A Semiotic Reading and Discourse Analysis of Postmodern Street Performance

Abstract

Postmodern street art operates under a set of references that requires art educators and researchers to adopt alternative analytical frameworks in order to understand its meanings. In this article, we describe social semiotics, critical discourse analysis, and postmodern street performance as well as the relevance of the former two in interpreting the latter. To illustrate how the meaning of postmodern street performance is a socially constructed fluid variable that is situated, generated, and utilized in a particular context of discourse, we provide examples of analysis of street performances by Berlin-based artist Aram Bartholl. Finally, by garnering insights from this discourse analysis, we offer several conclusions. In the end, we propose the employment of social semiotics and discourse analysis as a more reflexive way of understanding postmodern street art practices.