W.J.T.Mitchell - 'Iconology'

Mitchell, W.J.T. 'Iconology'. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1986, pp 40-46

Literary theorist W.J.T. Mitchell suggests in the chapter “What is an Image?” of his book 'Iconology' that the history of culture is partly made up of a struggle for dominance between language and image.1 Both make claim to ‘picturing the invisible’ – the enormity of which is not often comfortably shared by both.2 Tension arises and recurs in this history because there is a “gulf” between language and image – it is difficult to ‘speak of them in the same breath’ or ‘see both at once’.3 This “gulf” was a topic raised in Fiona Gillmore’s artist talk at Newcall Gallery this week.4

In a conversation between John Ward Knox and Fiona Gillmore, Ward Knox asked Gillmore how she felt the text he had written for the show worked in the gallery space alongside her artwork.5 Gillmore felt that having a second text would be useful to supplement the show by challenging, confusing or offering an alternative to Ward Knox’s words. This response does not reveal a dislike for Ward Knox’s approach, but rather a concern that his text would be used by a viewer to “frame” her work.6 The debate that followed exposed two opinions on this issue. The first was that the text is a work in and of itself and should be read as such, and the second was that it cannot be ignored that viewers who read the text will view the work differently than those who do not, to a certain extent it will be a “frame” to their experience of the artwork.

Perhaps these issues could be raised in a discussion of any show that is accompanied by a piece of writing, but what made the struggle between language and image particularly prevalent in this show was the fact that Gillmore’s work was dominantly experiential – it consisted of a projection of the colour yellow changing to black and then back to yellow again over the course of one hour and forty minutes. A question of generosity was raised in the discussion – how much does the artwork give to the audience? How much does it hold back? I found Ward Knox’s text very generous and warm, so I can understand Gillmore’s fear that the words will be taken as an easier route to the ‘invisible’ and that her instinct is to make the words more opaque. But what it seems that this show asks for is a ‘thinking audience’7 – one that will engage with the artwork’s attempt to picture the invisible, and also the writing’s attempt to picture the invisible; to be aware that these may not be the same ‘invisibles’ and to engage with the space generated in between. Which sounds like what Mitchell is proposing at the end of this reading.

1. Mitchell, W.J.T. 'Iconology'. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1986, pp.43
2. “Picturing the Invisible” is a subtitle used in the chapter “What is an image?”
3. The word “gulf” is first used by Mitchell on page 43
4. ‘Fiona Gillmore and John Ward Knox in Conversation’, 6.30pm Tuesday May 13 2008. Newcall Gallery - Level 1 Newcall
Tower, 44 Khyber Pass Road, Newton, Auckland, New Zealand.
5. John Ward Knox’s text is available in the gallery and will shortly be available on the Newcall website:
www.newcallgallery.org.nz
6. The word “frame” was first used by Gillmore in the talk
7. A Simon Ingram expression