Ny sjukdom, gamla bilder : En bildsemiotisk undersökning av parafrasers bildstrukturer och betydelser under coronapandemin

Sammanfattning: The aim of this thesis is to study the structures and contents of art paraphrases during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic through semiotics, intertextuality and intermediality, to create an understanding of what the reuse, or appropriation, of art can mean and which roles it could play in a contemporary visual culture. To achieve this, six “Covid paraphrases” are analysed alongside a rich complementary material collected from November 2021—February 2023 through netnographic methods focused on the social media platform Instagram. The study is centred around three categories of Covid paraphrases: positively modified paraphrases, negatively modified paraphrases and paraphrases modified through the act of substitution. The study finds that Covid paraphrases often build upon famous classical art works that contain human figures. These figures, as well as other elements of the image, are shown to be removed, relocated or replaced in the paraphrase. In other Covid paraphrases, new details are added to the image, often portraying objects connected to the pandemic, such as face masks or toilet paper. Most often, they are created, distributed and viewed through digital media, unlike the art works they build upon which generally take the shape of physical paintings. Surprisingly, the study of art paraphrases during the pandemic shows that the visual culture of Covid-19 consists of a considerable amount of humour despite the unstable state of the world. In this context, the Covid paraphrases play the role of the entertainer, and by reminding the public of the authorities’ restrictions in the fight against the new coronavirus, as well as of the long history of art, the paraphrases can also be seen as a source for information. Together with other new images, the Covid paraphrases create a new visual language filled with pandemic-specific signs. This reuse of images updates classical art works and gives them a new meaning in a modern setting, while simultaneously attaching the new paraphrase to an established history. These processes leave room for a revised and expanded art historical canon suitable for a global Internet culture.