ABSTRACT
The last chapter of this book is devoted to a discussion, from the perspective of the theoretical research carried out so far here, of a particular case of ‘finite province of meaning:’ the ancient Chinese tradition of the painted screens. These simple modular artefacts can provide a wealth of examples, implications, and intellectual stimuli, because they give rise to a set of complex problems. A painted screen is an object that works as a wall, thus barring the senses and limiting and our freedom of movement, but also as a ‘virtual window’, given the images that are often represented upon them. Painted screens can divide space and ‘enlarge’ space, they can resignify the place, and can create, effectively, new finite provinces of meaning. I make use here of some texts and ideas of Wu Hung, Eugen Fink among others.
