...Deconstructivism, in the Work of Peter Eisenman Art and Architecture ABSTRACT Deconstructivism is the packaging of ideas emerging from Modernism, Post modernism, Postavant-garde and Poststructuralism, to create a new architectural fashion. A Deconstructivist idea, an idea regarding both art and architecture, seperates, severes, breaks, fragments, but that at the same time, reconstitutes the bits and pieces gained in the process into a comprehensive principle, a controlled chaos. Just like any movement, the effect of Deconstruction on both art and architecture is somehow similar. Comparing 2 pieces, one artistic and the other architectural, you can see how art and architecture are closely related and affected by one another. The thing that arouses the debate "Is Architecture an art form?". It is important to mention that in 1984, with the construction of the first deconstructivist project "Parc de la Villette", Deconstructivism first became art. Going back to the origins of Deconstruction, it is a philosophy discussed by the French philosopher Jaques Derrida who had a big impact on architects and artists. Derrida was a friend of architect Peter Eisenman, which made the latter a pioneer in Deconstructionism. Eisenman drew some philosophical bases from the literary movement Deconstruction, and collaborated directly with Derrida on some projects. He is known for his strong interest in architecture theory; architecture as a conceptual, cultural, and intellectual enterprise...
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...ANALYZING THE CONCEPT OF DERRIDA’S DECONSTRUCTION IN SAMUEL BECKETT’S WAITING FOR GODOT ANALYZING THE CONCEPT OF DERRIDA’S DECONSTRUCTION IN SAMUEL BECKETT’S WAITING FOR GODOT Deconstruction is a literary theory and philosophy of language derived principally from Jacques Derrida's 1967 work Of Grammatology. The premise of deconstruction is that all of Western literature and philosophy implicitly relies on a metaphysics of presence, where intrinsic meaning is accessible by virtue of pure presence. Deconstruction rejects the possibility of a pure presence and thus of essential or intrinsic meaning. Due to the impossibility of pure presence and consequently of intrinsic meaning, any given concept is constituted and comprehended from the linguistic point of view and in terms of its oppositions, e.g. perception/reason, speech/writing, mind/body, interior/exterior, marginal/central, sensible/intelligible, intuition/signification, nature/culture. Derrida says that one member is associated with presence (more highly emphasized) while the other is associated with absence. He proposes “difference” - a perpetual series of interactions between presence and absence - where a concept is constituted, comprehended and identified in terms of what it is not and self-sufficient meaning is never arrived at. Derrida's theories on deconstruction were influenced by the work of linguists such as Ferdinand de Saussure and literary theorists such as Roland Barthes (whose works were an investigation...
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...which is essentially the heart of postmodernism. A thing, which may be nothing, may be something when viewed differently. Hence, something that does not exist in a work of art may be seen through the connotation of the thing in some other aspects of our lives. For instance, a sun may signify hope, which may then signify attainment of dreams, which may signify success, and so on – the possibility is infinite. From this single thing in a work of art, we may infer different things in different perspectives. However, we may convey a specific meaning in our work when we present the sun with other different things connected to it, making the items interconnected and forming distinct, closely-related messages. Nevertheless, conveyance of ideas by applying postmodernism doesn’t end in what we see, because, in truth, there are many more ideas that are yet to be seen. What strikes me the most about postmodernism is the disorientation that it incites from people. The deconstruction of what is because it is not and what is not because it is. From this, we are obviously confused for how can a thing be something when it is nothing or be nothing when it is something. Here comes the quality of postmodernism that is usually paradoxical, full of irony. What we want to impart is often hidden beyond the surface of a work of art, waiting to be unveiled by a keen mind. The sun previously mentioned may signify hope but at the same time may imply an ending to everything when it sets in the west. Again...
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...faced with a choice: either reject deconstructive narrative or conclude that context is created by communication, given that narrativity is equal to art. Therefore, the subject is interpolated into a subcultural patriarchialism that includes language as a reality. Bataille’s essay on capitalist posttextual theory implies that truth is fundamentally responsible for hierarchy. In the works of Eco, a predominant concept is the concept of deconstructivist language. But if deconstructive narrative holds, the works of Eco are postmodern. The premise of the precultural paradigm of narrative holds that art is used to entrench the status quo, but only if Baudrillard’s critique of capitalist posttextual theory is invalid; otherwise, Sartre’s model of textual libertarianism is one of “Foucaultist power relations”, and therefore part of the futility of culture. “Sexual identity is unattainable,” says Baudrillard; however, according to Long, it is not so much sexual identity that is unattainable, but rather the stasis, and some would say the dialectic, of sexual identity. Therefore, the subject is contextualised into a capitalist posttextual theory that includes sexuality as a totality. Marx promotes the use of patriarchialist discourse to challenge capitalism. But the subject is interpolated into a neoconceptual deconstruction that includes art as a whole. Lacan uses the term ‘capitalist posttextual theory’ to denote not discourse, as Marx would have it, but subdiscourse. Therefore, the characteristic...
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...To what extent did Soviet culture perform a political role in the USSR in the years 1924-53? Following the death of Lenin, Stalin's totalitarian regime relied heavily on fear, however it is undeniable that Soviet culture also played a large political role in the USSR throughout the years 1924-53. Stalin believed that culture and arts should perform a social and political role, and so it can be said that Soviet culture was as much a part of social control in the Soviet Union as the Great Terror was. In the early stages of Communist rule, the Soviet authorities tolerated a large amount of diversity in revolutionary art and culture. The 1920s in Russia was considered to be a period of experimentation within the disciplines of art, music and architecture. Russian art in the 1920s often celebrated modern industrial technology, therefore it promoted the revolutionary government. However, due to Stalin's expression of his discontent with Soviet art, the 1930s saw the deconstruction of this artistic and cultural diversity. Stalin claimed that revolutionary art, when fully understood, should not express individual creativity, but instead should showcase government views. Artistic experimentation ended under Stalin's leadership during the 1930s, culture now had to serve a political purpose and promote socialism, along with its achievements (particularly the achievements of the Five-Year Plans). 1932 saw the reorganisation of Soviet literature, when it was proposed that all Soviet writers...
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...Literary Theory and Schools of Criticism Introduction A very basic way of thinking about literary theory is that these ideas act as different lenses critics use to view and talk about art, literature, and even culture. These different lenses allow critics to consider works of art based on certain assumptions within that school of theory. The different lenses also allow critics to focus on particular aspects of a work they consider important. For example, if a critic is working with certain Marxist theories, s/he might focus on how the characters in a story interact based on their economic situation. If a critic is working with post-colonial theories, s/he might consider the same story but look at how characters from colonial powers (Britain, France, and even America) treat characters from, say, Africa or the Caribbean. Hopefully, after reading through and working with the resources in this area of the OWL, literary theory will become a little easier to understand and use. Disclaimer Please note that the schools of literary criticism and their explanations included here are by no means the only ways of distinguishing these separate areas of theory. Indeed, many critics use tools from two or more schools in their work. Some would define differently or greatly expand the (very) general statements given here. Our explanations are meant only as starting places for your own investigation into literary theory. We encourage you to use the list of scholars and works provided for each...
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...literature in universities in the last two decades have been marked by the growing interest in and bitter division over a set of related theoretical approaches known collectively as Literary Theory. Many Departments have become divided between "theory people" and opponents who see themselves as defending the traditional values central to the culture against Theory’s perceived anti-humanism. Literary Theory is part of a wide-spread movement in the culture which has affected a number of disciplines, occasioning similar disputes in some, a movement which has explored and elucidated the complexities of meaning, textuality and interpretation. Literary Theory is not a single enterprise but a set of related concepts and practices — most importantly deconstruction, post-Althusserian ideological or 'political' criticism, post-Lacanian psychoanalytic criticism, New Historicist or 'cultural' criticism, some reader-response criticism and much feminist criticism. The aim of this essay is to define the issues that ground these contemporary literary theories. There have always been literary theories — about how literature works, what meaning is, what it is to be an author and so forth. The central interpretive practices in force and in power in the academy which are being...
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...The Question of Objectivity in Husserl and Heidegger This paper discusses the question of objectivity in Husserl and Heidegger and their respective views. Husserl addresses the question of objectivity by means of investigating the consciousness, where as Heidegger emphasizes knowing reality means knowing being. The view of each philosopher as well as arguments and counterarguments with respective examples are examined. In order to understand objectivity, Husserl asserts that the answer is found in perception and consciousness. Through investigation of our mind we can know reality. In order to understand reality one must understand phenomenology and phenomenological reduction. Phenomenology is a category of Contemporary Continental Philosophy that rejects the practical Kantian notion that the thing itself cannot be known. Husserl, unlike Kant, believes that the phenomena do reveal things themselves. He believes that by going “back to things themselves,” one can grasp an aspect of a thing’s true essence, and accordingly objective reality. Phenomenology embraces realism, which is the revelation of the existence of an objective reality outside or apart of one’s mind. In principle, Husserl supposes that the world is objectively real and that it is not a creation or illusion in one’s own mind. Thus, Husserl argues that things can be known through the phenomena; the manifestation of things themselves. To counter this argument, Kant may suggest that you cannot know things themselves...
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...as written works have more precedent, and will be more reliable in their eyes. Postman relates his thesis on media and culture to America, and its typographical culture, a society based around images and art. He describes America as a typographical culture because of its reliance upon television and the entertainment it brings, and how it influences the populations thinking and sense of truth. Postman states that there were many steps for America to reach a typographical culture, and that it started with what he calls the peek-a-boo world. Postman discusses how America, during the colonial period through the mid nineteenth century, was very literate and approached the world from a rational perspective. This rational thought came from written word, because it challenged the reader to judge the rational propositions it presented as true or false. However, Postman shows that this era changed with the invention of the telegraph and widespread reproduction of photographs. Because of this instantaneous transference of information, society became less focused on understanding the context of the information, but rather on irrelevant information, coupled with an influx of images devoid of context. This broke down rational discourse in America in postman’s eyes. This deconstruction of rational thinking and discussion slowly lead toward the age of show business, as Postman says (Postman, 83). He states that with the invention of the television, America has slowly begun to value entertainment...
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...paradigm of reality, one is faced with a choice: either accept textual precultural theory or conclude that the collective is capable of truth. Thus, an abundance of deconstructions concerning not materialism, but postmaterialism may be found. The subject is contextualised into a textual capitalism that includes sexuality as a reality. Therefore, the characteristic theme of the works of Fellini is the dialectic, and eventually the meaninglessness, of predialectic class. The subject is interpolated into a constructivist discourse that includes art as a whole. In a sense, Derrida uses the term ‘rationalism’ to denote the bridge between narrativity and society. Bataille suggests the use of neotextual rationalism to deconstruct sexist perceptions of class. 2. Rationalism and the material paradigm of discourse “Consciousness is intrinsically responsible for hierarchy,” says Derrida. It could be said that the primary theme of Prinn’s[1] analysis of the patriarchial paradigm of narrative is the role of the writer as artist. If textual precultural theory holds, we have to choose between rationalism and Lacanist obscurity. But the subject is contextualised into a textual precultural theory that includes reality as a reality. Rationalism implies that consensus is created by the collective unconscious, given that art is distinct from language. It could be said that Long[2] states that the works of Fellini are an example of posttextual capitalism. Debord promotes the use of the...
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...Question: 1 Abstract This paper examines the polemical issues in the application of literary theories to the field of literature and literary criticism. Out of the several modern approaches to literary criticism as employed by the critics, four literary theories are strategically chosen for analysis in this paper; Formalism, Structuralism, Post-structuralism/Deconstruction and Marxism. This work is objectively carried out by consulting articles, journals and books written on the literary theories. The opportunity of information technology via the internet is also utilized. It is established in the course of writing this paper that literary theories are indispensable tools for literature to achieve its goal of sensitizing its audience towards literary awareness. The application of literary theories to literature, that enhance better and detail insight into text or literary works, would continue to be relevant and make literature more enjoyable and meaningful to its readers and users. Further research and enquiry into the relationship between the two (literature and literary theory) is open and should further be exploited. Keywords: literary theory, literary criticism, Marxism, Formalism, Structuralism, Post-structuralism Introduction Literary criticism is the study, evaluation and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals. Though the two activities are closely...
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...Throughout the era of booming technology and ever shifting gender roles, the gradual erosion of traditional gender definitions is evident. The timeline showing the chronology of shifts in portrayal of women in media is crucial to demonstrate how traditional gender definitions are slowly deconstructed over time. Having made her first debut in the early 1960s, Barbie brought the message “Girls can be anything” to the age of a new generation of girls and women (Boomen, 2009). It is important to note that despite claims that she symbolizes the ‘cultural plastic’ phenomenon, Barbie has revolutionized girl’s doll playing (Boomen, 2009). Before the invention of Barbie, girls were still playing with baby dolls that aimed to foster domestic skills and to prepare them for stereotypical future roles as mothers (Boomen, 2009). Acting as a counter opposite to the former girls play, Barbie is not a doll for girls to simulate and practice motherhood on. In fact, Barbie acts as a platform for girls to freely create and project on her any identity they wish to take on, only to be limited by their creativity. In summary, Barbie is not confined to the traditional social expectations of women. Beneath her seemingly stereotypical idealistic exterior, she is an independent career woman with estimated eighty professions, ranging from a presidential candidate to a nurse (Boomen, 2009). Barbie does not engage in domestic duties and as stated by Lord, motherhood definitely wasn’t Barbie’s area of interest...
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...Artist Deconstruction Pablo Picasso was born on October 25th, 1881 in Malaga, Spain. Pablo is a famous painter who was influenced by symbolism and some say started the movement of cubism. When Pablo was young he showed a great potential in drawing. Pablo didn’t care for schoolwork and mostly wanted to draw all day long (Ghare, 2011). When he was 14 he applied to the School of Fine Arts which typically only takes older people, much older, then Picasso was (Ghare, 2011). However, his entrance exam was so extraordinary that the school felt it was important to make an exception (Ghare, 2011). Picasso moved to Paris where his adult career began to flourish. The paintings by Picasso are typically categorized into periods based on the mood and style of Picasso. The first is called the, The Blue Period, which happened from 1901-1904. It was called this because his paintings were mostly in blues and greens. The subjects of these paintings were prostitutes and beggars. The second period called The Rose Period was from 1905-1907 because he mostly used orange and pink. From 1907-1909, the African Period, he was inspired by African art and artifacts. Lastly, we have Cubism which occurred from 1909-1912 and used mostly monochrome brown colors (Ghare, 2011). With cubism, Picasso was able to re-create his subjects often breaking them apart and reconstructing within the painting (Ghare, 2011). Pablo was a sensational artist and changed the world of art with his paintings. He was married...
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...Strategic management Why strategy? Important simultaneous changes • Terra trends (e.g. aging populations, climate change) • Economic trends (e.g. debt crisis, unemployment) • Technology trends (e.g. nanotechnology, 3D printing, cyber physical systems) • Meta trends (e.g. religions, multiple modernities) Informed customers • More transparency, more information Smart competitors • Innovation, efficiency and surprises Aggressive new global players • China, Hedge Funds Increasingly scarce resources • Commodity supercycles Volatile capital markets • Return of the State Impatient investors • CEO tenure 4-6 years! Black swans Why should we be concerned about strategy? • Need to find new sources of growth • Acceleration of market growth, uncertainties • New competitive threats Clausewitz Strategy requires • Creativity • Purpose • Leadership • Ambiguity • Surprise • Culture Theory should support thinking • Not instructions Strategy: a system with many components • It is not the individual component that matters but the system as a whole With interactions • Outpouring of a conflict, force and counterforce • Not the opponents but their relationships are important • Pushing the use of force until will is broken • Fixed and flexible Strategy can only be planned for the beginning of the confrontation • Consent to modifications • Role of leadership Major role of the talented leader • Judgement + courage Strategy...
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...Fear and Loathing Postmodernism Postmodernism is a philosophical term that describes an era or movement in American culture marked by attitudes of skepticism which challenges many of the ideals of Modernism. As an opposition towards the modern era, Postmodernism can be identified in art through its related terms such as fragmentation, hyper-realism, deconstruction, pastiche and ambiguity. Specifically, postmodernism refutes such concepts as reality, the ability to reach perfection, absolute truth, the structures of capitalism, ideals represented within popular culture, political values and other core concepts related to the structures of American culture. The concept is often criticized as a truism for its ambiguity in its very definition. Ironically, ambiguity in relation to truth is as much a description of the term as it is a concept practiced within the cultural movement. For this reason, the term is perhaps most simplistically exemplified and defined through media texts which encode its ideologies. One such media text includes Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, a film adapted from Hunter Thompson’s 1972 novel. In the following essay, I will define the concept of postmodernism through Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The media text uses humor to challenge modernistic ideas of one’s ability to achieve the Utopian “American dream,” which is often defined as the realization of ultimate happiness and success. Specifically, Fear and Loathing’s satirical refute of the existence...
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