WORD & IMAGE

The simplest relation between them: –Words and environment may correspond to (match with) one another.

They are a frequent tool of advertisers, propagandists, protestors, government and other groups trying to communicate a message.

The opposite extreme occurs when the image and the words do not illustrate but rather contradict one another.

This contradiction was explored by artist Rene Magritte: “This is not a pipe.”

Find a new name for an ordinary object.

An effective design does not always involve such an obvious mismatch. But a simple, obvious match between text and image is seldom an effective technique.

When the relationship between words and images is not too literal, then the viewer must play a more active role. –The images do not just illustrate the words. –The words do not just explain the images. –The viewer must discover the main idea herself. –The viewer must participate in creating the meaning of the message.

Sometimes the ambiguity cannot be resolved. Without a narrative context, the meaning of each image becomes ambiguous. –Words can highlight this ambiguity.

David Shrigley

The effectiveness of a design often depends on: The contrast (the difference) between words and images; The ambiguity of words, images, and their relationships.

Words in spaces

曾建華 Tsang Kin-Wah 无题 - 香港

“Interior” is hand-printed on paper for the reason that mechanical production of images excluded almost all the physical and emotional involvement of human from a work, which would finally become a uniform machine product without any difference. This, in turn, creates a great contradiction between the uniqueness of emotion, feeling and foul language. m

These similar but unique hand-printed Arial bold type text covers all the surfaces of a room from the ceiling to the walls and the floor, which combined with the site and its interior space. For the viewers, they are entering into a specific interior space, someone's or many others' psychology and minds, which is screaming and shouting, surrounding and encompassing them.

Words in public spaces

STATEMENTS 1968

All Images Copyright © Peter Chou

WE ARE SHIPS AT SEA NOT DUCKS ON A POND

BIG STONES MOVED HERE & THERE BETWEEN THE HEAVENS & THE EARTH

Statement of Intent

1 The Artist may construct the work 2 The work may be fabricated 3 The work need not be built Each being equal and consistent with the intent of the artist The decision as to condition rests with The receiver upon the occasion of receivership

Park in Process