Representation By Stuart Hall, 1997

One and Three Chairs
Joseph Kosuth
(American, born 1945)
One and Three Chairs, Joseph Kosuth, 1945

Cultural theorist Stuart Hall offers an extended meditation on representation. Moving beyond the accuracy or inaccuracy of specific representations, Hall argues that the process of representation itself constitutes the very world it aims to represent, and explores how the shared language of a culture, its signs and images, provides a conceptual roadmap that gives meaning to the world rather than simply reflecting it. Hall’s concern throughout is the centrality of culture to the shaping of our collective perceptions, and how the dynamics of media representation reproduce forms of symbolic power.

Stuart Hall: Representation & the Media also available via Kanopy