At its root, modernism is that fundamental. It is a question of having
something to represent that is of the moment. In the most radical
interpretation, modernism always comes too late. The modern is that
which is always new, which is to say, always changing and already old by
the time it has appeared. Modernism is always a retrospective act, one
of documenting or trying to catch what has already appeared - an attempt
to fix life as it is being lived. Modernity is just the very fact that
we as human beings are continually remaking the world around us through
our actions, and are doing so consciously. Modernism is a monument to or
memory of that act, which in its own making tries to remake the world it
is pretending to represent.