Discursive Formations: Circumnavigating the 'crop circle' phenomenon via contemporary art theoretical discourses

Once the Author is removed, the claim to decipher a text becomes quite futile. To give a text an Author is to impose a limit on that text, to furnish it with a final signified, to close the writing.

- Roland Barthes, ‘The Death of the Author’



How might the elusive ‘crop circle’ phenomenon be circumnavigated via contemporary art theoretical discourses? Why is this phenomenon currently unrepresented in such discourses? What problems do the particularities of the phenomenon pose for their consideration through discourse?  Can the ongoing contestability of the crop circles’ authorship as human or ‘non-human’ produce expanded conceptions of the phenomenon? What is the phenomenon’s relationship to multidisciplinary research and critical artistic practice, including that connected to Aotearoa New Zealand?



After decades of research and fervent debate, and acknowledgement of the faction of human circle makers, no singular theory, model or article of evidence provides a comprehensive explanation for the diverse range of un/known phenomena, including instances of the supernatural or paranormal, associated with crop circles. In the absence of proof which could be considered conclusive, the crop formations have no consensually agreed authors, thereby also destabilising definitive claims to their origins, significations, implications and effects. Several case studies will be presented, including New Zealand’s involvement, that problematise notions of singular, discrete and identifiable authors, human or non-human. The application of Barthes’ concepts, as espoused in The Death of the Author, may allow for readings of the crop circles as dynamic texts that can  accommodate contestable authors.



This paper will further consider the extent to which the expanded phenomenon, incorporating its social and discursive fields, may be read as a complex system. Aspects of this expanded phenomenon display characteristics of a complex, interconnected and multidimensional system that is conscious, adaptive, and responsive to feedback from its physical, cultural and psychic environment.

 

Keywords: Post-structuralism, authorship, belief systems, complexity, environmental response, participate/display.      

Emil McAvoy is an multidisciplinary artist, educator, writer and freelance curator currently based in Wellington. McAvoy has become known primarily for his live cinema performances with sound artist Damian Stewart AKA Frey, though he works across a range of new and traditional media and collaborates widely. McAvoy was recently awarded the 2009 Archives New Zealand Scholarship for a curation, new media art and publication project which utilises New Zealand Government photographs from the National Publicity Studios Collection. He is currently an educator at Massey University of Wellington.



emil.mcavoy@gmail.com http://www.emilmcavoy.com