Transcript Iconoclash Readings: Mitchell “Offending Images” and Latour “Iconoclash”
Iconoclasm & Iconoclash Readings: Mitchell “Offending Images” and Latour “Iconoclash”
Silencing the past
Public Outrage
Vandalism & Iconoclasm
Vandals as ignorant, silly, senseless, stupid Goya No sabe lo que hace
Iconoclasm vs. Vandalism?
•deliberate destruction of images rooted in religious, political, cultural
beliefs or groups etc. vs. Ignorant behaviour. Which is it?
Example: Destruction of 3rd c. A.D. Buddhas by Taleban in Afghanistan completed March 12, 2002--
Iconoclasm?
Destruction of images linked to “rational” acts,
meaning or connections of images to something - but how?
Ofili Virgin Mary
Why are some images kept & others destroyed?
Personal (family) Networks & Values Community -based criteria Other factors (sometimes concurrent) – Scholarly – Political – Economic – Moral & ethical – Class-based (elite, popular) agendas etc….
Variations in meaning over time
Inclusion --Exclusion & the democratization of image censorship
“Headbangers”--Heavy metal fans http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhGx4Rh0Qo8 Mid-Summer Night Swing Dancing at the Lincoln Center, NYC
Identity issues & the meaning of images
Inclusion/cohesion – Visual images as expression of identity, difference (distinction) Exclusion – Discriminatory Dimensions – Censorship and/or Democratization
Mitchell--Why do some images offend?
False Assumptions: – Images transparently linked to what it represents (doing something to image, does something to what it represents) – Images “feels” what is done to it
Examples from Mitchell
Richard Serra’s
Tilted Arc
Maya Lin’s Vietnam Veteran’s War
Memorial
Lin
Mapplethorpe
Michelangelo David
Swastika
Confederate Flage
Jasper Johns Flag
Marcus Harvey Myra
Damian Hirst
Poussin Adoration of the Golden Calf
Serrano Piss Christ
Offili
Outrage over
Virgin Mary?
Outrage about symbolic desecration
Latour: Why do images inspire hatred?
ways of understanding iconoclasts – Inner goals – Roles ascribed to images – Effects of destruction on others – How reactions of those assocciated with images are interpreted by iconoclasts – Effects on the destroyer’s own feelings
Fuseli: Artist weeping in despair ….
diverse meanings of the disappearance & rejection of artworks
Vandalism vs. Iconoclasm
•Vandalist s: ignorant, senseless •Iconoclast s: deliberate opposition, “rationale” grounded in system of values
Censorship as an outcome of democratization
artists’ & minority publics’ rights to – “self-expression” or – freedom of speech (1st Amendment in US) – But systematic suppression VS. public’s rights & government’s duties to enforce standards issues-- what standards, whose standards?
Typology of Iconoclasts
A-- against images B against “freeze-frame” C against opponents’ images D-Unwitting destroyers E-Ironic destroyers Message? Interrupte vs. cascading images