Darboven and the Semiotic, Part I:

Hanne Darboven's numerical drawings and daily writing of blank script deploy language-based signifiers in a manner distinct from ordinary communication. Her effort to present material signifiers as figural and visual marks in themselves is a rejection of their function as mere symbols encasing or designating an object or concept. In this way, Darboven's writing aligns itself with "poetic language" as it was defined by the Russian Formalists and later elaborated by Julia Kristeva with her notion of the "semiotic." Excerpts from Kristeva's "From One Identity to an Other," a paper first published in a 1975 issue of Tel Quel, posit a compelling theoretical framework within which to consider Darboven's work. Find Kristeva's texts in tomorrow's and the following day's web pages.

PHOTO: Hanne Darboven, "Today Crossed Out, a Project by Hanne Darboven", Artforum XXVI/5 (Jan. 1988): 72.




For introductions to the major principles of Hanne Darboven's work, please click on the days of the week (e.g. M, T, W). For additional information, click on another date of the month.

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