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Photographies

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An Intersemiotic Translation of a Mobile ArtProject to a Photographic Essay

Letícia Alves Vitral, Daniella Aguiar & João Queiroz

To cite this article: Letícia Alves Vitral, Daniella Aguiar & João Queiroz (2016) An IntersemioticTranslation of a Mobile Art Project to a Photographic Essay, Photographies, 9:1, 91-107, DOI:10.1080/17540763.2016.1146627

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17540763.2016.1146627

Published online: 19 Apr 2016.

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Letícia Alves VitralDaniella AguiarJoão Queiroz

AN INTERSEMIOTIC TRANSLATION OF A

MOBILE ART PROJECT TO A PHOTOGRAPHIC

ESSAY

VIA is a mobile art project (video-dance and computational music) semiotically translatedto photographic media by means of formal constraints derived from selected properties ofRio de Janeiro’s predefined downtown routes. Under the constraints of street buildings andthe morphology of the routes, questions regarding the influence of the bodily movements ofthe urban space led to the creation of a dance typology. This typology is related topedestrians in the area and to the structure of the buildings spans where the performancehappened. The dance movements captured in the videos were restricted and regulated bythe physical environment and its main features. Here, an intersemiotic translation of amobile art project to a photographic essay is presented and described. It strongly relates,and tentatively explores, both an artistic research praxis and a theoretical discussion. Theessay explores an analogous semiotic effect from the VIA project on the photographic essayas a result of this investigation.

Introduction: the VIA project

VIA is a mobile art project combining video-dance, computational music and archi-tecture. Its main goal is to endow public locations of downtown Rio de Janeiro withvideo-dance and music performances, accessed through locative media (smartphonesor tablets). In short, any user equipped with a tablet or smartphone with an Internetconnection has free access to experimental multimedia pieces of video-dance and musicwhile moving through specific points in Rio de Janeiro.

The VIA website is the main way of learning about the project, as it provides allthe necessary information, including a map that indicates the specific locations whereusers are able to access the multimedia pieces of the project. Two “Vias”, or routes,can be selected on the map, “Via 1” or “Via 2”. Each of them is a distinct route on themap linking specific locations according to landscape features (as we shall explain inthe next section). Besides the website, the public can also learn about the projectthrough printed maps distributed in Rio de Janeiro’s downtown areas where VIA islocated. The distributed maps are the same as the website’s, except for the fact that

Photographies, 2016Vol. 9, No. 1, 91–107, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17540763.2016.1146627© 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

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there is not a distinction between Vias 1 and 2. It also includes the addresses of thelocations in order to guide viewers through the project.

The main technology employed to access the project is the QR Code. As a result,mobile technology users connected to the Internet are able to access the multimediapieces of the project, experiencing environments in which information and virtualobjects “overlap” physical reality. It is important to note that this effect of overlappingis due to the methods of production of these pieces, which will be explored further inthis article. One of the project’s main features is that viewers can access the pieces atthe exact same location where the video and the music were created. Each multimediapiece is the result of artistic investigation of video-dance, computational music, and thearchitectural space1 of downtown Rio de Janeiro.

Because of specific properties that can be found in the VIA project, it was decidedto produce a photographic essay as a result of a translation. VIA’s properties allowreflections on the relations between different sign systems. In the next section, we aregoing to introduce the fundamental notions and aspects of this process.

Modelling an intersemiotic translation

Intersemiotic translation2 (IT) was defined by Roman Jakobson (114) as “transmutationof signs” — “an interpretation of verbal signs by means of signs of nonverbal signsystems”. IT is a phenomenon of interest in many fields of research, such asComparative Literature, Translation Studies, General Semiotics, Interarts andIntermediality Studies. Since Jakobson’s definition, the term has gained a broadermeaning and now designates relations between systems of different natures, and it isnot restricted to the interpretation of verbal signs (Clüver 43; Gorlée; Plaza).Consequently, this process is observed in several semiotic systems and phenomena,including literature, cinema, comics, poetry, dance, music, theater, sculpture, paint-ing, video, and so on.

Despite being performed quite often and in a large variety of cases, projectsregarding a translation to photography are still not widely properly investigated.“Deluge” (2006), by David LaChapelle, is an example of how the visual structureof a painting and its semantic features can be intersemiotically translated to aphotograph — the source sign is the homonymous fresco painted by Michelangeloon the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel during the years of 1508‒1512. Anotherexample, by the same photographer, is “The Last Supper” (2009‒2012), wherethe target-sign is a series of 13 photographs depicting the faces and hands of Jesus,Mary Magdalene and the apostles as they are presented in the homonymouspainting by Leonardo da Vinci (1495‒1498). Another example, but from archi-tecture into photography, is the series “Framework Houses” (1959‒1973) byBernd and Hilla Becher. They photographed the typical framework houses ofseveral cities in the Siegerland region of Germany, creating a typology of con-struction styles of such houses.

As we have argued in other works (Queiroz and Aguiar; Aguiar and Queiroz,“Semiosis”, “Modeling”), intersemiotic translation is a semiotic process (semiosis or

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“sign action”). In a semiosis, a sign is understood as the medium for communicating aform to the interpretant.

a Sign may be defined as a Medium for the communication of a Form. . . . As amedium, the Sign is essentially in a triadic relation, to its Object which determines it,and to its Interpretant which it determines. . . . That which is communicated from theObject through the Sign to the Interpretant is a Form; that is to say, it is nothing likean existent, but is a power, is the fact that something would happen under certainconditions. (MS 793:1‒3. See EP 2.544, n.22, for a slightly different version)3

The object of sign communication is a habit embodied as a constraining factor ofinterpretative behavior — a logical “would be” fact of response. The form is somethingthat is embodied in the object as a regularity, a “disposition” (CP 2.170; De Tienne;Hulswit). The notion of semiosis as form communicated from the object to theinterpreter through the mediation of the sign allows us to conceive meaning in aprocessual, non-substantive way, as a constraining factor of possible patterns ofinterpretative behavior (Queiroz and El-Hani). The communication of a form fromthe object to the interpretant constrains the behavior of the interpreter in the sensethat the mediation of a sign inflects object effects on the interpreter.

Intersemiotic translation can be described as a fundamentally triadic phenomenon:a sign relates itself to an object through the effect it produces, the interpretant. As theintersemiotic translation is a semiotic process by definition, and semiosis is understoodas a relation in which Sign, its Object and its Interpretant are its main constitutiveelements that cannot be reduced any further, we can determine specific situations inwhich this relation can take place in different configurations. Aguiar and Queiroz(“Modeling”) propose two different models of intersemiotic translation based on thetriadic relation between S‒O‒I. In the first model: “the sign is the semiotic source(translated work). The object of the translated sign is the object of the semiotic-source, and the interpretant (produced effect) is the translator sign (semiotic target)”(Diagram 1).

DIAGRAM 1. Triadic relation in which the sign is the translated work, the object of the sign is the object of the

work, and the interpretant is the translator sign.

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In the second model, “the sign is the semiotic target. The object of the sign is thetranslated work, and the interpretant is the effect produced on the interpreter(interpretant)” (Aguiar and Queiroz “Modeling”) (Diagram 2).

In the translation that will be presented here, both models can be applied. In thefirst model, the Object corresponds to the Object of VIA, the Sign is the VIA project,and the Interpretant is the photographic essay (Diagram 3).

In the second model, the Object corresponds to the VIA project, the Signcorresponds to the photographic essay and the Interpretant is the effect on theinterpreter (Diagram 4).

DIAGRAM 2. Triadic relation in which the sign is the target, the object of the sign is the translated work, and the

interpretant is the effect produced on the interpreter.

DIAGRAM 3. Application of the first triadic model of relations between S–O–I to the intersemiotic translation

presented in this paper.

DIAGRAM 4. Application of a second triadic model of relations between S–O–I to the intersemiotic translation

presented in this paper.

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According to the process described above, the form communicated from theobject to the effect (interpretant) and produced by means of the sign is different ineach version. We can notice that, in both situations, the form is transmitted throughthe Sign from the Object to the Interpretant, producing different habits of signinterpretation. Thus, by prioritizing semiotic aspects and properties of such relationsin the translation process, we are able to observe the complex interrelations that occurbetween sign systems. Along with such observation, new ways of understanding aphenomenon are brought about.

In the next section, we present the procedures and further developments of thetranslation from VIA to a photographic essay based on the elements presented above.

VIA’s intersemiotic translation

Some specific aspects and properties of VIA have been selected to be translated into aphotographic essay. The first aspect selected as important and interesting regards theediting of the video pieces: they are strictly metric and based on the organization ofparts in regularly juxtaposed sequences. By analyzing the characteristics of the VIAproject that were presented here, it is possible for one to assert that the VIA projectaims to create a peculiar aesthetic ambience, in which the “overlapping” of a virtualcollection of objects (such as computational music and video-dance) and the spacecreates a digitally and physically integrated environment. Along with the notion of“overlapping”, the project also explores the repetition and fixation of different formalsolutions, such as the motor movements of the performance and the visual lexiconcreated in video recording and editing. Besides, VIA potentiates a new modality ofdance activity, which is relatable to a new and deep experience of understanding thearchitectural space — the “real” space “densified” by “superimposed” aestheticinformation.

Bearing these aspects and properties in mind, procedures such as “juxtaposedsequences”, “overlapping of virtual collection of objects”, “repetition” and “super-imposed information” redefine the urban perception in VIA — and this redefinitionis the leading feature that will establish the intersemiotic translation that is going to bepresented further. For example, in the audio-visual product of the VIA project, therelation between virtual objects and the architectural space — not only where theperformance takes place, but also where the QR codes are placed — is the focus ofsuch information superposing. Meanwhile, in the photographic essay, the interactionbetween the architectural space and the dance vocabulary is related in the translation ofthe overlapping procedure. Such procedure aims at a visual experience in the productof the translation that highlights the features of the architectural space of each chosenlocation and the vocabulary of contemporary dance and music.

As has been stated, the delimitation of the VIA project consists of a selection oflocations distributed in two different routes (or “vias”): the first one comprises fivedifferent locations in downtown Rio (Figure 1): Rua 13 de Maio; Largo da Carioca;Beco das Cancelas; and two different spots at Rua da Quitanda: the corner of Rua daQuitanda and Rua do Ouvidor, and the corner of Rua da Quitanda and Rua Sete deSetembro. The first route was established based on the number of pedestrians in the

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locations, ranging from large open areas, such as the squares that can be found in Rua13 de Maio and Largo da Carioca, to increasingly narrower streets, such as Rua daQuitanda and Beco das Cancelas (the narrowest street in Rio de Janeiro).

The second route is characterized by buildings with broad architectural spans —regardless of their style or period of construction — that can also be found downtown:MAR (Museu de Arte do Rio), the building on the corner of Avenida Graça Aranhaand Avenida Almirante Barroso, Palácio Capanema and MAM (Museu de ArteModerna do Rio de Janeiro) (Figure 2).

The specifications provided by the routes constrain the dance movements thatcompose the videos, creating a dance typology related to the pedestrians (route 1) andto the structure of the building spans (route 2). Both patterns (the pedestrians and thebuilding spans) play a restrictive role in the dance, where typologies of movementwere defined in terms of dynamics, form, intensity and rhythm (see Aguiar et al.).There is a direct relation between the movements performed by the dancer and thespace. In order to provide focus to the perception of the architectural space, themovements were defined according to those constraints, as follows: in locations moredensely occupied by pedestrians, the dancer performed an uninterrupted and impro-vised sequence of small and angular movements focusing on arm movements. In thebuilding spans, the action was centered on moving in a small line from the right to the

FIG. 1. The first route and the four main locations (top to bottom): Rua 13 de Maio, Largo da Carioca, Rua Sete de

Setembro x Rua da Quitanda, Rua do Ouvidor x Rua da Quitanda, and Beco das Cancelas.

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left, decreasing the amplitude of the movements so that the action of the dancer couldnot be easily perceived. As to spatial patterns, short, alternated and repetitive move-ments are selected to construct the dancing lexicon of the project.

Like the dance movements, the video and computational music were also con-strained by the architectural space, and its main features. The videos also show astrictly metric organization following the same editing structure in every differentlocation of the project, highlighting the juxtaposition concepts that define the project,as well as relating itself to the architectural space: the camera is always still and theonly variation consists of its three relative distances to the dancer that were main-tained. The transition between these three distances in the video edition is based onanalogical relations to the movements frame by frame, and the regular juxtaposedsentences work as a replication of the dance lexicon, therefore focusing on thearchitectural space.

The music created specifically for the project derives from CAC- (Computer-Assisted Composition), CGA- (Computer-Generated Assistance), and Sonification-related approaches (Malt “Concepts et Modeles”, “Quelques-Propriétés”; Cope). Themusic pieces consist of image-to-sound conversions using patches developed inOpenMusic. These conversions employ, as input images, a collection of photographspreviously taken from the locations where the dancing took place. The compositional

FIG. 2. The second route and its four locations (top to bottom): MAR, the building on the corner of Avenida Graça

Aranha and Avenida Almirante Barroso, Palácio Capanema and MAM.

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action involved in this process consists mainly of normalizing the x‒y axis dataextracted from the contours of these images within audible ranges. There has beenno further compositional manipulation of the input data — such as displacement,editing, looping. Thus the architectural space also plays a constraining role in thecreation of the music pieces.

Consequently, the space experienced by the viewer through all the elementscoupled in the project emphasizes the exploration of the architectural space of Rio’sdowntown area, by superimposing information and enabling viewers to establish aclose relationship to their location. And this emphasis as well as the specific aspects andproperties of VIA here presented are crucial for guiding the process of intersemiotictranslation presented here, since they are the main elements translated to the photo-graphic essay.

Translating the VIA project into a photographic essay

The creation of the photographic essay explored the different procedures to betranslated: dance movements, video recording and editing, and the music creationprocess. Regarding these procedures, three main aspects were chosen to guide thecreation of the photographic images (and therefore are important for understandinghow photography is approached in this work). They are: (i) the notions of overlappingand juxtaposition; (ii) the short, alternated and repetitive dance movements con-strained by the architectural space; and (iii) the focus on the architectural space.

To explore the overlapping and juxtaposition in the photographs, a multipleexposure technique is employed. This consisted of opening the shutter of the cameramore than once in order to expose the same film’s negative space several times4. Foreach location, more than one picture was taken, keeping the same angular configura-tion of the lenses as well as the same ISO, resolution and tonal range (black and white)in order to create a pattern. In the first route, the multiply exposed images increasetheir lengths and the number of expositions according to the number of pedestrians inthe area, from Beco das Cancelas to Rua 13 de Março. The pictures were taken withthe photographer behaving like a pivot, spinning around its own axis: therefore, thelength of the photographs is defined by the approximate angle of rotation of thecamera, with no longitudinal variations (Diagram 5): the broader the location, thewider the angle. Although the second route uses the same spin-around-the-axisstrategy while taking the pictures, the length of the photographs have no connectionto the size of the place, since the route is defined by the repetition of an architecturalstructure — the spans — and not by the change in the number of pedestrians in thatarea or the dimensions of the locations.

The next criterion used related to the short, alternated and repetitive dancemovements restricted by the architectural space where the performance took place.The image montage is connected to the repetitive, yet random, movements made bythe dancer. The photos were juxtaposed from the borders to the center of the finalimage, with different degrees of opacity in order to simulate the multiple exposuretechnique. As the movements are short and precise, the borders of every picturemerged in the final image are well defined, making it possible to distinguish the

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juxtaposition of photographs. The space between the borders was randomly chosen andit varies from one image to another, creating a rhythm of interruptions (Figure 3),which refers to the dance movements.

The last relevant aspect for the creation of the photographic essay is the focus onthe architectural space. It is already clear by now that the architectural space plays asignificant role in the VIA project once it is accentuated by the invariability of thedance movements, video editing and recording, and in the fruition moment. Weshould also remember that each multimedia piece in VIA can only be accessed by theaudience at the same location where it was made.

Due to this characteristic, the architectural space also plays a key role in theintersemiotic translation; therefore, the dancer’s space of displacement does notappear in the photographic essay. The photographs of the locations are divided intothree horizontal stripes (Figure 4): the upper stripe encompasses the portion abovethe dancer’s space of displacement; the middle stripe shows the space where thedancer performs the movements; and the bottom stripe covers the space below thedancer. To highlight the architectural space, only the first and the third stripes arepresented in the final version of the photographic essay, with a blank space in-between. In order to highlight the forms, the textures and the specific properties of

DIAGRAM 5. Diagram of the procedure used to take the photographs.

FIG. 3. Diagram of the montage of the juxtaposed pictures, focusing on the rhythm created by the random spaces

between the borders of every photograph (highlighted in black).

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the architectural space of the chosen locations, a gradient tonal range from black towhite is chosen.

The main procedures that are chosen from the source signs (the VIA project) to betranslated into the target sign (photographic essay) are summarized in Table 1.

The photographic essay

The resulting photographic essay contains eight images — each one as a composition oftwo multiple exposure photographs. The first series presents the first VIA route, withsome alterations: instead of the Largo da Carioca composition, the one of Avenida RioBranco was chosen, considering the final effect on the sequence of images (followingthe same decisions shown in the text above). Although the Avenida Rio Brancolocation is not present in the source, one must pass through it in order to completethe route. These first series compositions are: Beco das Cancelas (Figure 5), Rua daQuitanda, Rua Sete de Setembro (Figure 6), Avenida Rio Branco (Figure 7) and Rua13 de Maio (Figure 8).

FIG. 4. Example of the division in three horizontal stripes in the Beco das Cancelas’ picture, with the dancer in the

middle stripe indicated with the circle.

Table 1: Source-sign procedures and corresponding target-sign procedures.

VIA’s procedures Photographic essay’s procedures

Overlapping and juxtaposition Multiple exposureSame lens angel, ISO, resolution and tonal rangeRotation of the camera around its own axis

Short, alternated and repetitive movements Random and repetitive juxtaposition of photographsVariable length of space between the borders in every single picture

Focus on the architectural space Architectural space as the main element presented in the photographsBlack and white gradient tonal range

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The second series recreates the second VIA route, and the compositions are: MAR(Museu de Arte do Rio) (Figure 9), Avenida Graça Aranha x Avenida AlmiranteBarroso (Figure 10), Palácio Capanema (Figure 11) and MAM (Museu de ArteModerna do Rio de Janeiro) (Figure 12).

Final comments

One of the most persistent recent discussions5 in the field of arts in general regardsthe possibility of representing one semiotic system (such as dance, or literature, orphotography, or even a combination of more than one system) by means of anothersemiotic system. The main relevance of this paper relies on the issues of inter-medial relations between distinct sign systems. Dance, vídeo (especially its visual

FIG. 5. Beco das Cancelas.

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syntax) and the architectural space are different semiotic systems that the photo-graphic essay had to “translate”. The consequences are relevant both to theinvestigations related to different semiotic systems and to the theory and practiceof photography.

FIG. 6. Rua da Quitanda x Rua Sete de Setembro.

FIG. 7. Avenida Rio Branco.

FIG. 8. Rua 13 de Maio.

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Regarding the artistic practice of photography, intersemiotic translation mayfunction as a tool or a method for developing photographic projects, by highlightingartistic decisions. This kind of practice is committed to recreate relevant properties of

FIG. 9: MAR (Museu de Arte do Rio).

FIG. 10. Avenida Graça Aranha x Avenida Almirante Barroso.

FIG. 11. Palácio Capanema.

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the source sign — for example some of its procedures and its effects. First of all, it isan important part of the process to decide which properties are the most relevant. Thisact of selection is considered a critical matter in itself (de Campos Metalinguagem). In asecond phase of the project, the photographer must find ways to translate the selectedproperties of the source-sign.

A well-known strategy in photography involving dance is the representation ofmovement. As William Ewing states: “Dance is the movement of bodies through spaceand time” (27), asserting that movement is probably the main feature of dancing.Vanvolsem also emphasizes this focus on the movement on defining dance: “As wefocus on the movement itself, rather than on the dancers, we might be able tocommunicate the essence of the dance, its flow of movement, instead of documentingit”. The last quotation seeks to define the representation of dance in photography,relating it to a direct representation of movement in the photographs. His opinion isalso shared by other authors, such as Matthew Reason, who stress this definition as heargues that “As dance is essentially the movement of bodies through time and space,then dance photography is valued according to how it communicates this movement”(48). He goes further by assuming that “with dance photographs our interest is in howan image captures and yet translates the movement of dance” (48).

Nevertheless, the idea that dance is “essentially the movement of bodies” reducesand simplifies the nature and dynamics of this semiotic system, which is based onother important properties, such as time‒space composition, relation with theaudience, light design. When such a conception about dance is regarded as a funda-mental assumption, the photograph’s goal is usually the already expected register ofbody movement.

In the photographic essay presented here, instead of photographing the dancer, ora specific movement (or even sequences of movements) performed by the dancer, wefocused on the relations between different semiotic systems in the source (VIAproject), such as (i) the architectural space, (ii) both the final video product and itsedition, (iii) the dance movements and (iv) the music. The essay explores the proper-ties and procedures of the semiotic systems and their relations, instead of trying tosimply “capture” them as a snapshot of the performance. For example, the dancer is

FIG. 12. MAM (Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro).

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not depicted in the essay, but the repetitive, yet random, dance movements aretranslated in the procedure of the montage and the juxtaposition of the images. Inthis way, the intersemiotic translation constrains the photographic essay to exploreanalogous effects of the VIA project. As a consequence, we are able to demonstrate thatthe object of intersemiotic translation is neither the dancer nor any other isolated aspect ofVIA project, but the constraints between several semiotic systems that constitute it.

This approach allows the revelation of more information about the source-sign ofthe translation through an artistic investigation. Such information about the VIAproject and the translation process could not be achieved through other practices ofresearch: by means of translating the constraints between the semiotic systems thatconstitute the VIA project into the photographic essay, we are provided with newinformation about the source.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 The notion of “architectural space” adopted here was developed by Pearson andRichards: “Space is practice (our everyday actions); it is also symbol, and we mightconceive of architecture as symbolic technology. The meanings that are given toplaces and the spatial order are not fixed or invariant givens but must be invoked inthe context of practice and recurrent usage. Meanings adhere to space only throughthe medium of human activity” (4).

2 There are two kinds of semiotic translations: (i) the intrasemiotic translation,where the semiotic systems in both the semiotic source and the semiotic targetare identical — for example, a translation from one poem to another poem.According to Gottlieb “Whereas ‘intersemiotic translation’ is a notion directlyborrowed from Roman Jakobson (2000 [1959]), the term ‘intrasemiotic transla-tion’ is used here as an umbrella term for Jakobson’s ‘interlingual’ and ‘intralin-gual’ types of translation” (3); and the (ii) intersemiotic translation, where thesemiotic system in the semiotic source is different from the semiotic system in thesemiotic target. These two forms of translations work with different procedures,references and results (Jakobson). In this paper, we are concerned with a transla-tion from a mobile-art project to a photographic essay. Therefore, the termintersemiotic translation is going to be adopted throughout the text.

3 We shall follow the practice of citing from the Collected Papers of Charles SandersPeirce by volume number and paragraph number, preceded by ‘CP’; the EssentialPeirce by volume number and page number, preceded by ‘EP’. References to themicrofilm edition of Peirce’s papers (Harvard University) will be indicated by‘MS’, followed by the manuscript number.

4 Since the camera chosen for taking the photographs is a digital one, the same effectis simulated using the Adobe Photoshop software, by changing the opacity of everypicture in the juxtaposition composition.

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5 For a more detailed and recent approach to this problem see: Aguiar and Queiroz“From Gertrude Stein”; Hilder; Fitz; Perloff; Verdi; Weiss; Clüver; Kissane.

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Letícia Vitral is a graduate student at the master’s degree program in Arts, Culture and

Languages at the Institute of Arts of the Federal University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF), Brazil.

Her research interests include Photography, Intermediality and Iconicity.

Daniella Aguiar is a professor at the Institute of Arts, Federal University of Uberlandia. Her

main interests are: Intermediality, Dance and Other Arts. Her publications include “Semiosis

and Intersemiotic Translation” (2013), and “Modeling Intersemiotic Translation: Notes toward a

Peircean Approach” (2010).João Queiroz is a professor at the Institute of Arts, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Brazil. His

academic interests include Art and Technology and Cognitive Semiotics. Recently, he has

edited a special issue of the journal Semiotica — “Diagrammatical reasoning and Peircean

logic representations” (2011).

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