ABSTRACT
In critically approaching the notion of signification it is useful to address Lacan. My more specific avenue of approach will be via one of Lacan’s most important contemporary interpreters – Slavoi ¯i¿ek. In particular, I will be concerned to develop ¯i¿ek’s use of Lacan as set out in a paper entitled ‘The Enlightenment in Laibach’.1 In this piece ¯i¿ek seeks to understand the philosophical significance of the influential Slovene rock band Laibach. Laibach, along with the painters’ collective ‘Irwin’ and other artistic groups, are members of the Neue Slowenische Kunst (NSK) movement, which draws on the symbols and display mechanisms of cultures and totalitarian regimes which colonized Slovenia in the twentieth century. ¯i¿ek’s use of Lacan in analysing Laibach/NSK’s cultural activity enables him to identify a level of signification which, as I will argue, is of more universal significance.
