Agonisms

Gallery West, University of Texas at Arlington, 2020

The installation "Agonisms" is my reaction to the ever-increasing polarization through political tribalism and the resulting deterioration of respect for “the other” within American Society. Without the respect of the other, this polarization spirals into antagonistic conflict, a war of winners and losers. Society, especially western democratic society as a collective whole loses. Democratic society thrives through respectful conflict, with the understanding that each opponent’s intentions are to reach a greater good through consensus. This is the basis for the political theory of agonistic pluralism as theorized by Belgian post-Marxist philosopher Chantal Mouffe.

“Agonisms” is a means to counterpoise the imprudent false notion of mutually exclusive dichotomous thought propagandized by opposing stakeholders. Through cathartic object fabrication and its installation, I’ve created visual and experiential metaphors of pluralistic consensus. It’s important to recognize while the act of consensus is altruistic, it can yield unintended results that could possibly be consequential towards either party or both together.

This installation utilizes many contrasting elements: Industrial Process and the Artist’s Hand, Black & White, Red & Blue, X & O, Circle & Square etc.. Unlike western theological dualism, I do not attach moral judgments to either binary. Nor do I assign value. Each component of the installation is a dialectical dualistic-monism; where they interconnect, cohabitate, and complement each other as a cohesive whole greater than their individualistic parts. The installation is the piece. Borrowing from Saussurean linguistic theory, the installation is a semiotic network, consisting of components of bilateral signs; sensorial signifiers, and the signified.

Installation Views

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