Short Essays Due on February 26th

Dear all,

Here are some questions that I think you may reflect upon while writing your short essays. Depending upon your writing styles, you may use only one of these or several of them. What I expect you to do is to perceive these questions as an exercise for thinking upon what you will write. That means, do not answer all af them as if you are filling out a questionnaire. That would be too superficial for a short essay like this - as you would guess. Try to focus on a certain aspect of the artwork and elaborate on that. Another important point is that you may write a paper without  necessarily answering these questions (except for the first one). Be critical, creative and show me you gave a thought on what you wrote. Take these points as a possible guide, not as exam questions.

- Very very briefly introduce the artwork you will be writing on. Give the basic technical information (about the artist, title, time period, technical attributes, if you think relevant, etc.). 5-6 sentences max.

-How is language incorporated into the image? Are the visual qualities of the words part of the image? Or the meaning? Or any other attributes?

- Do the words have a special meanings?
If so, how does it affect the way the image is seen?
If not, is there a certain logical structure behind the meaningless of the text?

- What do you think would happen if language were not used in the artwork? Could the messages be changed? How could the meanings be altered? Would it be more ambigious? How would this ambiguity change the way in which you see the work?

- Do you have additional texts that support the artwork (like information panel texts)? If so, what may be the relationship of these texts to the image as opposed to that of the text which is a part of the work?

- If you were to translate a written text as part of the artwork, what strategies would you adopt?

You are welcome to establish initial connections with any relevant theoretical framework (of linguistics, semiotics, visual arts, art history, etc.). That would very well work if you decide to write a final paper on this subject, which means I don't expect you to cover a theory and make an indepth analysis. But at least it may be a good start for specifying the focus of your final paper if you intend to write on this particular subject.