Shusaku Arakawa
The Mechanism of Meaning(No.2)11. Mapping of Meaning
- Artist
-
Shusaku Arakawa
- Date
-
c.1963-1988
- Medium
-
Oil on canvas
- Dimentions
-
244.0×173.0cm
- Accesion Number
-
AS-005-55~60
-
© 2016 Reversible Destiny Foundation. Reproduced with permission of the Reversible Destiny Foundation
Mapping of Meaning refers to the process of expressing the meaning or relationships of something through diagrams or alternative forms.
What matters here is not whether things look alike, but how they correspond to one another. Just as a map represents real locations on a flat surface, words, images, and symbols convey meaning by establishing relationships with something else.Even seemingly unrelated things can be understood as a mapping if a shared rule or correspondence can be found between them.
This exercise explores how one thing can be translated into another by examining such relationships. For example, the strings stretched across a landscape painting transform its dimensions into musical scales, while a book may be represented through various diagrams or forms. Through these transformations, the exercise seeks to make visible meanings and connections that would otherwise remain unnoticed. In other words, Mapping of Meaning is not about depicting an object itself, but about expressing the relationships and structures that exist behind it in another form.
Shusaku Arakawa
- Artist
-
Shusaku Arakawa
- Date
-
c.1963-1988
- Medium
-
Oil on canvas
- Dimentions
-
244.0×173.0cm
- Accesion Number
-
AS-005-55~60
-
© 2016 Reversible Destiny Foundation. Reproduced with permission of the Reversible Destiny Foundation