AESCIART: International Conference on Aesthetics and the Sciences of Art 409 Art Creation, Mediation, and Reception in the 21st Century Indonesia 28 September 2020 Study of Syntagmatic and Paradigmatic Aspects in Agan Harahap’s Artwork. Case Study: Tan Son Nhut Airbase Vietnam February 11, 1968 Patriot Mukmin Faculty of Art and Design, Institute Teknologi Bandung patriot@fsrd.itb.ac.id Abstract Nowadays, the development of technology has given major infuences on the creation of art photography. To name a few, we can say that sophistication of camera technology and digital editing applications are the big factors behind this development. It causes photography to often exceed the reality it represents. Tis method used by one of Indonesian contemporary artist Agan Harahap in his work. Trough his skills in photo editing, he gave birth to many deceptive works, as if the images he produced were reality. In this paper I analyze Harahap’s work using Ferdinand de Saussure’s Semiotics theory of Signifcation. Te question is about how relations of Syntagm and Paradigm in Agan Harahap’s work determine its meaning in its signifcation? Case Study of Tan Son Nhut Airbase Vietnam February 11, 1968 (2011). Tis research reveals that Harahap constructed syntagm in his work by combining upshots from two diferent visual culture products. First is from historical photo documentation, and the second from popular culture. Te digital editing process in his work builds a pseudo-relation between historical facts and fction. It blurs the boundaries between reality and imagination. In terms of paradigm relations, I found that one of the signifer in the photo can be replaced by another signifer from the same category and yet, the viewer can still grasp the same meaning. Keywords: Agan Harahap, Photo, Syntagm-Paradigm, Meaning, Saussure. 1 Background In its early development, photography was considered as the most honest visual media. A photo is considered to have traces of the subjects in the image. Tis is based on its more objective nature compared to other visual media such as painting or drawing that involve the subjectivity of the creator. Due to its objective nature, the proverb“seeing is believing” is often associated with the media of photography. Tese natures and characteristics make photographic images as the basis of truth in various social, political, artistic, scientifc and technological activities [4]. However, nowadays the times have changed, many writers have revealed that there is an aspect of the subjectivity from the photography. Te photographer’s way of seeing is refected in his choice of subject [2]. Te idea above has made the understanding dealing with photographic media to be changed. If photography was considered innocent in the past, nowadays, many people realize that there is an intention in every photographic frame that is published. Ten, this idea afects on how a photo is interpreted. At the following stage, the development of technology has had a major efect in the creation of photography. Starting from the camera technology which is sophisticated increasingly