Papers by Francesco Emilio Restuccia
L’arte religiosa della fine del Medioevo in Francia, 2024
L’arte religiosa della fine del Medioevo in Francia fa parte del grande progetto di Émile Mâle di... more L’arte religiosa della fine del Medioevo in Francia fa parte del grande progetto di Émile Mâle di ricostruire una storia dell’iconografia cristiana, a partire dal presupposto che ogni cambiamento sul piano del pensiero religioso si rifletta necessariamente nell’arte. Questo testo, l’unico ancora non pubblicato in Italia dei tre grandi volumi di Mâle, è la vera chiave di volta del progetto, per la sua posizione centrale tra l’arte gotica del XIII secolo e quella manierista e barocca che ha seguito la controriforma. L’intuizione fondamentale da cui parte il testo consiste nell’aver individuato una causa per la rivoluzione iconografica che si può riscontrare dappertutto in Europa a partire dal XIV secolo: il francescanesimo, diffuso ovunque grazie alle Meditationes vitae Christi e al teatro religioso dei Misteri. Con rigore e grandissima erudizione, ma anche con un linguaggio sempre poetico e trascinante, Mâle mette alla prova la sua ipotesi da una parte studiando i nuovi soggetti, dall’altra
analizzando come i vecchi temi siano reinventati e rappresentati in modo nuovo. La dimensione patetica e la tenerezza umana prendono il posto delle vette dottrinali del XIII secolo: la Vergine che contemplava il cielo dal letto si inginocchia amorevole accanto al suo bambino, i corpi gloriosi dei cavalieri sono sostituiti da cadaveri putrefatti, che talvolta si danno alla danza. Un libro prezioso non solo per comprendere la fine del Medioevo, che non può essere ridotto alle categorie “limpide” del gotico, ma anche per scoprire un’altra faccia dell’Umanesimo e del Rinascimento: quella che, attraverso l’affectus e la creaturalità francescane, si mantiene in rapporto con la religione. L’arte religiosa della fine del Medioevo in Francia non è solo un libro su un’epoca fondamentale della storia europea, ma anche una finestra sulle origini lontane della nostra modernità.
Flusser Studies, 2024
In several texts Flusser refers to a fantasia essata, an “exact imagination,” attributing this co... more In several texts Flusser refers to a fantasia essata, an “exact imagination,” attributing this concept to Leonardo da Vinci: a non-arbitrary use of imagination that dialogues with experience and reason by investigating improbable but possible scenarios. However, Leonardo never used this phrase: it was Goethe who first wrote of an exakte sinnliche Phantasie. This article aims, on the one hand, to reconstruct a genealogy of fantasia essata, and on the other, to investigate the affinity between this exact imagination and Flusser’s Einbildungskraft theory. Although the expression exakte Phantasie does not date back to the Renaissance, it was used by Cassirer to explain Leonardo’s peculiar imaginative approach to science. The success of this concept is linked to the rediscovery of the dynamic epistemology of Renaissance Humanism (Grassi), before modern exact sciences excluded imagination and locked art in museums. Some mid-20th century thinkers, such as Santillana and Ferreira da Silva, who are likely to be Flusser’s sources, used this concept to think of a productive and operational imagination that could bridge the gap between art and science. This debate could shed new light on Flusser’s theory of second-order imagination, which he also defined as conceptual, reflexive, and philosophical imagination.
Lo Sguardo, 2023
The paper aims to reconstruct and question McLuhan’s theory that media are extensions of human be... more The paper aims to reconstruct and question McLuhan’s theory that media are extensions of human beings. Although this conception has often been taken as a model for the prosthetic paradigm, on closer reading it may reveal epithetical traits: an approach that takes into account the codetermination of inward and outward movement. Through comparison with some of his sources (Hall, Bergson, Ong, Wiener) and with other theorists of technology (Leroi- Gourhan, Flusser, Kittler), the article intends to show how McLuhan was more interested in understanding the human being in his relationship with the media, than in explaining the media using the human model. Working on McLuhan’s specific vocabulary (translation, outering, interiorization, acceleration, amputation), one discovers a conception that involves linguistic, perceptual and operational dimensions. Rather than a strategy of conquest, his notion of extension could be understood as a tactic of protection and playful adaptation to new technological environments.
Immagini, media, dispositivi. Studi e prospettive, 2023
A partire dai concetti di immaginazione artificiale, proposto da Gregory Chatonsky e ripreso da A... more A partire dai concetti di immaginazione artificiale, proposto da Gregory Chatonsky e ripreso da Antonio Somaini, e di immaginazione tecnica, proposto da Vilém Flusser e ripreso da Lambert Wiesing, l'articolo tenta di mostrare che i programmi di intelligenza artificiale generativa di immagini non prendono in carico la nostra capacità d’immaginazione nel suo complesso, ma solo alcune sue funzioni, lasciandoci il compito fondamentale di svilupparne e approfondirne altre.
An-Icon Journal, 2022
Vilém Flusser uses the concept of illusion in a non-systematic way, resulting in two ostensible c... more Vilém Flusser uses the concept of illusion in a non-systematic way, resulting in two ostensible contra- dictions. First of all, he often uses the term illusion, while criticizing the metaphysic assumptions that it implies; sec- ondly, he seems to both dispraise and value the illusionary nature of technical images. This article aims at clarifying Flusser’s thoughts on illusion in the belief that they are not as conflicting as they might seem at first.
In fact, when Flusser deplores the risk of de- ception associated with technical images, he refers to the illusion of transparency. He does not oppose the concept of illusion to a supposed objective truth, on the contrary, he opposes the illusion of the objective nature of images to the awareness of their constructed and mediated character.
However, a rational demystification of illu- sions is not a viable option, since, according to Flusser, they are the result of a voluntary self-deception: we suppress our critical thinking because we cannot bear its complexity, we want images to “release us from the necessity for conceptual, explanatory thought.” This is why Flusser thinks that aware illusion – in other words: fiction – can help us overcome our “inertia of happiness” and develop a critical imagination.
Aesthetica Preprint, 2022
In his 1969 "Je sais bien, mais quand-même" Octave Mannoni rethinks the concept of Verleugnung, a... more In his 1969 "Je sais bien, mais quand-même" Octave Mannoni rethinks the concept of Verleugnung, analyzing how a belief can subsist despite denial by reality, yet becoming elusive and insubstantial. Mannoni's text was published in Italy by Emilio Garroni, who wrote an introductory essay, in addition to mentioning him a couple of times in his works. Garroni observes that this way of thinking illusion-as an intermediate stage between deception and disillusionment-may prove useful in understanding the function of the imaginary in culture. Mannoni's theory might have helped Garroni realizing, as early as 1972, that all human cultural activity, even philosophy and science, necessarily relates with lower levels of consciousness, which are both denied and confirmed. The paper traces the development of Garroni's reflections on the relationship between belief, illusion and awareness, from the introduction to Mannoni's essay until his writings on magical thinking in the late 1990s and early 2000s. This implicit, reconstructed dialogue between Mannoni and Garroni may prove useful not only in understanding ancient and contemporary magical thinking, but also in rethinking the concept of fiction in light of the new immersive and hyperrealist image-making techniques.
Studi Germanici, 2021
Huizinga’s Homo ludens is best known for the theory of play as distinct from ordinary life, and i... more Huizinga’s Homo ludens is best known for the theory of play as distinct from ordinary life, and in particular for the notion of the magic circle, which had a great influence in contemporary game studies. Questioning this interpretation, the article analyzes the relationship between game and magic, trying to show that Huizinga’s reflections on the non-ordinary nature of play are part of a broader argument that crowns in an interesting theory of voluntary illusion, aimed at demonstrating a strong analogy between the experience of the game and that of magic. Finally, in order to protect Huizinga’s insights from his own apocalyptic tendencies, an attempt is made to distinguish the experiences of play and magic through an analysis of two threshold elements: the concept of spoilsport (spelbreker) and the practice of illusionism. If magic and play share a partial will to believe, only the latter is associated with the feeling of being able to escape from it at any moment.
Azimuth, 2020
Starting from a reflection on the concept of conversation, the article reconsiders the role of Fl... more Starting from a reflection on the concept of conversation, the article reconsiders the role of Flusser’s relationships with some Italian thinkers he met before, during and after his stay in Merano, both from a biographical and a theoretical standpoint. The analysis of his correspondence with Ernesto Grassi, Luigi Bagolini, Bernardo Bagolini and Angelo Schwarz allows us to recognize a turning point in his thought: the development of an anthropology of communication, based on the concept of homo novus. This anthropology of post-history can be conceived as the common background to his reflections on imagination, dialogue, gestures and codes.
Polemos, 2021
Theories that conceive technologies as extensions of human beings have been successful since the ... more Theories that conceive technologies as extensions of human beings have been successful since the second half of the 20th century. This paradigm pointed out the anthropological dimension of technics and the technical constitution of human beings, abandoning the apocalyptical viewpoint. However, the idea of extension seems to imply strong anthropocentric assumptions, which survive in contemporary theories.
Recently the late 19th century philosopher Ernst Kapp has been rediscovered as the possible initiator of this paradigm, and therefore responsible for its limits. By studying his Elements of a Philosophy of Technology, together with Cassirer’s Form and Technology, which is based on Kapp’s theories, it may be possible to distinguish the most controversial aspects and those that could be useful today for a reform of the paradigm of extension.
La seconda metà del ‘900 ha visto il successo di teorie che concepiscono le tecnologie come estensioni dell’essere umano. Questo paradigma ha avuto il pregio di superare le concezioni apocalittiche d’inizio secolo, mettendo in luce il carattere antropologico della tecnica e la costituzione già tecnica dell’essere umano. Tuttavia, l’idea di estensione sembra portare con sé dei forti presupposti antropocentrici, che sopravvivono anche nelle teorie contemporanee.
Recentemente il filosofo di fine ‘800 Ernst Kapp è stato riscoperto come probabile iniziatore di questo paradigma e quindi responsabile dei suoi limiti. Studiando i suoi Grundlinien einer Philosophie der Technik, anche grazie alla rielaborazione proposta da Cassirer, è forse possibile individuarne gli aspetti più critici e gli elementi che invece potrebbero essere utili oggi per una riforma del paradigma dell’estensione.
The article explores Wiener and Benjamin's views about the interaction between human beings a... more The article explores Wiener and Benjamin's views about the interaction between human beings and machines, highlighting some similarities. Despite their different areas of interest, they both recognize two kinds of technology, according to the sort of interaction each entertains with humans beings: an older one based on mastery and a second one based on interplay. The latter may eventually lead to «systems of a mixed nature, involving both human and mechanical parts», a new collective «which has its organs in the new technology». The emphasis the two authors share on interaction supports a view of automation that does not delegate human concerns to machines, but encourages the use of the new extended field of action to face these concerns in a new playful fashion together with the apparatus. In a society where machines are more and more able to pursue their own aims, human beings must therefore become even more responsible in setting and preserving the specifically human aims
During their philosophical careers, both Vilém Flusser and Jean Baudrillard have developed a uniq... more During their philosophical careers, both Vilém Flusser and Jean Baudrillard have developed a unique and quite singular perspective about the broader impact of technology and media on humans, from an anthropological and sociological point of view. Despite they shared a general framework and a number of hypothesis, there are several differences-namely in regard to code and simulation-which could be interesting underline. The aim of the article is precisely to reassess the intellectual and philosophical relation between these two major figures of contemporary media theory. *** In un articolo del 1966, intitolato Do espelho, Vilém Flusser propone di ripercorrere la storia del pensiero dal punto di vista dello specchio. Da San Paolo, secondo cui «adesso vediamo come in uno specchio, in immagine; ma allora vedremo faccia a faccia» 1 , passando per l'empirismo illuminista che concepisce l'intelletto come specchio della natura, per la critica kantiana alla speculazione, per il pensi...
Artefilosofia, 2019
The concept of Rückschlag (relapse / striking back) seems to synthetize Flusser’s theory of tech... more The concept of Rückschlag (relapse / striking back) seems to synthetize Flusser’s theory of technic. This paper tries to disclose the different layers of meaning of this concept by relating it to similar approaches such as the idea of externalization theorized by the French paleoanthropologist André Leroi-Gourhan, the concept of feedback as it was developed by the inventor of cybernetics, Norbert Wiener, and the concept of interplay (Zwischenspiel) as proposed by Walter Benjamin.
Wired Bodies, 2017
The article explores Wiener and Benjamin’s views about the interaction between human beings and m... more The article explores Wiener and Benjamin’s views about the interaction between human beings and machines, highlighting some similarities. Despite their different areas of interest, they both recognize two kinds of technology, according to the sort of interaction each entertains with human beings: an older one based on mastery and a second one based on interplay. The latter may eventually lead to «systems of a mixed nature, involving both human and mechanical parts», a new collective «which has its organs in the new technology».
The emphasis the two authors share on interaction supports a view of automation that does not delegate human concerns to machines, but encourages the use of the new extended field of action to face these concerns in a new playful fashion together with the apparatus. In a society where machines are more and more able to pursue their own aims, human beings must therefore become even more responsible in setting and preserving the specifically human aims.
The article, based on the author’s doctoral thesis “Vilém Flusser: a critic of idolatry in the ag... more The article, based on the author’s doctoral thesis “Vilém Flusser: a critic of idolatry in the age of new media”, analyses the concept of idolatry as a thread connecting Flusser’s early writings on religion with the later ones on communication. Studying his sources and the main occurrences of the term “idolatry” in his writings can help us understand Flusser’s original conception. The first uses of the concept (1963-1967) are clearly embedded in his Jewish education and appear mostly in the context of his essays on hierophany and secularization, especially the ones where Flusser posthumously argues with his mentor Vicente Ferreira da Silva. From 1978, “idolatry” appears in a new context, namely his essays on media theory and communication, in particular where image and text are confronted. By connecting these two phases we are able to read his communication theory in the light of his studies on religion, understanding the key role of the concepts of idolatry, magic and myth in his later texts.
The concept of idolatry allows Flusser to reflect on images beyond an aesthetic approach. Images are not only objects of contemplation: they act on us, modifying the way we look at the world and therefore our beliefs and our behavior. However, his theory is not apocalyptic: idolatry does not emerge automatically through contact with images, but it is caused by a reversal of imagination. Training our technical imagination will help us overcome the danger of a new idolatry.
Reading Flusser is not easy. One can easily get lost in his nomadic thought. Flusser’s writing mu... more Reading Flusser is not easy. One can easily get lost in his nomadic thought. Flusser’s writing must be understood as a game, with its own rules: the reader needs to play with those rules, by following or transgressing them. In this short essay, an excerpt from my doctoral dissertation, I try to detect some of Flusser’s habits as a writer that any reader should take into account. His anti-academicism, his plurilingualism, and his interdisciplinary approach demand extra work but can also be very fruitful.
This article is about Vilém Flusser’s theory of technical images in the light of the Romanian Rev... more This article is about Vilém Flusser’s theory of technical images in the light of the Romanian Revolution. In December 1989 some photos of corpses were broadcasted as a documentation of a huge massacre perpetrated by the political police of the regime of Ceaușescu in Timișoara, Romania. Those pictures had a deep effect on population and probably had a role in the increase in tension that lead to the violent end of the Revolution. It was later discovered that the corpses in the photos were not related to the police repression and that the carnage that occurred was not as huge as it was thought. Many media theorists immediately discussed what happened in Romania in several congresses and articles. Among them was Vilém Flusser, an important (and underrated) philosopher and communication theorist. This article will focus on his hypotheses and will only use the Romanian events as a background to retrace Flusser’s ideas on the “conditions of truth” of photography and video. In his late writings Flusser questions the objectivity of photography and the concept of document. Technical images are not subjective, but they have an emotional power on people and affect the circumstances they are supposed to catch objectively. One shouldn’t ask if a photo is true or false, but what its effects are: not what it is, but what it makes.
Flusser, rifacendosi al pensiero di Hannah Arendt, considera politico ciò che è agito dagli esser... more Flusser, rifacendosi al pensiero di Hannah Arendt, considera politico ciò che è agito dagli esseri umani nello spazio pubblico, determinato da una temporalità lineare: un evento politico è storico perché ha cause e conseguenze. Lo spazio privato, quello dell'oikonomia, è al contrario caratterizzato da una temporalità ciclica, rituale e routinaria. I nuovi media, facendo irrompere il pubblico nel privato e il privato nel pubblico, mettono in crisi queste categorie.
During their philosophical careers, both Vilém Flusser and Jean Baudrillard have developed a uniq... more During their philosophical careers, both Vilém Flusser and Jean Baudrillard have developed a unique and quite singular perspective about the broader impact of technology and media on humans, from an anthropological and sociological point of view. Despite they shared a general framework and a number of hypotheses, there are several differences – namely in regard to code and simulation – which could be interesting underline. The aim of the article is precisely to reassess the intellectual and philosophical relation between these two major figures of contemporary media theory.
Tra le nuove forme di narrazione la realtà virtuale prende sicuramente un posto importante, per i... more Tra le nuove forme di narrazione la realtà virtuale prende sicuramente un posto importante, per il fatto di comportare un altissimo grado di immedesimazione e immersione da parte dello spettatore/giocatore.
Si intende qui di seguito analizzare un video del regista tedesco Harun Farocki su un programma di realtà virtuale usato dall’esercito americano, confrontandolo brevemente con un video di reclutamento dello Stato Islamico e poi soffermarsi sul possibile uso rielaborativo del programma americano, basato su un interessante intreccio di racconto e realtà virtuale.
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Papers by Francesco Emilio Restuccia
analizzando come i vecchi temi siano reinventati e rappresentati in modo nuovo. La dimensione patetica e la tenerezza umana prendono il posto delle vette dottrinali del XIII secolo: la Vergine che contemplava il cielo dal letto si inginocchia amorevole accanto al suo bambino, i corpi gloriosi dei cavalieri sono sostituiti da cadaveri putrefatti, che talvolta si danno alla danza. Un libro prezioso non solo per comprendere la fine del Medioevo, che non può essere ridotto alle categorie “limpide” del gotico, ma anche per scoprire un’altra faccia dell’Umanesimo e del Rinascimento: quella che, attraverso l’affectus e la creaturalità francescane, si mantiene in rapporto con la religione. L’arte religiosa della fine del Medioevo in Francia non è solo un libro su un’epoca fondamentale della storia europea, ma anche una finestra sulle origini lontane della nostra modernità.
In fact, when Flusser deplores the risk of de- ception associated with technical images, he refers to the illusion of transparency. He does not oppose the concept of illusion to a supposed objective truth, on the contrary, he opposes the illusion of the objective nature of images to the awareness of their constructed and mediated character.
However, a rational demystification of illu- sions is not a viable option, since, according to Flusser, they are the result of a voluntary self-deception: we suppress our critical thinking because we cannot bear its complexity, we want images to “release us from the necessity for conceptual, explanatory thought.” This is why Flusser thinks that aware illusion – in other words: fiction – can help us overcome our “inertia of happiness” and develop a critical imagination.
Recently the late 19th century philosopher Ernst Kapp has been rediscovered as the possible initiator of this paradigm, and therefore responsible for its limits. By studying his Elements of a Philosophy of Technology, together with Cassirer’s Form and Technology, which is based on Kapp’s theories, it may be possible to distinguish the most controversial aspects and those that could be useful today for a reform of the paradigm of extension.
La seconda metà del ‘900 ha visto il successo di teorie che concepiscono le tecnologie come estensioni dell’essere umano. Questo paradigma ha avuto il pregio di superare le concezioni apocalittiche d’inizio secolo, mettendo in luce il carattere antropologico della tecnica e la costituzione già tecnica dell’essere umano. Tuttavia, l’idea di estensione sembra portare con sé dei forti presupposti antropocentrici, che sopravvivono anche nelle teorie contemporanee.
Recentemente il filosofo di fine ‘800 Ernst Kapp è stato riscoperto come probabile iniziatore di questo paradigma e quindi responsabile dei suoi limiti. Studiando i suoi Grundlinien einer Philosophie der Technik, anche grazie alla rielaborazione proposta da Cassirer, è forse possibile individuarne gli aspetti più critici e gli elementi che invece potrebbero essere utili oggi per una riforma del paradigma dell’estensione.
The emphasis the two authors share on interaction supports a view of automation that does not delegate human concerns to machines, but encourages the use of the new extended field of action to face these concerns in a new playful fashion together with the apparatus. In a society where machines are more and more able to pursue their own aims, human beings must therefore become even more responsible in setting and preserving the specifically human aims.
The concept of idolatry allows Flusser to reflect on images beyond an aesthetic approach. Images are not only objects of contemplation: they act on us, modifying the way we look at the world and therefore our beliefs and our behavior. However, his theory is not apocalyptic: idolatry does not emerge automatically through contact with images, but it is caused by a reversal of imagination. Training our technical imagination will help us overcome the danger of a new idolatry.
Si intende qui di seguito analizzare un video del regista tedesco Harun Farocki su un programma di realtà virtuale usato dall’esercito americano, confrontandolo brevemente con un video di reclutamento dello Stato Islamico e poi soffermarsi sul possibile uso rielaborativo del programma americano, basato su un interessante intreccio di racconto e realtà virtuale.
analizzando come i vecchi temi siano reinventati e rappresentati in modo nuovo. La dimensione patetica e la tenerezza umana prendono il posto delle vette dottrinali del XIII secolo: la Vergine che contemplava il cielo dal letto si inginocchia amorevole accanto al suo bambino, i corpi gloriosi dei cavalieri sono sostituiti da cadaveri putrefatti, che talvolta si danno alla danza. Un libro prezioso non solo per comprendere la fine del Medioevo, che non può essere ridotto alle categorie “limpide” del gotico, ma anche per scoprire un’altra faccia dell’Umanesimo e del Rinascimento: quella che, attraverso l’affectus e la creaturalità francescane, si mantiene in rapporto con la religione. L’arte religiosa della fine del Medioevo in Francia non è solo un libro su un’epoca fondamentale della storia europea, ma anche una finestra sulle origini lontane della nostra modernità.
In fact, when Flusser deplores the risk of de- ception associated with technical images, he refers to the illusion of transparency. He does not oppose the concept of illusion to a supposed objective truth, on the contrary, he opposes the illusion of the objective nature of images to the awareness of their constructed and mediated character.
However, a rational demystification of illu- sions is not a viable option, since, according to Flusser, they are the result of a voluntary self-deception: we suppress our critical thinking because we cannot bear its complexity, we want images to “release us from the necessity for conceptual, explanatory thought.” This is why Flusser thinks that aware illusion – in other words: fiction – can help us overcome our “inertia of happiness” and develop a critical imagination.
Recently the late 19th century philosopher Ernst Kapp has been rediscovered as the possible initiator of this paradigm, and therefore responsible for its limits. By studying his Elements of a Philosophy of Technology, together with Cassirer’s Form and Technology, which is based on Kapp’s theories, it may be possible to distinguish the most controversial aspects and those that could be useful today for a reform of the paradigm of extension.
La seconda metà del ‘900 ha visto il successo di teorie che concepiscono le tecnologie come estensioni dell’essere umano. Questo paradigma ha avuto il pregio di superare le concezioni apocalittiche d’inizio secolo, mettendo in luce il carattere antropologico della tecnica e la costituzione già tecnica dell’essere umano. Tuttavia, l’idea di estensione sembra portare con sé dei forti presupposti antropocentrici, che sopravvivono anche nelle teorie contemporanee.
Recentemente il filosofo di fine ‘800 Ernst Kapp è stato riscoperto come probabile iniziatore di questo paradigma e quindi responsabile dei suoi limiti. Studiando i suoi Grundlinien einer Philosophie der Technik, anche grazie alla rielaborazione proposta da Cassirer, è forse possibile individuarne gli aspetti più critici e gli elementi che invece potrebbero essere utili oggi per una riforma del paradigma dell’estensione.
The emphasis the two authors share on interaction supports a view of automation that does not delegate human concerns to machines, but encourages the use of the new extended field of action to face these concerns in a new playful fashion together with the apparatus. In a society where machines are more and more able to pursue their own aims, human beings must therefore become even more responsible in setting and preserving the specifically human aims.
The concept of idolatry allows Flusser to reflect on images beyond an aesthetic approach. Images are not only objects of contemplation: they act on us, modifying the way we look at the world and therefore our beliefs and our behavior. However, his theory is not apocalyptic: idolatry does not emerge automatically through contact with images, but it is caused by a reversal of imagination. Training our technical imagination will help us overcome the danger of a new idolatry.
Si intende qui di seguito analizzare un video del regista tedesco Harun Farocki su un programma di realtà virtuale usato dall’esercito americano, confrontandolo brevemente con un video di reclutamento dello Stato Islamico e poi soffermarsi sul possibile uso rielaborativo del programma americano, basato su un interessante intreccio di racconto e realtà virtuale.
Videograms of a revolution è un montaggio di immagini di repertorio girate durante i giorni della rivoluzione rumena (dicembre 1989) e costruisce un gioco di campo e controcampo tra il punto di vista ufficiale (quello della televisione governativa) e quello dei filmati amatoriali, creando un ponte tra gli eventi che avvengono sotto i riflettori e i luoghi in cui le informazioni sono recepite attraverso le televisioni. In una scena significativa viene mostrato l’ultimo discorso di Ceaușescu e dietro il televisore, oltre la finestra, il corteo di manifestanti che l’ha appena interrotto.
Queste immagini rendono molto bene ciò che il teorico dei media Vilém Flusser intende parlando del carattere intersoggettivo del video. “La telecamera passa di mano in mano e ogni partecipante può esigere da chi tiene la telecamera che cambi il punto di vista”. Il video non può essere considerato un medium oggettivo, perché il suo non è il punto di vista di un osservatore distanziato, bensì è immerso nella scena che rappresenta ed è sincronizzato con essa: ne è compromesso e la compromette. Allo stesso tempo supera la soggettività, perché è un medium costantemente aperto alla reversibilità dello sguardo.
L’intersoggettività dev’essere intesa in senso forte, nei termini di un Beziehungsfeld, un campo di relazione che è da considerarsi “più concreto” delle parti che lo compongono: colui che filma e colui che è filmato si costituiscono come tali l’uno in relazione all’altro ed entrambi lo sono per l’ambiente mediale che si è prodotto. Secondo Flusser il video è un medium essenzialmente dialogico e aperto a una conversazione intersoggettiva che includa eventuali altri partecipanti al gioco.
Così due anni dopo lo stesso Farocki, nel breve film Interface, si riprende nel proprio studio di montaggio, mentre lavora sul video del giovane rumeno che filma il proprio televisore in cui in diretta si tiene l’ultimo discorso di Ceaușescu.
A partire da "Storia naturale della distruzione", dello scrittore tedesco Winfried Sebald, e con l’aiuto di alcune immagini, si intende proporre una riflessione sul valore dell’esperienza delle rovine. Quest’opera di metaletteratura sulla memoria della distruzione delle città tedesche da parte dell’aviazione alleata, ci racconta di come le macerie abbiano bisogno di tempo, per diventare rovine, così come ogni trauma richiede un tempo per l’elaborazione del lutto. La rimozione delle rovine (anche attraverso un restauro ricostruttivo) ci priva di un’esperienza preziosa e forte.
Dalle rovine impariamo che ogni edificazione, che sia una costruzione architettonica o storica, o una qualsiasi realizzazione di un sogno, finirà per essere distrutta. Lungi dall’essere un monito terribile, tale carattere della rovina la rende secondo Maria Zambrano “una metafora della speranza”. Questo perché, “ogni realizzazione è una frustrazione” e quindi la sua messa in crisi è la riapertura di nuove possibilità. Come affermano in modo diverso Simmel e Benjamin le edificazioni sono delle imposizioni: ogni edificazione che si pretende definitiva chiude le porte a tutte le altre realizzazioni possibili. La precarietà delle rovine ci insegna invece ad avere uno sguardo critico e a mantenere aperta la possibilità. Non si tratta di una speranza rassicurante, ma di una speranza che mette in moto. A noi spetta mettere in salvo questa esperienza, cercando, anche attraverso l’arte, d’aiutare le rovine a resistere nella loro vulnerabilità.
The interactive designer Philipp Schmitt recently developed a camera that doesn’t allow to take a new photo in places where too many pictures have been geotagged. Flusser would reply to this project proposing to allow to take new pictures, but with a different approach: not to witness what we already know, but to discover something unseen. This theory could easily work with speech recordings, helping us to discover some of the meaningful details of a speech act, that we didn’t recognize, since we are not used to them.
« Le documentariste s’intéresse à des scènes toujours nouvelles, selon des façons de voir toujours pareilles », écrit Vilém Flusser dans son Pour une philosophie de la photographie. Loin d’être des instruments à notre disposition, les appareils (en particulier les appareils d’enregistrement) seraient plutôt des partenaires qui collaborent en nous posant des fortes contraintes : ils font ce que nous voulons, mais nous voulons ce qu’ils nous suggèrent. La plupart des documents qui circulent (images, vidéos, sons) sont redondants, ne rajoutent pas d’informations.
Récemment l’interactive designer Philipp Schmitt a développé un appareil photo nommé Camera Restricta, doté de GPS et d’accès internet, qui informe l’utilisateur du nombre d’images qui ont été géolocalisées dans tous les réseaux sociaux sur l’endroit où se trouve l’appareil. La Camera Restricta est dotée aussi d’un dispositif qui empêche de capturer une instantanée où trop de photos ont déjà été prises. Il s’agit clairement d’un projet provocateur : la réalité augmentée nous permet d’être conscients du probable manque d’information de notre document, mais il est absolument insuffisant de se limiter à photographier un paysage inexploré. Il faudrait profiter de la conscience que cet appareil nous donne pour regarder les mêmes scènes d’une façon différente. Le véritable défi qu’un tel dispositif devrait poser au photographe, serait de trouver des nouvelles informations là où il y a une grande redondance.
Le changement de point de vue que Flusser propose c’est de s’assurer, dans l’analyse des documents, si notre partenaire l’appareil a capturé quelque chose qu’on n’avait pas perçu et non pas s’il a capturé ce qu’on avait déjà perçu (voir Blow-Up d’Antonioni, The Conversation by Coppola et Blow Out de De Palma). Cette méthode dialogue bien avec la théorie de l’inconscient optique de Walter Benjamin et celle de l’inconscient technologique du photographe Franco Vaccari, qui à la biennale de Venise du 1972 laisse un appareil photomaton dans une salle pour que le public l’utilise et fixe les photos sur le mur. Pour se livrer de ses préconceptions optiques le photographe laisse espace à l’imprévisibilité.
Flusser arrive à proposer que l’enregistrement des discours (vidéo ou audio), si mené d’une façon dialogique, devrait substituer l’écriture, pour sa capacité de documenter la dimension inattendue et spontanée des gestes et des éléments énonciatifs du discours.
Selon Vilém Flusser, philosophe et théoricien de la communication, les images traditionnelles ont un statut très différent de celui des images techniques, qui sont produites par des appareils. Si les premières gardent un certain dégrée d’opacité, en se présentant en tant qu’élaborations des images mentales de leurs auteurs, les dernières semblent être plus objectives puisqu’elles sont obtenues par des opérations scientifiques (qu’il s’agisse de réactions chimiques ou de calculs informatiques). Pourtant, loin d’être des « fenêtres », les images techniques seraient des images in-formées (hinbilden), où les informations les plus importantes ne sont pas celles qui apparaissent, mais celles du code qui a permis la construction de l’image.
Ce qui est réellement déterminant n’est pas le signifié d’une image, mais son but. Déchiffrer un film ou une photo c’est deviner le programme par lequel ils ont été construits. L’aspect le plus dangereux des images techniques est justement leur apparente transparence, le fait qu’elles semblent représenter objectivement ce qu’elles montrent. Cela nous amène à les observer de manière acritique : en en cherchant le référent sans nous demander « dans quel but » elles le signifient, nous finissons par les suivre aveuglement et, donc, par en exécuter le programme. Dans ce sens les images techniques sont à la fois programmées, puisqu’in-formées par les appareils, et programmantes, parce qu’elles véhiculent des instructions de comportement et in-forment ceux qui en font expérience.
Les deux vidéos en question sont des exemples évidents d’un pouvoir qui, selon Flusser, appartient à toutes les images techniques. Dans une vidéo de recrutement pour le Jihad, produit par les militants de l’État islamique, on montre des images tirées du jeu GTA 5. La vidéo s’adresse probablement aux jeunes syriens et iraquiens qui connaissent bien le jeu. Les images ont été modifiées en remplaçant les protagonistes par des jihadistes. Le message implicite de faire pour de vrai ce que maintenant ils ne font que virtuellement, est efficace seulement grâce à la confusion entre le plan de la réalité et le plan du jeu.
Dans la deuxième vidéo le réalisateur allemand Farocki filme des soldats américains qui se préparent à la guerre avec un simulateur très similaire d’un jeu vidéo. Les images synthétisées de la réalité virtuelle se présentent comme parfaitement substituables par l’espace réel où les soldats se trouveront. Un des joueurs réagit à la mort de son avatar dans le simulateur en riant, même si un peu irrité. Les soldats non seulement mémorisent certains techniques de combat, mais ils assimilent aussi la dimension ludique qu’ils reproduiront en guerre : ils apprennent à voir la mort, la leur et celle des autres, comme un simple game over.