Deconstruction

In this seminar we looked at deconstruction and how it is useful within design. We looked at how a designer had deconstructed a book in order to produce a new book. In this session we were given a number of different passages in which we had to cut out parts which we found interesting and arrange them on a page. We then numbered them and responded to questions which were asked after rolling a dice and saying the phrases that we had selected and numbered. This was a fun session and some of the outcomes were extremely amusing.

I found the topic of deconstruction incredibly interesting and therefore I went to research it even further. 

Deconstruction is a method of critical analysis of philosophical and literary language which emphasizes the internal workings of language and conceptual systems, the relational quality of meaning, and the assumptions implicit in forms of expression.

In terms of art and design it means a form of criticism first used by French philosopher Jacques Derrida in the 1970s which asserts that there is not one single intrinsic meaning to be found in a work, but rather many, and often these can be conflicting.

A deconstructive approach to criticism involves discovering, recognising and understanding the underlying and unspoken and implicit assumptions, ideas and frameworks of cultural forms such as works of art.