Jacques Derrida

b.1930,  Algeria; d.2004 France)
 

Jacques Derrida was, amongst other things, a philosopher concerned with the structural limitations of meaning, language and writing.

Integral to his position is his use and conception of quotation marks: any word, and any statement, can be put in quotation marks, changing the meaning and the intention behind it. This radically alters our perception of meaning, honesty, originality, seriousness and the self-presence of the person who makes the statement.

The quotation lifts the statement from it’s context, allowing language and those using it to repeat the statement indefinitely. Derrida shows us that although quotation seems to disrupt ideas like ‘truth’ and ‘honesty,’ the ‘iterability’ (repeat-ability) of language is a structural necessity of language: Language would not be able to function without it!

REFERENCE: Signature Event Context, inDerrida, Jacques, Margins of Philosophy (Trans. Alan Bass), University of Chicago Press, 1982
 
 
AUD$25.00 + Postage
 

Art as Art project

Established 2007 Melbourne, Australia

“”

2007, Perforated and Printed Adhesive Tape
 
“” is a celebration of Derrida’s work. The quotation mark is a common and powerful thing, it’s a reminder that we need to continually question our preconceptions about language, meaning and original.
 
 
 
 
 
 
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