Deconstruction and Art

Long before I had ever heard of deconstruction in literature, I knew about deconstruction in art. The most famous piece of deconstruction in the art world is easily the Guggenheim museum. Deconstruction is everywhere in the world of architecture. Anytime you see a building that is highly asymmetrical and non-linear, you are probably looking at a building that was influenced by deconstruction. Kendall Hall is actually probably not deconstruction, as it predates the movement in architecture, by the way.

While deconstruction is usually associated with architecture within art, it is not limited to that field. Dada can be seen as a sort of precursor to deconstruction. Dadaists announced that they were against art, against meaning, and against Dada itself. They sought to change what all of these things meant.

Because of this, I have to admit that I am going into this unit with a lot of preconceived ideas about what Deconstruction is which may not actually be correct. I am biased against it (I really don't like Dada) but I am willing to keep an open mind. In fact, it might be this unit makes me reevaluate what I think of deconstruction in the art world, since it will give me a better idea of what deconstruction actually is--where it emerged from, what its original purpose was, and what significance it has today.