Languages and Cultures Seminar | Abstract artworks ‘speak’ to fewer people and have less to ‘say’ than figurative works

Event Details

Date:

Friday, 28 August 2015

Time:

1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

Room:

209

UQ Location:

Gordon Greenwood Building (St Lucia)

URL:

Event category(s):

Full Description:: Dr Kari Sullivan, Lecturer in Linguistics, School of Languages and Cultures, The University of Queensland will present a seminar entitled 'Abstract artworks ‘speak’ to fewer people and have less to ‘say’ than figurative works.

When an artwork interests you, the work metaphorically ‘speaks’ to you. But what determines whether it ‘speaks’ and what it ‘says’? In this talk, Kari will discuss two studies showing that artworks’ subject matter affects how they ‘speak’. Both studies look at corpora of artists’ statements, and analyse how artists metaphorically describe their artworks as speaking, telling stories, screaming, or otherwise vocalising.