Art and Philosophy

What is "Diagrammatology"? This post serves as an essential reading list for the academic study of diagrams. From the semiotics of C.S. Peirce to the "rhizomes" of Gilles Deleuze and the notebooks of Paul Klee, we review the key texts that define how diagrams function as tools for thinking in both the arts and sciences.

Mentored by Marcel Duchamp, the artists Arakawa and Gins created a masterpiece of diagrammatic art: The Mechanism of Meaning. This post explores their "playful physics," a series of 80 large-scale panels that use Zen koans, philosophical puzzles, and diagrams to make us "think through the eyes."