The avant-garde (/ˌævɒ̃ˈɡɑːrd/; French
pronunciation: ​[avɑ̃ɡaʁd]; from French,
"advance guard" or "vanguard",
literally "fore-guard") are                              people or
works that are                      experimental, radical,
or unorthodox with                                respect to ar                      t, culture,
or society.                            It may be characterized    by
                             nontraditional,                                   aesthetic innovation
and initial unacceptability,                           and it
                                    may offer a critique of the                       relationship
between producer and  consumer.

The avant-garde                           pushes the boundaries                        of
                       what is accepted                                             as the norm or
the status quo,                            primarily                     in the cultural realm.
The avant-garde is           considered by
s                     s                     some to be a hallmark of                        
                                      ­        modernism,
as distinct from                                           postmodernism.
Many artists                  have aligned                                             themselves
with the avant-garde                                 movement and  
continue to do so,                                   tracing a history
               from Dada                            through the
Situationists to                                  postmodern artists                         such
as the Language                                 poets around 1981.

The avant-                   garde                      also
promotes radical                                                          ­      social reforms.
It was this                   meaning that was
evoked by the Saint S                            imonian
                                                              Ol­inde Rodrigues in his essay
"L'artiste, le savant et                         l'industriel"
("The artist, the scientist and
                    the industrialist", 1825),                                         which
contains                                           the first recorded use of
          "                     avant-garde" in its now                     customary
     sense: there,                                                   Rodrigues calls on
       artists to                  "serve as the         people's      
    avant-garde",                           insisting that "the
power of the arts       is                                    indeed the most
                   immediate                                     and fastest way" to                social,
political and economic                                             change.