Semiotics Aesthetics Critical Frameworks

1. Semiotics AestheticsCritical Frameworks and

2. Semiotics According to Umberto Eco, “semiotics is concerned with anything that can be taken as a sign.” The discipline is concerned with meaning-making and representation in many forms For example, TV shows, advertisements, music and photographs. Importantly, semiotics is concerned with both intentional and unintentional communication.

3. Semiotics • Semiotics is a complex and interesting field of study, but we can focus on a few key concepts that are necessary to understand how visuals mean. First we need a few definitions: • Signified- a discrete unit of meaning; the referent • Signifier- “something that stands for something else, to someone in some capacity”. Typically these are referred to as signs, natural signs or symbols

4. Semiotics Signifiers usually stand in for an absent signified.

5. Semiotics • Sign- a signifier for which there is (roughly) a one-to-one correspondence w/ the signified • Nazi SS • Natural • Sign- a signifier which is part of or has a causal relationship to the signified • Storm • Symbol- a signifier that is usually conventional but somewhat ambiguous or polysemous • Storm, quick, powerful, inspiration, electrical • shock, it can mean any one or a combination

6. Semiotics In verbal language signifiers are usually arbitrary. Why does “tree” mean ? In visual “language’ this is rarely the case. There is typically some kind of relationship, visual or metaphoric, that binds the signifier to the signified. Hitler’s SS wanted to be thought of as fast and powerful and feared, so metaphorically they wanted to be like lightning. And even though the sign doesn’t look like the real thing it does share a similar line quality, dynamics and directionality, (and it is also an “SS” for Schutzstaffel (literally 'protective squadron’). More (disturbingly ironic) Polysemia!

7. Semiotics When a signifier comes to function as a sign for a complex signified it becomes a cliché. Cliché is merely a placeholder or “dead metaphor” that no longer evokes the feeling, richness or complexity of the signified. Instead, it simply evokes another signifier. A heart typically conjures the word “love” in our mind without calling forth the rich, complicated emotions or elaborate social relationships that “love” stands for.

8. Semiotics Do these do anything more than evoke the word ”love”, “death”, “evil”, “religion” or “god” in your mind? Do you FEEL love or loved, or mortal, or ecstatic? Butterflies? Gnawing anxiety? Largeness of spirit? Do they make you ponder any of the strangeness, wonderfulness, complexities or contradictions of the signifieds they purport to represent ?

9. Semiotics Meaning is determined by three factors: semantics: the relationship of signifiers to what they stand for (signified) syntax: the formal or structural relations between signifiers (grammar, design principles) pragmatics: the semantic relations of signifiers to each other & to interpreters (CONTEXT)

10. Semiotics The semantics of heart, skull, and cross remain unchanged. The syntax (formal relationships) have changed radically. Scale, position, rotation, color, etc. The pragmatics (semantic relationships) have also changed. Isolated cliché signs have merged to create a single symbol Whose meaning is much more ambiguous. The relationship to the interpreters has not changed (it is still projected on a screen for art students!) but we can imagine other contexts for this image...

11. Semiotics As Mylar balloons in a cathedral it becomes a sly, ironic commentary on religion’s consolation for death.

12. Semiotics As graffiti on the side of the Disney Castle it becomes a protest about the pandering of cliché and the “death” or commodification of childhood innocence.

13. Aesthetics From Hellenistic times up until the beginning of the last century the term aesthetics was used to describe the philosophic and artistic study of beauty, sentiment and taste. We will focus on a more modern and useful conception of the term. Aesthetics are the shared or individual notions of wholeness, precision correctness, importance and esteem that influence the ways we interact with each other and the world. Aesthetics is the study of societal, sub-cultural or individual expressions of values.

14. Aesthetics In the visual arts the term aesthetic is most commonly used to describe artists choices of style, medium and subject. Rockwell’s aesthetic might be described as linear, graphic naturalistic paintings focusing on idealized or sentimental depictions of America and Americans.

15. Aesthetics This usage of “aesthetics” is correct, but it is incomplete. A fuller consideration would include not only his choices and intentions (his conscious values) but also expressions of cultural, regional, or psychological values which he neither intended nor was fully aware of.

16. Aesthetics We have learned from semantics that meaning is not singular and it is not stable. Aesthetics reveal how meaning is also layered. Overt meanings- meanings that are intentionally encoded by makers AND consciously decoded by viewers Covert meanings- expressions of cultural or individual values that were not intentional OR are not consciously decoded by the viewers and yet still influence their values.

17. Aesthetics Overt- purchasing a Plymouth is exciting and will win you the admiration of your family; families are warm and supportive

18. Aesthetics Covert- you can buy love and respect; the father’s role is to be absent and provide for the family; men/boys do, girls/women wait; women have no identity separate from house or children (face sandwiched b/n house and unified w/ children) etc. etc. etc. Normative is white, Christian (wreath), heterosexual, married, suburban (looming house with domesticated nature at border (dog, tree, birds); as their neighbor (POV too close to be from street and we aren’t the dad, everyone is looking at him); if you want any of this bliss buy a car

19. Critical Frameworks • A critical framework is a consistent set of descriptive and prescriptive principles for thinking and problem solving. It helps to direct your perception and focus your thinking by: • Helping to identify what there is and what is important. What do I pay attention to? • Helping to determine what kinds of questions to ask. What do I need to figure out? • Helping to establish criteria for verification and value. How do I know if what I think is true? An if it is true, how do I know that it’s important?

20. Critical Frameworks The scientific method (or more precisely the hypothetico-deductive method) is one example of a critical framework used in the sciences. In the humanities there are many different kinds of critical frameworks that vary by specialty. We will focus on three that are commonly used in the visual arts: 1. Structural analysis 2. Feminist analysis 3. Deconstructive analysis

21. Critical Frameworks Structural analysis Focuses on formal relationships, visual elements and principles of design or systemic relationships such as economies and flows rather than the semantic meanings of the objects in themselves

22. Critical Frameworks Feminist analysis Focuses on questions of: Power “The gaze", (who looks at who and when and for what reason) social construction of norms Audience/artwork/artist relationships Psychology and motivation "Pleasure in Genre" The tendency of to enjoy & return to familiar stylistic tropes & narrative structures

23. Critical Frameworks • Deconstructive analysis • Focuses on generating associations & metaphors and linking these into new webs of meaning. Deconstruction is based on indeterminacy: Signifiers refer only to other signifiers, which in turn refer to other signifiers, etc… • Deconstructive frameworks encourage us to keep thinking, to not let ourselves ”off the hook” with quick easy answers. Things are always more connected & complex than they may seem.

24. Critical Frameworks Formulate some questions using each of the critical frameworks. Structural Analysis Feminist Analysis Deconstructive Analysis

25. Critical Frameworks Formulate some questions using each of the critical frameworks. Structural Analysis Feminist Analysis Deconstructive Analysis

26. Critical Frameworks Formulate some questions using each of the critical frameworks. Structural Analysis Feminist Analysis Deconstructive Analysis

27. Critical Frameworks A final note: By now it should be fairly clear how using critical frameworks can improve your critical thinking skills. However it is important to realize that they are also mental tools that will enhance your creativity. The ability to shift perceptual frameworks and engage in flexible, yet rigorous thinking can lead to new insights, novel approaches and unforeseen connections. They can help hone our instincts, confirm (or question) our intuitions, and prepare us to recognize the chance solution.