Seminar IV - Hyung Chul Shin
1. Essence and attitude
Criticism is interpretation. However, this interpretation is different from the kind of explanation the artist gives to state his or her intention. It’s not about delivering what is already complete, but is a type of ‘creation’ in the process of extracting and delivering what lies deep in the work. In that sense, interpretation is about re-writing the work, where ‘depth of produced consciousness,’ or the logical completion, becomes the criteria for evaluating the quality of interpretation.
2. Stages and ideal
Reading text (or art work) includes three stages of ‘annotation’, ‘interpretation’, and ‘arrangement’. Taking note involves verifying the ‘truth’ factor of the text, and ‘interpretation’ extrapolates the meaning on the basis of such facts. Lastly, ‘arrangement’ involves assessing what significance lies in such inferred meaning, and finding the most suitable context for such text. Here, ‘interpretation’ goes beyond extrapolation of meaning; its objective should be to endow irreplaceable aspect to the work, and to arrive at such exclusivity, the ‘internality’ of the work must be discovered and a sense of eternal vitality should be projected on the work.
3. Writing and regulations
Analogy can be drawn between writing and building a house. There are three rules to construct writing on paper rather than on ground: First is to find the appropriateness on which to build the text. One must build a house where there is a need and appropriateness for one. Giving a text such appropriateness for existence signifies generating ‘consciousness’. While consciousness has many meanings, it’s different from taste or point of view. Secondly, one must find the most perfect sentence that can never be replaced by any other sentence or expression. Lastly, just like architecture, writing should be neither excessive nor lacking. Sturdy and concrete text must be constructed, where addition or elimination of a paragraph, or even a sentence, can lead to completely collapse of the text.