Conforming to the Avant Garde

“…in 1983 Craig Owens detected a similar posture among neo-expressionists, who were also confronted with the contradictory demands to be avant-gardist (“as innovative and original as possible”) and to be conformist (“to conform to established norms and conventions”.)” – Hal Foster, The Return of the Real

30 years later seems like dance/performance art/ live art (whatever you want to call it) is dealing with the same issue