"As a necessary prerequisite to the creation of new forms of expression one might, I suppose, argue that current sensibilities respond uniquely to the notion of exhaustion as exhaustion, although that does de facto seem rather limiting"
About this Quote
The intent feels double. On one level, he’s granting a plausible argument: maybe new artistic languages require a culture primed to hear the worn-outness of old ones. Modernism and its aftermath taught audiences to recognize breakdown, friction, and overload as meaningful signals, not failures. But the subtext is a warning shot at a fashionable pessimism, the idea that art’s next move must be a commentary on its own depletion. To "respond uniquely to exhaustion as exhaustion" is to fetishize limits, to make a cul-de-sac into a destination.
Context matters: Ferneyhough emerges from postwar European modernism and the New Complexity, where density and difficulty aren’t macho barriers so much as a critique of easy consumption and inherited grammar. He’s not denying constraint; he’s skeptical of mistaking constraint for an endgame. The acid little phrase "de facto seem rather limiting" undercuts the romanticism of cultural burnout. If exhaustion is the prerequisite, you’ve already accepted a small horizon. His better provocation is that new forms don’t have to mourn the old ones; they can refuse the script that says we’re always running out.
Quote Details
| Topic | Art |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Ferneyhough, Brian. (2026, January 17). As a necessary prerequisite to the creation of new forms of expression one might, I suppose, argue that current sensibilities respond uniquely to the notion of exhaustion as exhaustion, although that does de facto seem rather limiting. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/as-a-necessary-prerequisite-to-the-creation-of-72450/
Chicago Style
Ferneyhough, Brian. "As a necessary prerequisite to the creation of new forms of expression one might, I suppose, argue that current sensibilities respond uniquely to the notion of exhaustion as exhaustion, although that does de facto seem rather limiting." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/as-a-necessary-prerequisite-to-the-creation-of-72450/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"As a necessary prerequisite to the creation of new forms of expression one might, I suppose, argue that current sensibilities respond uniquely to the notion of exhaustion as exhaustion, although that does de facto seem rather limiting." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/as-a-necessary-prerequisite-to-the-creation-of-72450/. Accessed 18 Feb. 2026.
