Naslov
The principles of pictorial depiction: Three basic concepts

Autori
Purgar, Krešimir

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Poglavlja u knjigama, znanstveni

Knjiga
The Future of the Post. New Insights in the Postmodern Debate

Urednik/ci
Bricco, Elisa ; Malavasi, Luca

Izdavač
Mimesis

Grad
Milano

Godina
2022

Raspon stranica
181-197

ISBN
978-8869773761

Ključne riječi
postmodern, image, simulacrum, iconoclasm, Slavoj Žižek

Sažetak
Unlike psychoanalytic theory, in general image theory there is no area of transition between interpreting the image as a simulacrum and as a representation. This imagined transition area, if any, is not related to the image but to the ideology and different disciplinary practices of image interpretation. If it cannot happen today that the picture of Christ is confused with the material, real body nailed to the real cross which might even look exactly the same as that at Calvary two thousand years ago – and no matter how realistic the semblance of Christ’s body is – how can we claim today that an image may break the barrier of reality and deliver “the thing itself”? There are three possible reasons why we might be able to do so: because we subordinate the ontological otherness of the image to our own particular interests ; we do not know that the image is always separate from what it depicts ; or we do not take into account that, following the previous example, the Twins demolition images became popular because they were not images at all but a real event. These three premises will lead us to the conclusion that otherness, representation and separation are typical characteristics of images as non-transparent entities. We observed the demolition of the World Trade Center towers in direct transmission, which, precisely because it was direct (or, transparent) – was not and could not be an image. We can live either in the “desert of the Real” – that is, in a simulacrum – or in the “desert of images” – not both, or at least not both at the same time. Images do not represent reality and are not related to the order of reality but to the symbolic order of images. In this article we will argue that it is ontologically not possible to confuse images with reality – due to their intrinsic non-transparency – and to that end we will expose two main theses: A) In order to understand the function of an image we must be able to grasp the distinction between the semblance we see in the image and the representation that is actually present with the image ; B) An observer can understand the meaning of an image only if he or she has taken a specific position in advance – a stance that will account for the concept of the image itself prior to looking at it.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Znanost o umjetnosti

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