- Doctoral thesis

Abstract

A Study on Deconstruction of signified in Contemporary Art


                                                                                                      Kim, Eui Sik
                                                                                                      Thesis For a Doctorate Degree
                                                                                                      Dept. of Science of Fine Art
                                                                                                      Graduate School of Hongik University, 2018
                                                                                                      Supervised by Prof. Lee, Soo Hong £¦ Kim, Mi Jin


The art and post-modernism of the 20th century shares the strategy of dismantlement of letters and overturn. The subjects they try to dismantle and overturn are the western traditional logos centrism, rationality and system, metaphysics, dichotomy of subjectivity and objectivity, coding, and all values that are turned into standards and norms. In other words, the modern art utilizing letters can be interpreted as post-modernism with deconstructionism  trait. This study pays attention to the possibility of scope expansion of the modern art through concept changes and deconstruction of the letters appearing in the modern art based on post-structuralism discussion.
  To that end, it was thought that multilateral analysis is needed through philosophical discussions on concept of writing¡¯s change, psychoanalytic approach to loss, and discussion on generative space creation. First, 20th century art development and text changes were examines, in the process of defining the concepts of ¡®différance¡¯and ¡®écriture¡¯of Jacques Derrida dissolution of meaning of letters and another possibility for development of symbol system were witnessed, and psychoanalytical approach to Perte through the discussion on melancholy of Julia Kristeva, pulsion de mort, and Chose was attempted. As a philosophical discussion for generative space creation, mise en abyme of abyss space, diagramme of the space for endless change and combination, and combination of chora space and semiotic were adopted and arranged to examine the possibility of applying it to the works of this author. Based on these discussions, as an example of art scope expansion in the modern art history, the works of Jenny Holzer who make conflicts of meanings by producing works of texts themselves through recombining methods of independent sentences and Tracey Emin who expanded to ¡®self-confessing art¡¯ by disclosing trauma in a public area were examined, and what those works pursue was discussed.
  The works of researchers are continuous experiment of sculpture research based on expansion of written languages and pure vision by attempting the meeting of ¡®constructed object¡¯ or changed bones through dismantlement of original function of letter symbols. Accordingly, the process from the confession art to the recent works which are reminding the objects of experience through deconstructionism thinking is analyzed through the division of three steps on the works from the year 2010 to the year 2016. The first step is ¡®meaning¡¯ which disclose the meaning in the personal experience of letters and objects used in the works. The second step is ¡®deconstruction¡¯ which deconstructs the meaning of letter symbols in the say of pleasure and change. Third step is ¡®creation¡¯ which moves to the world of pure structure by becoming the expanded space with lots of holes. Through this analysis, the works of researchers are the process in which the meaning of bones and writing as objects expressed in the personal experience area to expansion as the pure structure space which remind the real. And the image of bones of researchers s not simply the reappearance of shape of bones, but the constructed object, and acquire the universality as the death of human beings which are the existence of mortal beings beyond the death of personal experience. In addition, the identity of research works starting from confession art are expanded through functional reinterpretation of letter symbols.
 This study examined above all the possibility of expansion of the modern art which use letter symbols. Based on this, it is hope that there would be clues to consider about new discussions or types of new arts to appear in the future and address it, and it is also hope that this study would serve as a meaningful foundation for next projects of researchers.