We will have a visit from one of the founders of cognitive semiotics, Prof. Piotr Konderak, for this seminar on "absurding" - a new topic in his own research, and for the field. If you wish to join us for the light dinner after the seminar, please let Jordan know by August 31.

Monty Python’s work is often considered a paradigmatic example of the absurd. The Ministry of Silly Walks, Hell’s Grannies, and Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook seem to be instances of absurd creations. In my presentation, however, I would like to focus on the process of “absurding” itself: meaning-making in the creation and interpretation of the absurd. In other words, I will try to make sense of our meaning-making activities in this context and explore some of the properties of the processes through which we make sense of the world. More specifically, I will explore absurding as a recurring dynamic pattern in which previously stabilized meaning is destabilized, followed by attempts at reinterpretation and, potentially, new stabilization.

What seems crucial here is the dynamicity and limited predictability of the process, resulting from abrupt shifts and the controlled destabilization of meaning-making. I will try to approach absurding from the perspective of Dynamic Systems Theory, focusing on the interplay between (forced) destabilization, i.e. the dissolution of meaning, and the audience’s attempts to stabilize it. I will suggest that unstable attractors and shifting basins of attraction give rise to unexpected trajectories of meaning-making, revealing the dynamic nature of absurding.