Are We Facing a Cultural 'Turnover Pulse'? And Other Art World Matters - Artnet News
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A "turnover pulse" theory claims art revolutions don't drift gradually — they erupt in sudden, synchronized waves of style replacement.
Punctuated EquilibriumCultural EvolutionDiffusion of InnovationsMemetics
Theory Briefing
- Researchers Sobchuk and Youngblood argue cultural change happens in abrupt bursts, not slow evolution — a direct challenge to gradual-drift models of art history.
- The pair are staking out a new discipline to explain how art revolutions actually ignite, published in an April paper.
- The 'turnover pulse' idea borrows from paleontology, where species replacements cluster in sudden events rather than spreading evenly over time.