Burnt Norton
Installation
School of Art and Design Building, George Mason University | February-March, 2012
In the poem Burnt Norton, T.S. Eliot is aware of the instability of words and the fragility of human expression. He fears for mankind, his concerns especially reserved for city dwellers. Removed as they are from the majesty of nature and preoccupied with technology, he worries that even the Word (or Logos) is lost on them.
Using only the synonym function in Microsoft Word, each member of re:collective appropriates the same section of Burnt Norton as his or her own. The changes are made in a cumulative and sequential fashion, with each panel serving as a starting point for the next. The simple gesture of replacing words with random synonyms renders the passages unintelligible. Yet, as such they give Eliot’s concerns a voice other than his own.
Stripped of context, words become the sum of their physical shape; each panel presenting the viewer with a random visual interpretation of the piece by a member of the collective. While no sense can be made from reading the panels, together their fluctuating silhouettes question not only the instability of meaning but also originality, authorship, and the role of technology as the new purveyor of chance.
No comments:
Post a Comment