The tourist semiosis of lake landscapes through aesthetics and perfomativities
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25145/j.pasos.2025.23.023Keywords:
lake landscapes, Peircean Semiotics, Aesthetics, Performance, Mirim LagoonAbstract
We mobilized Semiotics for closer examination of visual representations of lake landscapes and bodily performativities, specifically employing type/token distinction, a remarkable feature of the sign model by Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914). Thus, the core goal was to address the following question from a Southern empirical semiotic lab, Mirim Lagoon (Brazil/Uruguay): How do tourists and leisure-seekers encounter lake landscapes and make sense of them in aesthetic and performative terms? We applied a qualitative methodological approach based on visual and textual information, followed by interpretational analysis informed by type/token distinction and complementarity. Visitors engage with lake landscapes visually, corporeally, and performatively regarding the materiality of these vacationscapes. The collective gaze complements and confronts conservative looking at these landscapes, still focused on Romanticism. After providing advance in current comprehension of these inter-related phenomena, we raise some questions for further examination, paralleled with practical implications.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Jaciel Gustavo Kunz, Antonio Carlos Castrogiovanni, Michelle M. Metro-Roland
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