"Living in the present" and "being up-to-date" are different but have some similar roots Living in the present - Don't think about the past or future (problems etc) just focus on what is happening now. More about an emotional connection with now. being up-to-date - Keep in touch with what is happening now and future. No requirement to forget the past. Less of an emotional statement that above. The text is saying artist need to move on from the postmodern view and connect with real life problems. In my opinion that what postmodernism was doing anyway :)

In may cases they are same problems - origin of the word is riddle or question. The emotion behind the issue thens to be less or neutral difficulties - implied that skill or ability can be used to overcome. The issue can be more emotional.

I am going to answer just the question of the difference between TO, TOWARD and TOWARDS I would say TO is correct TO in this context means "go to the kitchen". The kitchen is the only place you are going and it is one location. There is no doubt it is the kitchen you are aiming for. TOWARD in this content mean you are moving in the direction of the kitchen but you do not intent to go to the kitchen. This would be true if the phone was between you and the kitchen. The difference between TOWARDS and TOWARD is partly difference between UK English and American English and also the Associated Press (AP) style dictates that “toward” is always correct.

"from different arenas" It is a tricky one as the sentence refers to both the geographical and philosophical. It means "from different arenas" of philosophy because the sentence is more concerned about the political/social elements than the physical location of any group. In my opinion the sentence is working too hard and should be split up. This section "from several different corners" seems a bit unnecessary. A reduced version but I am still not happy that it flows: Western Marxists, surrealists in France, Latin America and In the postwar era School theorist Herbert Marcuse in his book Eros and Civilization (1955) — claimed that sexual repression was a negative effect of advanced capitalism in industrialized societies.