//The Sign and Its Dispositif: A Course on Semiotic Readings of Images - 2025-26
[This course was initiated by Master's students at Ambedkar University as an extracurricular activity and was conducted at the Shyama Foundation in Delhi.]
"The Sign and Its Dispositif" was a six-week course where we met each Saturday (and sometimes also Sundays) to engage with Semiotics, the study of signs, and Hermeneutics, the theory of interpretation, and their internal conflict in order to analyse images. By considering images as constellations of signs, we explored how these signs create meaning and how we interpret them.
We began by exploring Martin Heidegger's argument that language serves not merely as a grammar to be mastered, but as a fundamental lens through which the world discloses itself. We also explored Aristotle's distinction between voice and speech and how it leads to a political orientation of humans, which led us to Ferdinand de Saussure's theory of semiology. This included concepts such as langue and parole, the signifier and the signified, the principle of oppositional difference, and the various categories of signs, including icons, indexes, and symbols.
We deepened our understanding by moving from Saussure's first order of semiology to Barthes' second order, with a specific focus on the concept of myths. We examined how myths create an additional layer of meaning embedded in the cultural structures of society. We began by exploring the nature of myths and their functions in the modern world. We noted the Marxist influence on Barthes' interpretation, particularly how he reveals that myths can render debatable concepts as 'natural' and serve an ideological purpose. We analysed Barthes' arguments in "The Death of the Author" and "A Lover's Discourse," concluding with a small exercise aimed at naturalising the myths associated with historical documentary images.
In the following session, we visited the Alkazi Foundation for the Arts in Greater Kailash, where we had the opportunity to explore their extensive image archive. Following that, we engaged in a conversation about our selected images. During the exercise, we denoted and connoted the images using annotation and layering techniques.
In one session, we discussed Hermeneutic theories by Hans-Georg Gadamer and Paul Ricoeur. We discussed and experimented with Gadamer's hermeneutic circle and Ricoeur's long route to the understanding of self, which rejects immediate, intuitive understanding in favour of a detour through language, symbols, and interpretation.
In another session, we focused on Derrida's contributions to semiotics and the structuralist school of thought, particularly how he expanded these ideas through his concept of deconstruction. We examined four of Derrida's central concepts: the transcendental signified, différance, trace, and deconstruction.
Additionally, we watched a documentary about his work and life. In the documentary, we noted that Derrida’s intention to understand and reveal the life of a philosopher beyond their birth, thoughts, and death emphasises the idea that everything is a matter of textuality—the echo's curse of repetition, and hence not a matter of secrecy. However, at the same time, we also observed a contradiction in his desire to understand the "other" while he himself refused to disclose personal details, maintaining a level of secrecy. The documentary portrayed him as a fragile, vulnerable individual—often confused and struggling to articulate his thoughts—in stark contrast to the confident and masculine image of a philosopher that he tends to project in public discourse. This portrayal served as an attempt at deconstruction in itself.
In the last session, we discussed some artistic works that, in their method, respond to other works and images.
Ultimately, the course encouraged participants to develop a response to the images that engaged them throughout the course.
