Abstract
M.Tech.
My research investigates the relationship between context and the interpretation of signs within ‘scripto/visual’ communication processes. I focus on the belief that no interpretation is context free. I have experienced that context is not consistent as it is based on the cultural, social and personal backgrounds of each individual. As there is always a context that serves to anchor the sign to our experiences, we construct a specific meaning when we interpret a sign. This specific meaning is, however, not necessarily the one originally intended by the sender. Central to my project is the argument that the choices made which affect the interpretation of signs when encoding and decoding them are influenced by the context of both the sender and the receiver, as well as the specific context within which the exchange takes place. I have chosen, amongst many other modes of sign interpretation, the operational processes of similarity and association. I investigate why both of these processes, in relation to the unfixed nature of context, are problematic and result in miscommunication. I have chosen to include discussions on specific artworks by two South African artists: Joni Brenner and Willem Boshoff as I feel that both artists make work in response to the fact that interpretation does not produce a ‘fixed truth’.