Deconstruction - Dan Kozerski

The way I understand deconstruction, from this reading, stemmed from the idea that a copy of an artist’s work doesn’t always live up to the aesthetic of the original piece, and the connection of that concept with speech versus writing.

I think that artists have an interesting opportunity to manipulate others’ minds with their visuals, audio, or whatever other medium because of the time that thought offers. When someone is speaking, unless previously memorized for a special occasion, the words that come out are improvisational, or close to it. Because of this, the speaker usually has the advantage of being able to further explain themself, retract what they have said (given the situation), etc., but writing, or a piece of design for that matter, doesn’t quite offer that leeway. That privilege is surrendered when the opportunity to reach satisfaction within one’s mind, before ever presenting anything to others, is granted. The final product should stand on it’s own. When thinking about reality and representation, in regards to this idea, my thoughts of reality really gravitate toward speech and representation toward writing, or design.

Utilizing this tool as a designer to make one’s audience have to work to obtain the entire meaning of a piece, as done by Allen Hori in the poster on page 8 and like I previously mentioned, is how I define deconstruction. Breaking down someone else’s thoughts using that method is something I find to be extremely hard when speaking “off the cuff,” which is something valuable writing and design offer. Take a look at how engaging this piece by Stefan Sagmeister is.