6.1 Poststructuralism and the deconstruction of meaning

Poststructuralism shook up art criticism in the late 1960s. It rejected fixed meanings, arguing that artworks are open to many interpretations based on viewers' backgrounds. This approach emphasized context and challenged traditional ideas about artistic intent and value.

Poststructuralist thinkers like Derrida and Foucault influenced critics to examine power dynamics in art. They focused on how institutions and cultural norms shape meaning. This led to more politically engaged criticism that questioned established hierarchies and highlighted marginalized perspectives.

Poststructuralist Theory in Art Criticism

Key Principles and Impact

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• Poststructuralism emerged in the late 1960s as a response to and critique of structuralism, rejecting the idea of fixed, universal structures of meaning
• Poststructuralists argue that meaning is not inherent in a work of art but is constructed through the interplay of text, context, and the reader's interpretation
  • Meaning is seen as fluid, multiple, and dependent on the viewer's cultural background and personal experiences (reader-response theory)
  • The artwork itself is considered an open-ended text that invites multiple interpretations (polysemy)
• The concept of intertextuality, introduced by Julia Kristeva, suggests that all texts are influenced by and in dialogue with other texts, challenging the notion of originality and authorial intent
  • Artworks are seen as part of a broader cultural network, drawing on and referencing other works, styles, and traditions (pastiche, appropriation)
  • The artist's intentions are deemphasized in favor of the viewer's role in constructing meaning (death of the author)
• Poststructuralism emphasizes the role of power dynamics and social structures in shaping the production and interpretation of art
  • Art is viewed as a site of ideological struggle, reflecting and reinforcing dominant cultural values and power relations (hegemony)
  • Marginalized perspectives and alternative readings are foregrounded, challenging the canon and traditional hierarchies of value (subversion, deconstruction)
• The impact of poststructuralism on art criticism includes a shift towards a more pluralistic, open-ended approach to interpretation and a heightened awareness of the cultural and historical context of art
  • Critics embrace multiple, even contradictory readings of an artwork, rejecting the notion of a single, authoritative interpretation (pluralism)
  • The artwork's meaning is seen as contingent on its specific cultural and historical context, rather than universal or timeless (historicism)

Poststructuralist Critique of Structuralism

• Poststructuralists reject the structuralist notion of fixed, universal structures of meaning, arguing that meaning is always contextual and unstable
  • Structuralism, as developed by Claude Lévi-Strauss and others, sought to identify underlying, universal structures in cultural phenomena (binary oppositions, deep structures)
  • Poststructuralists critique structuralism's ahistorical and essentialist approach, emphasizing the contingency and variability of meaning across time and culture
• Poststructuralists challenge the structuralist emphasis on synchronic analysis, which studies a cultural phenomenon at a particular moment in time, in favor of a more diachronic approach that considers historical change and development
  • Structuralism's focus on synchronic analysis is seen as reductive and limiting, ignoring the dynamic, evolving nature of cultural practices and meanings
  • Poststructuralists argue for a more historicized approach that situates cultural phenomena within their specific social, political, and economic contexts
• Poststructuralists question the structuralist notion of the sign as a stable unit of meaning, composed of a signifier (form) and signified (concept), arguing that the relationship between the two is arbitrary and unstable
  • Structuralist semiotics, as developed by Ferdinand de Saussure, posits a fixed, one-to-one correspondence between signifier and signified
  • Poststructuralists, such as Jacques Derrida, argue that the relationship between signifier and signified is constantly shifting and deferred (différance), leading to a proliferation of meanings

Language and Semiotics in Art Interpretation

Semiotic Approaches to Art

• Semiotics, the study of signs and symbols, plays a central role in poststructuralist art criticism, as it investigates how meaning is constructed and communicated through visual language
  • Artworks are analyzed as complex sign systems, composed of iconic, indexical, and symbolic elements (Charles Sanders Peirce's trichotomy)
  • The meaning of an artwork is seen as arising from the interplay of these semiotic elements, rather than being inherent in the work itself
• Ferdinand de Saussure's theory of the arbitrary nature of the sign, composed of the signifier (the form) and the signified (the concept), is a foundational concept in poststructuralist semiotics
  • The relationship between signifier and signified is seen as conventional and culturally determined, rather than natural or essential
  • The same signifier can have different signifieds in different cultural contexts (cultural relativism)
• Roland Barthes expanded on Saussure's ideas, introducing the concept of myth as a second-order semiological system that naturalizes cultural meanings and ideologies
  • Myths are connotative meanings that are presented as denotative, masking their ideological nature (bourgeois myths, such as the "eternal feminine")
  • Art criticism informed by Barthes' theory seeks to demystify the ideological messages embedded in artworks, exposing their constructed nature
• Poststructuralists argue that the meaning of an artwork is not fixed but is constantly shifting based on the viewer's cultural background, personal experiences, and the broader social context
  • The interpretation of an artwork is seen as a negotiation between the viewer's subjective position and the work's semiotic elements
  • Multiple, even contradictory readings of the same artwork are considered valid and revealing of the work's polysemic nature

The Role of Language in Art Criticism

• The role of language in art criticism is seen as constitutive rather than merely descriptive, as the act of writing about art actively shapes and constructs its meaning
  • Language is not a neutral medium for conveying pre-existing meanings but is itself a semiotic system that structures and produces meaning
  • The choice of words, metaphors, and rhetorical strategies used in art criticism is seen as shaping the interpretation and reception of the artwork
• Poststructuralists challenge the notion of a metalanguage, a neutral, objective language for describing and analyzing art, arguing that all language is inherently situated and perspectival
  • The claim to objectivity and universality in art criticism is seen as a mask for particular cultural and ideological positions
  • Art criticism is viewed as a discursive practice that is always implicated in power relations and struggles over meaning
• The role of the art critic is reconceptualized as that of a mediator and interpreter, rather than an authoritative judge of aesthetic value
  • The critic's task is to explore the multiple meanings and associations of an artwork, rather than to provide a definitive interpretation
  • The critic's own subjectivity and cultural position are acknowledged and incorporated into the interpretive process (self-reflexivity)

Deconstruction in Art Criticism

Deconstructive Strategies

• Deconstruction, a term coined by Jacques Derrida, is a critical approach that seeks to uncover the hidden assumptions, contradictions, and power structures within a text or artwork
  • Deconstruction involves a close reading of the artwork's formal and semantic elements, attending to its gaps, inconsistencies, and aporias (blindspots)
  • The goal is not to provide a definitive interpretation but to destabilize and question the artwork's apparent unity and coherence
• Derrida's concept of différance highlights the endless deferral of meaning and the inherent instability of language, challenging the notion of a single, fixed interpretation
  • Meaning is seen as always differing and deferring, produced through the play of differences between signifiers rather than through a stable signified
  • Deconstruction attends to the slippages and excesses of meaning that escape binary oppositions and hierarchical structures
• In art criticism, deconstruction involves interrogating the binary oppositions (e.g., form/content, original/copy) that underpin traditional aesthetic judgments and revealing their inherent instability
  • Binary oppositions are seen as culturally constructed and hierarchical, privileging one term over the other (logocentrism)
  • Deconstruction seeks to subvert and displace these oppositions, showing how each term is implicated in and dependent on the other
• Deconstruction also attends to the margins, silences, and absences within an artwork, as well as the institutional and cultural frameworks that shape its production and reception
  • The artwork's meaning is seen as constituted as much by what is left unsaid or excluded as by what is explicitly presented
  • The museum, gallery, and art market are analyzed as institutional frameworks that shape the artwork's meaning and value

Impact on Art Criticism

• The application of deconstruction to art criticism has led to a more self-reflexive and politically engaged approach, as critics examine their own role in the construction of meaning and the perpetuation of power structures
  • Critics interrogate their own assumptions, biases, and rhetorical strategies, acknowledging the situated nature of their interpretations
  • The critic's role is seen as interventionist and transformative, actively shaping the artwork's meaning and reception rather than merely describing it
• Deconstruction has challenged the notion of the autonomous, self-contained artwork, emphasizing its intertextual and contextual nature
  • Artworks are seen as part of a broader cultural network, drawing on and referencing other works, styles, and traditions
  • The boundaries between "high" and "low" art, original and copy, are blurred and problematized
• Deconstruction has led to a greater emphasis on the political and ideological dimensions of art, as critics examine how artworks reflect and reinforce dominant power structures and cultural values
  • Art criticism informed by deconstruction seeks to expose and challenge the hidden assumptions and power relations that shape the production and interpretation of art
  • Marginalized and oppositional perspectives are foregrounded, as critics explore the subversive and resistant potential of art

Poststructuralist Thinkers in Art Criticism

Michel Foucault

• Michel Foucault's concept of the "archaeology of knowledge" and his analysis of the relationship between power, knowledge, and discourse have influenced art critics to examine the institutional and historical conditions that shape the production and interpretation of art
  • Foucault's archaeological method involves excavating the underlying episteme, or system of knowledge, that structures a particular historical period or discipline
  • Art critics influenced by Foucault analyze the discursive formations and institutional practices that shape the production and reception of art in different historical and cultural contexts
• Foucault's theory of power as productive and capillary, rather than merely repressive and centralized, has led art critics to examine the micro-politics of the art world and the ways in which power relations are enacted and contested through artistic practices
  • The museum, gallery, and art market are analyzed as disciplinary institutions that shape the artist's subjectivity and the artwork's meaning
  • Artistic practices that resist or subvert dominant power relations are foregrounded and celebrated (institutional critique, activist art)
• Foucault's concept of heterotopia, or spaces of otherness that contest and invert the dominant social order, has been applied to the analysis of site-specific and installation art
  • Heterotopic art spaces are seen as creating alternative, often transgressive experiences that challenge the viewer's perceptual and ideological assumptions
  • Critics examine how these spaces disrupt and reconfigure the power relations and social norms of the surrounding context

Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari

• Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari's theory of the rhizome, a non-hierarchical, decentered model of knowledge, has been applied to the analysis of contemporary art practices that challenge traditional notions of authorship and originality
  • The rhizome is contrasted with the arborescent model of knowledge, which is hierarchical, linear, and based on binary oppositions
  • Rhizomatic art practices are seen as open-ended, multidirectional, and resistant to closure and interpretation (new media art, participatory art)
• Deleuze and Guattari's concept of the "body without organs" (BwO), a state of pure potentiality and flux, has been used to analyze art practices that seek to dismantle the organized, stratified body and create new forms of embodiment and subjectivity
  • The BwO is seen as a site of experimentation and becoming, resisting the normative codes and conventions of the "organized body"
  • Performance art, body art, and other practices that explore the limits and potentials of the body are analyzed through the lens of the BwO
• Deleuze and Guattari's theory of "minor literature," which subverts and deterritorializes the dominant language and culture from within, has been applied to the analysis of postcolonial and diasporic art practices
  • Minor art practices are seen as appropriating and transforming the codes and conventions of the dominant culture, creating new forms of expression and subjectivity
  • Critics examine how these practices challenge and reconfigure the power relations and cultural hierarchies of the global art world

Jean Baudrillard

• Jean Baudrillard's concept of simulacra and simulation, which posits that reality has been replaced by images and signs with no referent, has been influential in the critique of postmodern art and culture
  • Baudrillard argues that in the postmodern era, the distinction between reality and representation has collapsed, leading to a state of hyperreality
  • Art critics influenced by Baudrillard analyze how contemporary art practices reflect and contribute to this state of hyperreality, blurring the boundaries between art and life, original and copy
• Baudrillard's theory of the "ecstasy of communication," which describes the implosion of meaning in a world saturated by media images and information, has been applied to the analysis of digital and new media art
  • The artwork is seen as participating in the endless circulation and exchange of signs and images, with no stable meaning or referent
  • Critics examine how these practices reflect and critique the conditions of postmodern culture, such as the commodification of experience and the erosion of public space
• Baudrillard's concept of "transaesthetics," which describes the collapse of aesthetic boundaries and hierarchies in contemporary culture, has been used to analyze art practices that blur the distinctions between high and low, art and commodity
  • Transaesthetic art practices are seen as reflecting the broader cultural logic of late capitalism, in which all values and experiences are reduced to exchangeable signs
  • Critics examine how these practices both critique and participate in the commodification and spectacularization of art and culture

Hélène Cixous and Luce Irigaray

• Hélène Cixous and Luce Irigaray have developed feminist critiques of the gendered power structures embedded in language and representation, informing feminist art criticism and the analysis of women artists' work
  • Cixous' concept of "écriture féminine," or feminine writing, seeks to subvert the phallogocentric order of language and create new forms of expression that affirm female difference and multiplicity
  • Irigaray's theory of the "speculum," which critiques the masculine logic of sameness and identity, has been applied to the analysis of women artists' use of alternative media and strategies of representation
• Cixous and Irigaray's theories have led feminist art critics to examine how women artists challenge and reconfigure the gendered conventions and power relations of the art world
  • The work of women artists is analyzed as a site of resistance and subversion, creating new forms of subjectivity and desire that exceed the masculine symbolic order
  • Critics examine how women artists' use of alternative media, such as textiles, performance, and video, challenges the traditional hierarchies and values of the art world
• Cixous and Irigaray's emphasis on the embodied, affective, and relational dimensions of language and experience has informed feminist art criticism's attention to the sensory and participatory aspects of women's art practices
  • The artwork is seen as a site of intercorporeal exchange and dialogue, blurring the boundaries between artist and viewer, subject and object
  • Critics examine how women artists' use of collaborative, interactive, and site-specific strategies challenges the individualist and formalist values of modernist art criticism

Interdisciplinary and Political Impact

• The influence of poststructuralist thinkers has led to a more interdisciplinary and politically engaged approach to art criticism, as critics draw on a range of theoretical frameworks to analyze the complex relationship between art, language, and power
  • Art criticism informed by poststructuralism incorporates insights from fields such as philosophy, psychoanalysis, sociology, and cultural studies
  • The artwork is seen as a nexus of social, political, and cultural forces, requiring a multidisciplinary approach to interpretation and evaluation
• Poststructuralist art criticism has challenged the formalist and depoliticized values of modernist criticism, insisting on the ideological and contestatory nature of all art practices
  • The autonomy and neutrality of the artwork and the art institution are seen as myths that mask their implication in broader power relations and struggles
  • Critics examine how art practices both reflect and intervene in the social, political, and economic conditions of their production and reception
• The influence of poststructuralist thinkers has led to a greater emphasis on the transformative and emancipatory potential of art, as critics explore how art practices can challenge dominant power structures and create new forms of subjectivity and sociality
  • Art is seen as a site of resistance and experimentation, creating alternative ways of seeing, thinking, and being in the world
  • Critics examine how art practices can contribute to social and political struggles, such as anti-racism, feminism, and anti-capitalism, by creating new forms of solidarity and collective action