engleski

The Absolute Image. Ontological Concerns of non-Mimetic Depictions in Abstract and Conceptual Art

In the Aristotelian tradition image is seen as likeness and imitation of the natural world that exists outside the image. Classical art from antiquity to neo-classicism therefore strived to become as natural as possible, to imitate worldly creatures in the ways and through semblances that were initially conceived and performed by God. In terms of both artistic skill and ontological status as works of art, Venus de Milo, Raphael's Sistine Madonna or Ingre's Grande Odalisque may rightfully claim to have achieved the absolute likeness of what was in their times considered to be natural and real. But, while the fate of the concept of mimesis over centuries has been followed by the fate of mimetic sculpture and painting, the fate of the concept of image has taken completely different path. The ontological shift in our relation to images is in equal measure caused by both developments in art and developments in technologies of vision. To understand the contemporary status of the notion of image it is required to come to terms with the disconnected ontologies of mimesis and artistic practice. Following theoretical concepts of contemporary phenomenology of image and analytical philosophy I will argue that high modernist non-mimetic, abstract and conceptual, art require ontological reconsideration in relation to their status as images. This reconsideration is due to the on-going revolution in digital image production where mimetic reproduction and iconic simultaneity make of images transparent and potentially invisible entities. My thesis will be that radical distinction between images and reality can only be maintained in radical non-mimetic opacity of pictures in abstract and conceptual art ‒ the phenomenon I would like to call “The absolute image”.

absolute image ; representation ; abstraction ; conceptual art ; mimesis

Simpozij je održan u okviru redovitih znanstvenih aktivnosti radne grupe “Seminario permanente di estetica” na Sveučilištu u Firenzi, a pod vodstvom Fabrizija Desiderija i Giovannija Matteuccija. Ovaj rad je prezentiran u okviru tematske skupine “The Role of Mimesis in Art Theory”.