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| Iconoclasm and Beyond: Vilém Flusser’s Concept of Techno-Imagination | page 63-84 | ||
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Western thinking about pictures is characterized by a strong tendency towards
iconoclasm. Within this theoretical framework any attempt at thinking in pictures
ultimately leads to idolatry and irrational behavior. As a reaction to this,
some theoreticians writing in the wake of the iconic turn tend to extol what they
call pure visibility. Vilém Flusser’s writings, on the other hand, deal with the
constantly evolving relationship of image and text. He does not simply reject
the accusations of the hazards inherent in picture making put forward by the
iconoclasts but tries to steer a middle-course in an attempt at reconciliation.
His concept of techno-imagination is an answer to the invention of the new
media of photography, film, video, TV and computer, in an attempt to draw
philosophical and ethical conclusions from their use.
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To be properly understood
techno-images need techno-imagination which is both a reading of pictures and
an act of creative pictorial invention bringing out unexpected situations from
among a given field of possibilities. Calculated, digital images, in fact, allow
a radically new view of the gesture of picture making transcending a purely
representational interpretation. Techno-imagination implies a move away from
the search of “objectivity” in favor of an inter-subjective way of dealing with
pictures. Picture making has to do with the creation of a new sense of doubt
regarding the world by multiplying points-of-view and making them available
to others.
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| keywords: iconoclasm, techno-imagination, inter-subjectivity, photography, | |||
