"It is not enough to say that speech consists of words. It consists of words referring to one another in a particular manner; and, without a proper interrelation of its parts, a verbal utterance would be a mere succession of names embodying no proposition."
In his memorable essay "Two Aspects of Language and Two Types of Aphasic Disturbances", linguist Roman Jakobson explains the creative power of language through two pivotal aspects - the metaphoric and the metonymic. These two poles function as guidelines for the spectrum of meaningful language use. The metonymic pole is characterized by the ability to assemble together different linguistic units in order to maintain a comprehensible context, while the metaphoric pole is described as the ability to replace words (or expressions) with alternative ones. According to Jakobson "A selection between alternatives implies the possibility of substituting one for the other, equivalent in one respect and different in another". The metaphoric ability enables language to become creative and innovative. By using metaphors language not only maintains its function as a means of communication, rather it creates new relations between words and expands its borders.
In light of this division, Jakobson examines two aphasic language disorders. These two types of disturbances embody a state of radical imbalance between the two poles. The first is called Similarity Disorder. Patients suffering from such a disorder find that the metaphoric aspect of language becomes paralyzed while the metonymic one continues to function. The patient can only repeat pre-existing words and phrases, i.e. what he already internalized (heard or read). Such aphasic disorder prevents from using language as a creative and innovative instrument. On the other hand, the Contiguity Disorder hurts patients' syntactical ability to connect words into sentences. Such patients refer to objects in a telegraphic, so called "metaphoric", manner. For instance a patient that was shown a glass was asked to name the object. The patient pointed at the object and replied 'drink!'.
On November 2011, the Center for Digital Art in Holon, Israel, inaugurated the exhibition 'According to Foreign Sources'. This exhibition was part of the Digital Art Center's political agenda that strives to maintain a live and meaningful socio-political discourse in Israel by means of visual and digital culture. Despite the Center's relatively small budget and its peripheral location it managed to become a leading avant-guard exhibition and research center during its ten year existence.
The exhibition 'According to Foreign Sources' examines concepts such as censorship and concealment of information as well as their pragmatic political implications. Exhibition curator Gilad Meltzer's introductory text for the exhibition begins by deciphering the exhibition's title: "A rhetorical fig leaf, the phrase 'according to foreign sources' is a common tongue-in-cheek expression in many countries, Israel among them. While the phrase derives from a situation of legal ambiguity, there is nonetheless distinctive clarity with respect to the punishment meted out to those who dare to remove this leaf". Meltzer's text declares the exhibition to be more than a visual embodiment of concepts such as censorship and governmental secrecy. It appeals to artists to take unequivocal political action - "Is it not the wish of artists to show, or rather expose and contemplate the invisible?" With these lines in mind, the spectator enters the exhibition.
Works by seventeen International and Israeli artists are presented in the exhibition, including Trevor Paglen, John Smith, Miki Kratsman and Yair Garbuz. Every artist's body of works is presented in a separated space distinctly divided from others. The hanging and placement of the works clearly intended to avoid any possible confrontation or interrelation between them. The main focus is on the thematic-conceptual relations between the exhibition's consisting elements. In light of this, the exhibition overlooks how art can contribute to the suggested topic in a manner different from verbal language. The exhibition uses art as an instrument that supports a pure verbal statement, rather than an artistic or aesthetic point of view.
Aim Deuelle Luski, Wine Barrel Camera, b/w print, 26 x 36 cm, 2011.
Most works expose real or directed situations of censorship or invasion of privacy. For instance, artist Aim Deuelle Luski presents a series of photographs taken from a special camera he created that contains sixteen viewing slots spread out at equal intervals along its perimeter. He can control the installation and location of the camera, but not the images. Locating his camera in the square at the front of the Tel Aviv Museum, Lusky reveals a series of surprising happenings. David Ginton, presents his ongoing project Back Side of a Painting, where he unravels the affinity between the painting's visible-visual aspect and the impossibility and unfeasibility of representing the thing 'in itself'. Miki Kratsman's series 'Targeted Killing' documents life in the Palestinian territories. Kratsman's photos assume the role of a 'Targeter' (a common Hebrew concept that denotes the instrument or person used by military forces to execute a suspect for terrorist activity). Kratsman follows "suspects" and pulls the trigger – only in this case, it's the camera's trigger. The different works are engaging, but their mise en scene as a group illuminates only their conceptual and verbal qualities.
When thinking about the way the works were hung Jakobson's essay immediately comes to mind. It seems that exhibitions – like sentences – are complex linguistic entities that fail quite often to present their different constructive linguistic units (i.e. the artworks) in a well balanced manner that expresses both metaphoric innovativeness and metonymic coherence. By innovativeness, I mean the use of artworks that do not emulate verbal expressions in a visual manner, but rather present new expressions and perspectives on the subject through the unique language of art. By coherence, I mean that the different art works presented interrelate to one another and create a coherent structure of the exhibition as a whole.
Miki Kratsman, Targeted Killing, b/w print, 116x170 cm, 2011
In one of the exhibition's spaces, six works by American artist Trevor Paglen are presented. Paglen's photographs were all taken in unknown secret army bases and airports. Most images are out of focus and reveal intriguing colorful compositions. Behind these blurry compositions one can identify airplanes on loading docks that suggest the possibility of a secret operation taking place. Yet it seems to me that what is fascinating about Paglen's works is not the actual activity that is hidden behind the blurriness of the photo; rather it is what is visible to us. In other words, what Paglen's pictures emphasize is what we normally fail to notice because we are so occupied with verbal interpretations of the image. In Pamela M. Lee's article 'Open Secret' that appeared in Art Forum's May 2011 issue, the author suggests possible representations of secrets through art. How can a secret appear without revealing itself and losing its most essential quality – its secrete content? The two artists that Lee analyzed in her article – Jill Magid and Trevor Paglen – both embodied secrets in their works. By pointing at the two different artistic approaches to the theme, a dialogue between Paglen and Magid was born. Although both refer to political and social topics, the encounter of the two artists in Lee's article emphasizes the artistic and aesthetic means by which the works portray these topics. The discourse is based on questions of composition, borders of the different mediums, relations between form and content, and the different uses of lines, colors and materials. These sort of visual investigations become political, relevant and powerful without subordinating themselves to the rules of the everyday verbal language. Returning to Jakobson, the exhibition 'According to Foreign Sources' suffers from a Metonymic Aphasic disturbance (what Jakobson described as Similarity Disorder). The exhibition offers a sound contextual base that visually illustrates the curator's text and other previous discussions on the subject. Yet, the exhibition is missing its metaphoric ability that will enable innovation and creation of new relationships. The metaphoric ability is essential in order to enrich the exhibition and to create a whole that is different and greater than the sum of its parts. The twentieth century invention of thematic exhibitions obliges the curator not only to provide a contextual environment for the different works, but also to become a relevant author that can enrich and engage them in a significant discourse.
Trevor Paglen, Large Hangars and Fuel Storage Tonopah Test Range, NV.
Distance ~ 18 miles 10:44 a.m.
_________________________________________________
