From the first theory seminar we were instructed to read Umberto Eco's 'The Poetics of the Open Work' and write an overview of what we thought the messages of the text were in a short paragraph without quoting Eco's words. It was quite a difficult read but got easier as I went on. Whilst reading I saw some of the same words cropping up again and again and so to help me with my summary I listed key words that I felt got across the themes of the work.
Keywords
> Perspective
> Unfinished/incomplete
> Freedom
> Interpretation
> Symbolism
> Suggestiveness
> Inexhaustible
> Indefinite
> Ambiguity
> Mobile
> Perception
> Unlimited
My view is that Eco's theory of 'Open Works' refers to works , whether that be a piece of art, design, writing, that are open in a sense that they are open to different perceptions and interpretations and allow freedom in this way, but also they are open because they are incomplete and indefinite, and mobile. Works that are not restricted in their meaning and are 'poetic' in a way that they can be analysed differently and hold different meanings for different people and also they are poetic in the sense that they include symbolism.
This/these idea(s) can be applied to our current Conversation studio brief I think, as it is an 'open' brief, we have been given guidance on things to look at but there is a freedom and ambiguity about the brief and it is open to many different perspectives as everyone will interpret it differently, also there is no 'fixed' outcome channel, so in this way the brief is also 'mobile' which relates back to Eco's theory.
