The project explores the notion that the potential of non-verbal gestures can serve as a form of textual representation. Focusing on the hand movements of listeners during readings of T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land,” this project examines how these unconscious gestures can become a self-referential language system that reflects and extends the context, narrative structures, and emotional landscapes of the original text.
The title draws directly from Ferdinand de Saussure’s theory: the 'signifié' (signified) represents the concept or meaning that is conjured in the mind when encountering a 'signifiant' (signifier), such as a word, image, or, in this case, a gesture. Just as each reading of a text brings forth unique interpretations, every gesture unveils distinct emotional and cognitive landscapes, suggesting that meaning is not static but dynamically reshaped in every interaction.
By considering these gestures as signifiers, "Signifié" investigates how they might develop their own meanings, understood and shared among viewers, thus potentially forming a new, communal language system. This exploration challenges the traditional boundaries of linguistic interpretation and prompts a reevaluation of how meaning is both constructed and communicated.
