Marxism, Freudianism, functionalism). From this perspective, there is a kind of ‘scrambling’ that takes place.”