Analysis of the Pottery Works Selected in the 2nd Annual Symposium on "Semantic Applications" According to Individual, Social and Universal Spirituality

The concept of spirituality in cinema is among the words that became popular in film industries of Iran during and after the Iran-Iraq war. This term is highly emphasized on signs and symbols, which was propagated in the 80s (Solar Hijri) under the title of semanticism in cinema and visual arts, as it was used in crafts as well in the year of 2016 in Iran. In this year, the ‘Iranian Ceramic Society’ (ICerS) organized an exhibition under the title of the ‘Semantic Applications’ in the ‘Iranian Artists Forum’, which was followed by the 2^nd Annual Symposium of the same symposium, which was held in 2021, in which the works of eleven artists were selected and honored accordingly. Since this expression was initially used by the Iranian Ceramic Society to specifically target these annuals, and considering the concept of semantic that refers to a kind of spirituality, the emergence of Semantics adds more ambiguity to this expression. Regarding the concept of this expression, it can be perceived that prior to this application, there was no indication for spirituality in applied arts in Iran, as for the best representation of relation between application and semantics we have to look for this meaning in selected artworks. Therefore, the research problem here is to study the role of semantic and semantics (semanticism) in artworks. To address this characteristic, the study aims to explain the word "semanticism" in "semantic applications" and to analyze the works based on the spirituality hidden in the adaptive works. Moreover, this research tries to answer the following questions: What is the concept of semantic application according to the selected and awarded works in the 2^nd Annual Symposium? And how can the meaning behind the works be interpreted in semanticism?
The significance of the current research is due to the analysis of one of the major annuals in the field of crafts, especially pottery in Iran; it is greatly because analysis of meaning in contemporary arts, especially annuals, can help to perceive it better. As few research have studied the works of annuals in pottery works, and regarding the position of annuals in Iran, as well as knowing the thought of contemporary artists toward semanticism, doing a research in this field seems quite necessary. This study is a developmental research, which has been done relying on the descriptive-analytical method, by using documentary resources for collecting data. The statistical population includes 118 of accepted works which were presented in the “Annual Symposium on "Semantic Applications" in 2021. The case study is selected from the awarded works submitted to this competition. Among the selected works, those targeting specific title or statement have been studied here. According to the research approach and reasons for selecting the works, 11 works were selected as samples. The data analysis has been done based on a qualitative method. To get this purpose, the structure of works and hidden concepts in them have been analyzed based on the following characteristics: the opinion of Wassily Kandinsky toward spirituality, the role of spirituality in art, and the elements related to our inner needs at three levels (individual, social and global). The works then, were discussed at the three mentioned levels. The analysis of the results and the research findings showed that the social meaning was more significant compared to the other types of meanings with higher frequency; it is because social subjects have been more addressed compared to other elements by targeting the sufferings and problems in the society at a particular time and place. The “metanarrative” in most of the works was the issue of ‘crisis’ and ‘destruction’. Most of the works were representing a kind of threnody, cultural loss, and dissatisfaction in a social situation. The two other meanings have been less considered, so individual concerns and the concepts with no specific implication of time and place were not much addressed. According to the ideas of Wassily Kandinsky, the narrative kind of art is not appreciated, specifically those addressing a specific occurrence, as it is far from a transcendental concept that he was following. However, addressing his referral to a specified artistic style and time as a necessity to be attached to the inner need of individuals has been used expediently as a kind of social meaning in this research to analyze the works based on this concept. The perception of pure art that would be able to represent the spiritual elements which was regarded by Kandinsky was not observed in the awarded works, and the semanticism in this annual was against the opinions of Wassily Kandinsky and other fundamentalist thinkers who were following a kind of timeless spirituality. The semantic perception was represented more in the ceramic works, by emphasizing on spiritual meaning and social concepts in the 2^nd Annual, that is appeared in the selected and awarded works.