// Rocking Chair //

Ash

W 22" x D 45" x H 43"

2016

In this work I tried to explore a duality of function in object and form; to find some interplay between the intended or ideal use of an object and a projected function of a form as a signifier. I chose the form of a rocking chair because it contains rigid functions within its creation; to mediate relaxation through the sensation of movement, but also to hold a personal value for many as a symbol of childhood and upbringing.

I explored the idea of signification in objects and their representations through texts.  In Roland Barthe’s Camera Lucida, I found certain parallels that could be drawn between the way one interacts with photographs and with objects.  An expanding field of context, which is shaped by an Operator and consumed by a Spectator, surrounds both. Through this interaction the two enter into a relationship of creating and recognizing intention – intention of information in a photograph and intention of function within an object. This field, for which Barthes coined the word studium, is an understanding and an agreement to engage something within the function set out by its creation. To oppose the stadium, Barthes introduces the punctum, which is a deeply personal attachment not contained within the overarching context of the photograph. It is the association of personal significance or value with an aesthetic form or representation contained within the frame of an image. This value is not contained within the original field of context of the image and by recognizing it, focus shifts from the information within the image to the information projected onto it by the viewer. In the same way, we find personal significance in the physical forms that create the objects around us because they signify associations to us as individuals. By allowing forms and thus objects to signify aspects of us as individuals, we endow them with a function separate from their original intention.