Deconstruction
Having diligently read through the entire entry for Jacques Derrida in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy , I found it a bit too deep, but think that over all, he wanted to strip things right back to the bone, and then try to turn them on their head and make sense of them from there. Thus coming at a situation constructively, but from an opposite direction. In doing so we enable ourselves, free of historic influence, to potentially ask different and seemingly less obvious or less well addressed questions, hopefully coming up with fresh answers, and even fresh questions.
Derrida’s approach was very much that of the metaphysical approach, and flying in the face of this was the Greek philosopher, Plato’s philosophy. Plato’s philosophy is somewhat ethereal, opting (in his hierarchical structure) to set essence above appearance. Derrida chose to ‘deconstruct’ this, and rebuild it in reverse. In doing so he was able to say that a) the two were not opposites, and b) that ultimately essences was reduced to immanence. That is to say that essence can now be said to come from or be within appearance.
Learning log. Derrida
This is all a little ‘off width’, but it is easy to see that by asking the question, challenging the accepted, we are able to push the boundaries and discover new meanings, hypothetical, real or merely thought provoking.
Importantly, before we are able to deconstruct, lets’s say, a sentence, we first have to understand the sentence and what it is telling us. Without getting too deeply philosophical, this is much easier to do with a sentence than it is with a photograph, as by its very nature, a photo is usually more ambiguous. To help us better understand an image, we need some tools. Many of these are provided by our old friend Roland Barthes. See after exercise.
Exercise
Deconstructing this image
- Man in suit. Professionalism. Clean cut, trustworthy, diligent.
- It is dark. Man is working late. Dedicated.
- Spectacle. Suggest intelligence.
- Man is studying a piece of paper. Attention to detail, diligence.
- Reflection in windows. Closeted from the outside world. Able to concentrate.
- City lights. Temptation. Avoided. Strength of character.
- Elevation is high & he is looking down. Superiority. Rising above the hoi polloi. Better than the rest.
- Table. Meetings. Sharing ideas, professionalism, power, industry.
- Glass of water on table. Clean and healthy lifestyle. Clear headed. Clinical.
- Pen & paper on desk. personal touch, grounded, not flashy, understated.
- Two chairs. Discussion, trading of information, decision making.
- Blue swish. Blue suggests laser, fast, direct. Also magical, making things happen that you would be amazed at, beyond the normal.
- His reflection and swish and disc are outside too. Interaction with the outside world. Delivering.
- Man standing in blue circle. He has not noticed because this is commonplace. He is the centre of it and all things go through him (decisions etc)
- No ceiling/ high ceiling. Calm, clean, airy. Good working environment to aid good decision making.
- Dark polished wooden floor. Suggests success, sophistication, class & quality.
- Single key question. Located in a box which is interrupted by his body. Suggests he is delivering the question. Personal.
- Speech box interrupted by swish. You are part of the technology and the exciting journey.
- Company logo large but at bottom of page. Not intrusive, viewer is more important.
- All minor details at bottom of image. Not interrupting the viewing experience, but there for you to see at the end of your visual journey.
Learning log. Tools for deconstruction.
Learning log. Research point, Insomnia, Jeff Wall.
Learning log. Continued research, Arbus
I see! 