Signs, Codes, Spaces, and Arts

This book delves into the concepts of general and spatial semiotics, discussing the differences and interactions between semiotic means of diverse types and levels. It introduces an integrative model ("the sign prism") which unites many famous schemes of sign connection. It considers the human as a being included in a self-created semiosphere of signs and interacting with a sphere of natural signals and indexes available also to animals. The majority of the text is devoted to spatial semiotics, and its distinctions from temporal ways of sign connection. Its specific categories and particular visual-spatial codes are considered here as the peculiar means of communication and thinking. An essential feature of the book is the application of the author's concepts of spatial semiotics to research of structures and the historical changes of visual arts.