CONTEXT – DIFFERENT THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS

Text topic: Context in Arts and Media

Text author: Маја Станковић

This article presents different theoretical frameworks for analyzing the notion of context. It starts from linguistic interpretation as the earliest attempt of defining the context in relation to the performative: conventional and participatory context. Then, it continues with deconstruction of the context which represents breaking with the linguistic approach and, at the same time, raising the context to the level of a term. The next theoretical framework is the Bourdieu’s concept of a social field as a field of forces that gives to the context a relational character – set of relations rather than elements – and sets it free from substantial recidivism. Nevertheless, the Deleuze’s term of a rhizome and assemblage as rhizomatic model of connectivity makes a radical shift from dualistic matrix evident in all previous approaches: formalistic (artwork vs. context), linguistic (text vs. context, subjective vs. objective), deconstructivist (presence vs. absence, the recipient vs. sender) and the social field as a field of forces (in vs. out). The liquid context – the term taken from Bauman (liquid modernity) is a new framework for defining the context which is related to contemporary moment and contemporary art and includes achievements of all previous theoretical frameworks.