Critical Image/Imaging Critique

What is the role of the image in the work of Theodor W. Adorno? What is cognitive value of the image, and by what means does it work? Through an exploration of the etymologically related concepts of crisis, riddle, and sieving, this essay argues for the image itself as a form of filter, the filter o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Oxford art journal 2017-08, Vol.40 (2), p.249-261
Main Author: Didi-Huberman, Georges
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:What is the role of the image in the work of Theodor W. Adorno? What is cognitive value of the image, and by what means does it work? Through an exploration of the etymologically related concepts of crisis, riddle, and sieving, this essay argues for the image itself as a form of filter, the filter of critique. For despite the philosopher’s attention to the ban on graven images and the impossibility of poetry after Auschwitz, another line of thought is woven through his work: that of critique, dialectically, requiring the image. This essay is the text of the author’s lecture accepting the Theodor W. Adorno Prize from the Institute for Social Research, Frankfurt am Main, in September 2015.
ISSN:0142-6540
1741-7287
DOI:10.1093/oxartj/kcx027