Bhabha

'The bilateral space of the symbolic consciousness, Barthes writes, massively privileges resemblance, constructs an analogical relation between signifier and signified that ignores the question of form, and creates a vertical dimension within the sign'.

Bhabha, H. (1990), Interrogating Identity: Frantz Fanon and the Postcolonial Prerogative

'John Locke's famous criteria for the continuity of consciousness could quite legitimately be read in the symbolic register of resemblance and analogy....the agency of depth brings together in an analogical relation (dismissive of the differences that construct temporality and signification) that same consciousness uniting those distant actions into the same person, whatever substances contributed to their production.'

'Barthes' description of the sign as symbol is conveniently analogous to the language we use designate identity. At the same time, it shed light on the concrete linguistic concepts with which we can grasp how the language of personhood comes to be invested with a visuality or visibility of depth.'

Bibliography 1

Barthes R, Mythologies, Vintage, London, 2000
Burrell D, Analogy and Philosophical Language, Yale University Press 1973
Deleuze G, Difference and Repetition, Continuum, London, 2004
Foucault M, The Archeology of Knowledge, Routledge, London, 1995
Gablik S, The Re-enchantment of Art, Thames and Hudson, London, 1995
Genette G, The Aesthetic Relation, Cornell University Press, New York, 1999
Holyoak K and Thagard P, Mental Leaps, MIT Press, Massachusetts, 1995
Hughes J, Lines of Flight - Reading Deleuze, Sheffield Academic Press, Sheffield, 1997
Kant I, Critique of Judgment, Translated by Werner Pluhar, Hackett, Indianapolis, 1987
Kant I, Critique of Pure Reason, Translated by Werner Pluhar, Hackett, Indianapolis, 1996
Mascall E L, Existence and Analogy, Libra, London, 1966
Menke C, The Sovereignty of Art, MIT Press, Massachusetts, 1998
Palmer H, Analogy, Macmillan, London, 1973
Paz O, The New Analogy, Errata, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, 1970
Pillow P, Sublime Understanding, MIT Press, Massachusetts, 2000
Saussure F, Course in General Linguistics, Fontana / Collins, Glasgow, 1977
Stafford B M. Visual Analogy, MIT Press, Massachusetts, 2001

2

Subject
My MA thesis explored the concept of analogy in a fine art context, exploring the ways in which the term can be used as a framework for creative practices, from the conception and construction of a piece, to its subsequent reading, distribution, and perpetuation as an idea. Analogy defines the process by which one thing is recognised to be like another, and on the strength of this likeness it deduces that there are other likenesses between them, thus creating strands of association that display the world in terms of layered recognition and likeness. Akin to a thesaurus, analogy locates similar objects or models to a given proposition so that it can be explained in other terms, and when the given proposition is unknown or unrecognised by others, it can be used to locate a known similarity shared by a community of receivers so that the proposition can be identified or remembered via the demisting of synonymy. Any mode of reasoning founded on the suggestion or recognition of a relationship of similarity shared by two objects or sets of objects, is an analogous thought, and when these formats of perception are successful in locating and applying analogues of sameness, they allow us to infer the ontological and phenomenological likeness binding otherwise far-removed objects, illuminating and adapting definitions of their being in a way only obtainable through such comparison. My MPHIL studies will look to explore the ways in which, and to what extent, Fine Art practice is a manifestation of analogical thought and propositions.


Analogy has its root in the Greek word ‘analogia’ meaning 'proportion', and it is it’s computational process of finding correspondences with a conception of appropriate proportionality that allow it to mediate structures that involve relations between objects, and causal relations that lie within the problem of what is relational. The analogous mind educates itself as it continually makes links from concept to object, refining thought in the knowledge of previous refinements as it moves from semblance to resemblance, from presentation to representation, developing identities of sameness and difference until the universe appears as a system of correspondences. Analogising is a high-level perceptual process prevalent in such cognitive tasks as creation, explanation, and decision-making, simultaneously at work in the introduction of new concepts via the association with the familiar, and in the re-addressing of familiar histories with the retrospect of recurrent trends post-event. In his ‘Course in General Linguistics’, Ferdinand de Saussure addresses analogy as a creative force within language whereby models of existing communication are used to craft and argue for the evolution of other forms in keeping with the continuity of their structures, enveloping the sprawls of configurations composed by the naturalistic development of grammar and the tangible logic of an actively adaptive and imitating vernacular.

Focus
Analogy is an expansive term and I aim to maintain focus on its existence as a tool of creativity and drive within Fine Art practice. It is a part of the contemporary vernacular used to think critically about art, and also has prominence in fields of theology, cognitive science, and semantics/linguistics. I intend to explore analogy’s presence and role in the following subjects relating to an artist’s practice…

1. What is Analogous?
2. Arguments from Analogy
3. Quantitative/Qualitative
4. ‘The Central Thing’
5. Metaphor
6. Aesthetic Attention
7. ‘Symbolic Hypotyposis’
8. Sameness and Difference
9. Synonyms/Antonyms
10. ‘Matching’
11. Styles
12. Links and Searches
13. Empathy
14. Analogy vs. Allegory
15. Concealing and Revealing
16 ‘General Anesthetic’
17. The Accepted Known / The Unacceptable Unknown
18. ‘Play’
19. Interpretation
20. Analects

I understand that the multiple and discursive natures of these subject areas suggests the necessity to establish a greater degree of focus, but I intend to utilise an encompassing approach that allows me to scaffold around my central arguments.

1

My aim is to find an analogy between such cultural specificities as curation and modes of display for contemporary art, through both theoretical and practical components. In order to do so, I aim to A: analyse existing research methodology (such as mapping, phenomenology, semiotics), B: identify the analogical (curatorial) characteristics of curation (analogy), C: make analogies between A and B, D: explore the possibilities of said discoveries through practice.