Yesterday I had a long loooooong discussion with Noam Faingold about whether minimalism is included in the container that is Post-Modernism. I was arguing that it was, based on my belief that post-modernism was analogous to post-world war two (he promptly took me to task for that), and that because there are unified cultural themes in that time period, which both movements were born from, they belong in the same category.
Noam stated that each movement belongs in a different category because post-modernism is about a reflection on a reflection. The hyperreality is what’s important and the fact that it’s critical of the reflection. This makes the movement an Ideational movement, focused more on philosophical points. On the other hand, minimalism is about aesthetics and not trying to make a point at all. It is more a primitive (without any negative connotation, maybe “natural” is a better word?) ideal focused on sound. He used the words, “In minimalism you can turn your brain off.”
I’m fairly certain that I turned our 1.5 hour long discussion into a two paragraph post, but these were the ideas presented and Noam is right that they are different.