 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 some to be a hallmark of modernism, as distinct from postmodernism.Many artists have aligned themselves with the avant-garde movement, and still continue to do so, tracing their history from Dada through the Situationists and to postmodern artists such as the Language poets around 1981.