The artwork reflects the real sociological survey
which has been conducted on the sites of the transnational oil corporation bp
over several years of research in conditions of complete underground.
Only
3 out of more than 100 participants stated that the oil corporation did not
cause any harm to the environment - all 3 were employees of the head office,
what is indicated in the artwork in dark green. Light green reflects a slightly
larger number of those who doubted the unambiguity of the harm. And the
overwhelming majority unequivocally confirmed the harm caused by oil
production. What was not surprising - they were all employees of operational
sites, what is designated respectively by three shades of yellow - offshore,
onshore and export pipelines. Those who work on the sites are definitely closer
to earth and truth. In a certain sense, this was not only a social survey, but
also an artistic happening. For more details on how it was carried out, please
follow the link - www.niyazmamedov.com/the-underground/#18-04-2020 .
Sociological Survey was
part of my many years project ‘Semiosis of Meta-Abstract Symbols /
Phenomenology of Freedom’ - https://niyazmamedov.com/category/underground/page/2/ - that ended in 2023. It has been carried out
at the intersection of art and semiotics research, which resulted in a number
of innovations related both to the formal aspects of art / theory of art and
semiotics - It has been carried out at the intersection of art and
semiotics research, which resulted in a dozens of artworks and a number of
innovations related both to the formal aspects of art / theory of art and
semiotics - Post-Simulacrum, Signometaphors, Peripheral Meanings-Controlling
Signs, Dynamics of the Development of Meaning, Post-Brand Existence of Signs,
Theory of Reverse Influence of the Sign, etc. - the theories that make it
possible to visualize answers to questions arising from complex modernity.
Much of this research was
carried out in conditions of complete art underground inside the transnational
oil corporation bp where I’d made ‘deep dive’ for the unbiased and unrestricted
studying political/social/environmental aspects of its activity that were the
subject of my interests at intersection of art & semiotics. It was an
unprecedented experience of penetrating the holy of holies of what should be
explored, and when the research was completed, I left the dystopia having sent
preliminarily a letter to bp CEO, substantiating in detail my proposal to
liquidate the oil corporation as axiologically unjustified.
All my observations and
conclusions were described in the theoretical work ‘The Script’ divided in two
parts: 'The Underground' (related to the closed community of the transnational
oil corporation - https://niyazmamedov.com/the-underground/ ) and
‘Art & Signs’ (related to reflections regarding art and semiotics - https://niyazmamedov.com/art-signs/ ).
One of the most significant
achievements (or discoveries) during the project was the Theory of Peripheral
Meanings-Controlling Signs, in which an attempt was made to give the dynamics
of the development of meaning to the static images. The understanding of this
necessity comes from the fact that any image in the picture, being static, is a
priori false in relation to the depicted, since the sign (which is any display
of an object or state), which replaces the referent, always lags in the process
of reflecting the real state of things, and the referent always running away
from us. Any semiotic sign that translates meaning is not a "what",
but a process - the process of conveying meaning - a state that is absolutely
unthinkable in the category of static. Paradoxically, within the framework of
visual art, it is possible to create a conditional effect of the dynamism of
the objects and states under study, revealing in their visuality the process of
developing meaning, which, as it were, has not yet been completed, but brings
us closer to understanding the essence of things, and perhaps still continues. This
is a very visual story.
According to this
theory, such dynamism can be achieved by placing the peripheral
meanings-controlling signs in a pro-semantic zone of gray color, where gray
gradations give rise to a visually perceptible dynamics of the development of
meaning - both the referent of the meanings-controlling signs themselves and
the central object depicted in chromatic colors (placed in the pre-conceptual
dynamism of the background gray zone), supplemented and reinforced by
meaningful signs. “In the shades of gray color of peripheral
meanings-controlling signs, the dynamics of the development of meaning is
revealed, although formally residing in the static nature of what is depicted”
- www.niyazmamedov.com/art-signs#17-02-2016.