A Study of Verbal/Visual Multimodal Discourse in Contemporary Iranian Art

Today, many works of art are formed by the combination of linguistic and visual modes, and this form of creation of artwork has also affected its reception. The writing language has become an inseparable layer from the title of exhibition and works, to a fundamental element in the creation of them, and forms a multimodal text. So, Language can be interlinked in two forms, connected to artworks or separated from them, with non-linguistic modes of the work.
 The relationship between language and image has always existed in art history, each time one is superior to the other. Contemporary art traveled to the linguistic world in contrast to modern art and this linguistic turn is represented in various forms. On the other hand, pictorial turn means the importance of image versus language. Given the long-standing relationship between language and image in art and the theory of linguistic and pictorial turns, the question that arises is which of these turns represents contemporary multimodal art more than the other? Given that each of these turns alone cannot cover the multimodal features of this section of works and contemporary art exhibitions; the term multimodal turn in art seems to be a more appropriate substitute.
Thus, in order to explain the multimodal turn and discourse in contemporary art, this article intends to answer these two questions: - What is the meaning of multimodal discourse in contemporary art? And, what are the characteristics of this kind of discourse in this context?  The present article is descriptive and analytical in terms of method, and research data is also collected using library methods, observation and reference to documents and exhibition archives. This article aims to explain multimodal discourse by defining van Dijk's discourse in relation to contemporary art. In addition, it applies some of Gillian Rose's theories in this regard. Discourse analysis, or preferably discourse studies have diverse approaches and branches that indicate differences in similarities. One of the new approaches is the multimodal discourse analysis, also known as MDA. The multimodal verbal / visual discourse studies the language in conjunction with another source, or in other words, the image and its special context.
The answer to these questions in the form of research results is that multimodal discourse means the study of different semiotic sources, including language and image, in relation to each other. If we consider discourse based on van Dijk's definition, a thinker in the field of discourse analysis, and the use of language in a particular context, we can say that in contemporary art we face a kind of linguistic and visual discourse, because this part of art, unlike the modern tradition, represents an inseparable relationship between language and image. In contemporary Iranian art, we see many examples of cooperation between language and image in a new form of expression in the creation and display of works as a multimodal discourse. Some of the artists drawing on this approach include Ali Ettehad, Barbad Golshiri, Farshid Azarang, Mahmoud Bakhshi, Nazgol Ansarinia, etc.
 In the contemporary period, this relationship and interaction in the form of multimodal discourse is a powerful tool for artists to express the new issues they face, and thus in this way, their separation has been questioned throughout the history of art. The use of textual and visual technologies such as catalogs as well as statements demonstrates this relationship and creates an interconnected network of modes and meanings. They are one of the types of technologies through which institutions (as well as artists) operate, and in this way, they put the single display object in a process. In the face of this discourse, the audience also changes from a mere viewer to a viewer / reader and forms a communicative and social event that is a functional aspect of discourse, since when it comes to the multimodal discourse in art, the social structures are constructed not merely through images, but also through all the modes and aspects which are involved in discourse, thus it certainly does not leave out language and text.