• Korea Science and Art Forum
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• v.20
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• pp.315-326
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• 2015

This study has started from a curiosity about how the concept and characteristics of mise en abyme, which is one of meta-discourse in the contemporary aesthetics and has affected every aspect of modern philosophy, art, and culture, are expressed in modern architecture. 'Mise en abyme' is a technique mainly used by writers of the nouveau roman after it was introduced first in the work of novelist Andre Gide; this technique of artistic expression has been extended across the whole contemporary art and has become the meta-discourse which essentially makes its appearance in the art after postmodernism. 'Mise en abyme', meaning endless formation of image between two mirrors, got involved with discourse of the various philosophers of the time such as Deleuze and Derrida, and was also expressed in the language of architecture by modern architects who have been influenced by their philosophy. In this context, the technique of mise en abyme which is mostly used in art has a relation to methods of space expression of architects. This research studied the characteristics of mise en abyme which show in the expressional method of the modern architecture based on the relationship between the technique of mise en abyme and the modern method of architectural expression. Moreover, on the basis of this an analysis was carried out on architectural works of Jean Nouvel, who uses de-materialization and singularity as the architectural language. Through the research it was confirmed that the characteristics of expression of mise en abyme in architecture are embodied in material of the surface which forms buildings' exterior, or expressed by using reflection and graphical factors. Through analysis this study allows the chance to see that even though the means and field for expressing mise en abyme are different, the characteristics of the fundamental concept are shared among them, and to think about the meaning in the technique of mise en abyme as one yardstick to understand modern architecture in modern times with no specific mainstream.