I then began to research into Russian Formalist Viktor Shklovsky who coined the term 'defamiliarization' in his essay 'Art as Technique'. I felt it would be beneficial to print off the entire essay and analyse certain aspects of the essay itself which directly relates to art and defamiliarization.
After
reading Shklovsky’s ‘Art as Technique’, a complete understanding was
gained in relation to the habitualization of life which overrules most of our
everyday actions. I began by highlighting certain words and sentences which
affects the way I think of art and what it should accomplish due to its ability
to differentiate itself from the mundane routines of life. Shklovsky readily applies the effects of
automatization and defamiliarization to poetry in particular, but often relates
this to art, as poetry is a creative act in itself. Through my analysis of the
essay itself, I attempted to highlight those parts which relate specifically to
art and life to make it all the more relevant to my theme.
I
found the most interesting parts of the paper to be in the description of the
automatization of life and the fact that we only really encounter anything once
in our life and after that, nothing has the same effect upon us and this is why
things become almost automatic. Shlovsky’s references to algebra and how words
are replaced with symbols. This could then relate to communication being
replaced by actions in day to day life and miscommunication and the consequences
this can have. In my own work, I tend to look into representing ideas through
symbolic objects and the connotations which they convey which is then worked
upon conceptually and aesthetically and I find the general idea of algebra and
its relationship to defamiliarization to be quite an interesting link which I did
not connect before reading ‘Art as Technique’. The concept of recognition is
also mentioned, and how once we recognise something, we never truly perceive it
the same way we did the first time, and therefore significance is lost. He then
goes on to speak about how speech is replaced through ‘phrases unfinished and
words half expressed’, as we continue to replace things which results in a loss
of meaning through a continuation of what develops into unconscious actions. In
an attempt to reawaken the sensation of life, the effects of defamiliarization
evoke us to see the familiar in a strange way, allowing us to re-encounter it
in our life.
Quotes from Art as Technique which I felt related to my theme.
“Art is
thinking in images.”
“Without
imagery there is no art, and in particular no poetry.”
“Economy of
mental effort”
“Thinking
by means of images”
“The
purpose of imagery is to help channel various objects and activities into
groups “
“To clarify
the unknown by means of the known.”
“It
survives chiefly in the wake of Symbolism.”
“Images
change little”
“They flow
on without changing”
“Images
belong to no one.”
“The
artistry attributed to a given work results from the way we perceive it.”
“Imagery as
a practical means of thinking, as a means of placing objects within categories;
and imagery as poetic, as a means of reinforcing an impression. “
“Emphasize
the emotional effect of an expression”
“Law and
aim of creativity.”
“General
laws of perception, we see that as perception becomes habitual.”
“Automatic”
“All our
habits retreat into the area of the unconsciously automatic.”
“Such
habitulation explains the principles by which, in ordinary speech, we leave
phrases unfinished and words half expressed.”
“Things are
replaced by symbols.”
“By this “algebraic”
method of thought we apprehend objects only as shapes with imprecise
extensions; we do not see them in their entirely but rather recognize them by
their main characteristics.”
“We only
see its silhouette.”
“Perceived
thus in the manner of prose perception, fades and does not leave even a first impression.”
“The
essence of what it was is forgotten.”
“Algebrization”
“The over-automatization
of an object, permits the greatest economy of perceptive effort.”
“They
function as through as formula and do not even appear in cognition.”
“Couldn’t
remember”
“Since these
movements are habitual and unconscious, I could not remember”
“Impossible
to remember”
“Conscious
person had been watching – established”
“No one was
looking, or looking on unconsciously, if the whole complex lives of many people
go on unconsciously then such lives are as if they had never been.”
“And so
life is reckoned as nothing.”
“Art exists
that one may recover the sensation of life”
“Make one
feel things.”
“The
purpose of art is to impart the sensation of things as they are perceived and
not as they are known.”
“Technique of art is to make objects “unfamiliar”.”
“Increase
the difficulty and length of perception”
“Must be
prolonged”
“Experiencing
the artfulness of an object; the object is not important.”
“After we
see an object several times, we begin to recognize it.”
“We know
about it but we do not see it.”
“We cannot
say anything significant about it.”
“Art removes
objects from the automatism of perception in several ways."
“Makes the
familiar seem strange by not naming the familiar object.”
“Defamiliarizes”
“Is made
familiar both by the description and by the proposal to change its form without
changing its nature.”
“Technique of
defamiliarization”
“In life
people are guided by words, not by deeds.”
“Continues to
use the technique even though the motivation for it [the reason for its use] is
gone.
