5 Case Study 1 - Leicester Research Archive - University of Leicester

In the first part of the above sentence, he constructs a representation. By saying
“so it’s not a political statement,” he makes a judgement, a categorical statement
and sets up a relation between the art work and the interpretation. Very broadly
speaking, he also sets up a subject position for himself as well as for the
audience: RF as the producer of truths and the audience the receivers of it. In the
second part of the sentence, though, he switches to probability. By saying “it
might be read as something of a political statement” he softens down the strength
of his judgement, probably because he is aware that he is just about to say
something, which could offend some of the listeners, namely, that such a culture
doesn’t offer any future to the younger generation. What this shows is that on the
one hand he affirms his authority through making a categorical statement; on the
other hand, though, he immediately steps back, and softens the strength of his
argument.
In a later paragraph he constructs a meaning relation for the term “future:”
“At the same time, you think, the future has already arrived, by way
of a bleak, urban, globalized architecture, you are actually looking
at.”
He sets up a relation between the type of architecture he describes, and “the
future,” as if the representation of the future of a town, a country or a society
could be identified or represented in architecture alone. The meaning relation
constituted here is very subjective and would probably not be found in any
dictionary. This type of subjective interpretation is very much in contrast to the
usually objective tone of museum publications.
7.4.2 Summary
Summing up, the analysis showed that the style of the text is informal; it
simulates conversation and is active, rather than reflective. Rather than narrating
a number of pre-defined fixed meanings, the curator speaks freely, makes
mistakes, and tries to encourage the viewer to feel and experience the work,
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