Papers by Giacomo Mercuriali
RESOLUTION, Oct 25, 2019
Starting from a discussion of Chris Marker's "La Jetée" and Terry Gilliam's "12 Monkeys", I intro... more Starting from a discussion of Chris Marker's "La Jetée" and Terry Gilliam's "12 Monkeys", I introduce the problem of the truth-value accredited to photographic images known as the documentary paradigm. I maintain that the mainstream philosophy of photography has been able to build and defend that paradigm via the ideological exclusion of an enormous amount of possible photographs. The recent achievements of automated generative imaging oblige a retrospective comparative analysis. This essay introduces two new concepts: "digigraphy" and "photosimile." I propose to name digigraphy those digital pictures produced by a computer without the need of an optical apparatus – still necessary for digital photography – and characterized by the steadiness of production (comparable to the "shot"), reproduction, and diffusion. The creation of a digigraph does not imply the operations of an expert; rather, digigraphy is deemed to become a medium even more accessible and widespread than digital photography. I introduce the concept of photosimile to identify those digigraphs, which are, for the human eye, indistinguishable from a photograph or a digital photograph. I continue forecasting a split into the human use of photographic images: on the one hand, the documentary value will remain crucial for the automated operations of machine vision such as data mining, management, and control. On the other, the communicative and expressive values of photographic images will survive into the new form of digigraphy.
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Kabul Magazine, Apr 24, 2020
Starting from a discussion of Chris Marker's "La Jetée" and Terry Gilliam's "12 Monkeys", I intro... more Starting from a discussion of Chris Marker's "La Jetée" and Terry Gilliam's "12 Monkeys", I introduce the problem of the truth-value accredited to photographic images known as the documentary paradigm. I maintain that the mainstream philosophy of photography has been able to build and defend that paradigm via the ideological exclusion of an enormous amount of possible photographs. The recent achievements of automated generative imaging oblige a retrospective comparative analysis. This essay introduces two new concepts: "digigraphy" and "photosimile." I propose to name digigraphy those digital pictures produced by a computer without the need of an optical apparatus – still necessary for digital photography – and characterized by the steadiness of production (comparable to the "shot"), reproduction, and diffusion. The creation of a digigraph does not imply the operations of an expert; rather, digigraphy is deemed to become a medium even more accessible and widespread than digital photography. I introduce the concept of photosimile to identify those digigraphs, which are, for the human eye, indistinguishable from a photograph or a digital photograph. I continue forecasting a split into the human use of photographic images: on the one hand, the documentary value will remain crucial for the automated operations of machine vision such as data mining, management, and control. On the other, the communicative and expressive values of photographic images will survive into the new form of digigraphy.
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This essay presents a new interpretation of panel 79 of Aby Warburg’s Atlas Mnemosyne. Through th... more This essay presents a new interpretation of panel 79 of Aby Warburg’s Atlas Mnemosyne. Through the overall
analysis of all the images that compose it, the aim is to elucidate the global logic of the panel. The key to
interpretation is the body of Christ in its various instances: even if the human figure of the son of God here
never appears, the table deepens its symbolic dimension, both in the ritual sense (the Eucharist, the feast of
Corpus Domini) and in the theological-political one (the community of believers, established by St. Paul as the
organic and hierarchical “body of Christ”). The use of the iconographic treasure collected in the Atlas proves
then to be functional to a critique of contemporaneity: the facts relating to the signing of the Concordat of
1929, which resurrected a «paganizing» overlap between the political community and the religious community
in Italy, are analyzed by Warburg in order to «contain the chaos of unreason».
Keywords : Aby Warburg, Atlas Mnemosyne, Panel 79, political iconology, political theology, totalitarianism,
Mussolini, Pius XI, Lateran Pacts of 1929.
----
L’articolo che qui si presenta propone una nuova interpretazione della tavola 79 dell’Atlas Mnemosyne di Aby
Warburg. Attraverso l’analisi complessiva di tutte le immagini che la compongono, si mira a sciogliere la logica
globale del pannello. La chiave di lettura impiegata è il corpo di Cristo nelle sue molteplici declinazioni:
anche se la figura umana del figlio di Dio qui non compare mai, la tavola ne approfondisce la dimensione
simbolica, sia in senso rituale (l’eucarestia, la festa del Corpus Domini) che teologico-politico (la comunità dei
credenti, stabilita da San Paolo come organico e gerarchizzato «corpo di Cristo»). L’impiego del tesoro iconografico
raccolto nell’Atlas si dimostra così funzionale ad una critica della contemporaneità: i fatti relativi alla
firma del Concordato del 1929, che resuscitava una «paganizzante» sovrapposizione tra comunità politica e
comunità religiosa in Italia, vengono analizzati da Warburg allo scopo di «contenere il caos della sragione».
Parole chiave : Aby Warburg, Atlas Mnemosyne, tavola 79, iconologia politica, teologia politica, totalitarismo,
Mussolini, Pio XI, Concordato del 1929.
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International Journal for Digital Art History, 2018
"This essay explores the parallel development of computer vision technology and digital art histo... more "This essay explores the parallel development of computer vision technology and digital art history, examining some of the current possibilities and limits of computational techniques applied to the cultural and historical studies of images. A fracture emerges: computer scientists seem to lack in the critical approach typical of the humanities, a shortfall which sometimes condemns their attempts to remain technological curiosities. For their part, humanists lack the technical knowledge that is needed to directly investigate large archives of images, with the result that art historians often must limit digital research to databases of text or metadata, a task that does not necessarily facilitate the study of the images themselves. A future dialogue between the two areas is required to foster this new branch of knowledge".
Many thanks to the anonymous reviewer of this paper.
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In Circolo, 2017
This essay explores the parallel rising of computer vision technology and digital art history, ex... more This essay explores the parallel rising of computer vision technology and digital art history, examining some of the current possibilities and limits of computational techniques applied to the cultural and historical studies of images. A fracture emerges: computer scientists seems to lack in the critical approach typical of the humanities, a shortfall which sometimes condemns their attempts to remain technological curiosities. For their part, humanists lack in technical knowledge that is needed to directly investigate big archives of images, with the result that art historians often must limit their attempts in the computer-aided inquires on texts or metadata databases, a task that does not imply the study of the images themselves. A future dialogue between the two areas is claimed as a necessity in order to foster this new branch of knowledge.
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This essay presents the work of the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben in the light of Dürer’s e... more This essay presents the work of the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben in the light of Dürer’s engraving "Melencolia
I". In the first part we discuss the occurrence of the engraving in three Agamben’s books: "The Man Without
Content" (1970), "Stanzas" (1977), and "Nudities" (2009). In the second, we attempt to interpret his use of Melencolia
I as a figure of the concept of inoperativity. Inoperativity is seen by the philosopher as the essential feature of
humanity, and its characterization takes advantage of the axiological overturning of the Aristotelian couple
energeia/dynamis in favour of the second. From there follows what can be called an anthropology of (im)potentiality
which shaped not only Agamben’s most known work in political philosophy but also his view of the artistic
creation: both these research paths are therefore to be seen as the result of ontological interrogations. The footnotes
of the essay retrace key passages in Agamben’s bibliography that help to follow the development and refinements of
the concept of inoperativity.
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Conference Presentations by Giacomo Mercuriali
In 1974 Marcel Broodthaers exposed at the Musée des Beaux-Arts of Bruxelles Un Jardin d’Hiver, th... more In 1974 Marcel Broodthaers exposed at the Musée des Beaux-Arts of Bruxelles Un Jardin d’Hiver, the first installation of his Décors series. The artist conceived a room where visitors could step in and interact with different objects: palms, outdoor chairs, nineteenth century prints and a mirroring television/camera apparatus. It might be fruitful to develop a deep analysis of this piece in order to reveal its autoreflexive character: as the visitor walks into the work of art, he can see himself live broadcasted in the frame of the television which, at the same time, places both the installation and the visitor within the borders of a frame, that is, the classical device of isolation that installation art normally negates in order to define itself as an autonomous visual art genre. The presence of exotic greenery and outdoor furniture seems also to negate the actual situation of the audience that is visiting a room inside a museum; this fact resonates with the precise title of the artwork, which brings with itself the memory of nineteenth century spaces where the differences between exterior and interior, proximity and distance, known and unknown, nature and culture where blurred. Identified by Rosalind Krauss as the forerunner of the «post/medium age», Marcel Broodthaers employed heterogeneous medias to build up a subtle space where the experience of the audience is put into phenomenological brackets which suspend the fundamental metaphysical distinction between inside and outside, one that was already questioned by Walter Benjamin in his analysis of the Parisian passages, an architecture made in iron and glass whose function and form is very close to those of the winter gardens.
Keywords: Benjamin, Broodthaers, framing, mirror image, representation, superimpositions.
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Talks by Giacomo Mercuriali
Conferenza pubblica (Atene, 16 novembre 2013), trascrizione a cura di ΧΡΟΝΟΣ. Traduzione di Giaco... more Conferenza pubblica (Atene, 16 novembre 2013), trascrizione a cura di ΧΡΟΝΟΣ. Traduzione di Giacomo Mercuriali.
Originale: https://soundcloud.com/embros-theater/giorgio-agamben-in-embros
Una riflessione sul destino della democrazia oggi qui ad Atene in qualche modo è inquietante, poiché obbliga a pensare alla fine della democrazia nel luogo stesso in cui questa è nata. In effetti, l'ipotesi che vorrei proporre è che il paradigma governamentale predominante oggi in Europa non solo non sia democratico, ma che non possa nemmeno essere considerato politico. Tenterò allora di mostrare che la società europea non è più una società politica: è qualcosa di totalmente nuovo, qualcosa per cui ci manca una terminologia appropriata e dovremo quindi inventare una nuova strategia.
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Papers by Giacomo Mercuriali
analysis of all the images that compose it, the aim is to elucidate the global logic of the panel. The key to
interpretation is the body of Christ in its various instances: even if the human figure of the son of God here
never appears, the table deepens its symbolic dimension, both in the ritual sense (the Eucharist, the feast of
Corpus Domini) and in the theological-political one (the community of believers, established by St. Paul as the
organic and hierarchical “body of Christ”). The use of the iconographic treasure collected in the Atlas proves
then to be functional to a critique of contemporaneity: the facts relating to the signing of the Concordat of
1929, which resurrected a «paganizing» overlap between the political community and the religious community
in Italy, are analyzed by Warburg in order to «contain the chaos of unreason».
Keywords : Aby Warburg, Atlas Mnemosyne, Panel 79, political iconology, political theology, totalitarianism,
Mussolini, Pius XI, Lateran Pacts of 1929.
----
L’articolo che qui si presenta propone una nuova interpretazione della tavola 79 dell’Atlas Mnemosyne di Aby
Warburg. Attraverso l’analisi complessiva di tutte le immagini che la compongono, si mira a sciogliere la logica
globale del pannello. La chiave di lettura impiegata è il corpo di Cristo nelle sue molteplici declinazioni:
anche se la figura umana del figlio di Dio qui non compare mai, la tavola ne approfondisce la dimensione
simbolica, sia in senso rituale (l’eucarestia, la festa del Corpus Domini) che teologico-politico (la comunità dei
credenti, stabilita da San Paolo come organico e gerarchizzato «corpo di Cristo»). L’impiego del tesoro iconografico
raccolto nell’Atlas si dimostra così funzionale ad una critica della contemporaneità: i fatti relativi alla
firma del Concordato del 1929, che resuscitava una «paganizzante» sovrapposizione tra comunità politica e
comunità religiosa in Italia, vengono analizzati da Warburg allo scopo di «contenere il caos della sragione».
Parole chiave : Aby Warburg, Atlas Mnemosyne, tavola 79, iconologia politica, teologia politica, totalitarismo,
Mussolini, Pio XI, Concordato del 1929.
Many thanks to the anonymous reviewer of this paper.
I". In the first part we discuss the occurrence of the engraving in three Agamben’s books: "The Man Without
Content" (1970), "Stanzas" (1977), and "Nudities" (2009). In the second, we attempt to interpret his use of Melencolia
I as a figure of the concept of inoperativity. Inoperativity is seen by the philosopher as the essential feature of
humanity, and its characterization takes advantage of the axiological overturning of the Aristotelian couple
energeia/dynamis in favour of the second. From there follows what can be called an anthropology of (im)potentiality
which shaped not only Agamben’s most known work in political philosophy but also his view of the artistic
creation: both these research paths are therefore to be seen as the result of ontological interrogations. The footnotes
of the essay retrace key passages in Agamben’s bibliography that help to follow the development and refinements of
the concept of inoperativity.
Conference Presentations by Giacomo Mercuriali
Keywords: Benjamin, Broodthaers, framing, mirror image, representation, superimpositions.
Talks by Giacomo Mercuriali
Originale: https://soundcloud.com/embros-theater/giorgio-agamben-in-embros
Una riflessione sul destino della democrazia oggi qui ad Atene in qualche modo è inquietante, poiché obbliga a pensare alla fine della democrazia nel luogo stesso in cui questa è nata. In effetti, l'ipotesi che vorrei proporre è che il paradigma governamentale predominante oggi in Europa non solo non sia democratico, ma che non possa nemmeno essere considerato politico. Tenterò allora di mostrare che la società europea non è più una società politica: è qualcosa di totalmente nuovo, qualcosa per cui ci manca una terminologia appropriata e dovremo quindi inventare una nuova strategia.
analysis of all the images that compose it, the aim is to elucidate the global logic of the panel. The key to
interpretation is the body of Christ in its various instances: even if the human figure of the son of God here
never appears, the table deepens its symbolic dimension, both in the ritual sense (the Eucharist, the feast of
Corpus Domini) and in the theological-political one (the community of believers, established by St. Paul as the
organic and hierarchical “body of Christ”). The use of the iconographic treasure collected in the Atlas proves
then to be functional to a critique of contemporaneity: the facts relating to the signing of the Concordat of
1929, which resurrected a «paganizing» overlap between the political community and the religious community
in Italy, are analyzed by Warburg in order to «contain the chaos of unreason».
Keywords : Aby Warburg, Atlas Mnemosyne, Panel 79, political iconology, political theology, totalitarianism,
Mussolini, Pius XI, Lateran Pacts of 1929.
----
L’articolo che qui si presenta propone una nuova interpretazione della tavola 79 dell’Atlas Mnemosyne di Aby
Warburg. Attraverso l’analisi complessiva di tutte le immagini che la compongono, si mira a sciogliere la logica
globale del pannello. La chiave di lettura impiegata è il corpo di Cristo nelle sue molteplici declinazioni:
anche se la figura umana del figlio di Dio qui non compare mai, la tavola ne approfondisce la dimensione
simbolica, sia in senso rituale (l’eucarestia, la festa del Corpus Domini) che teologico-politico (la comunità dei
credenti, stabilita da San Paolo come organico e gerarchizzato «corpo di Cristo»). L’impiego del tesoro iconografico
raccolto nell’Atlas si dimostra così funzionale ad una critica della contemporaneità: i fatti relativi alla
firma del Concordato del 1929, che resuscitava una «paganizzante» sovrapposizione tra comunità politica e
comunità religiosa in Italia, vengono analizzati da Warburg allo scopo di «contenere il caos della sragione».
Parole chiave : Aby Warburg, Atlas Mnemosyne, tavola 79, iconologia politica, teologia politica, totalitarismo,
Mussolini, Pio XI, Concordato del 1929.
Many thanks to the anonymous reviewer of this paper.
I". In the first part we discuss the occurrence of the engraving in three Agamben’s books: "The Man Without
Content" (1970), "Stanzas" (1977), and "Nudities" (2009). In the second, we attempt to interpret his use of Melencolia
I as a figure of the concept of inoperativity. Inoperativity is seen by the philosopher as the essential feature of
humanity, and its characterization takes advantage of the axiological overturning of the Aristotelian couple
energeia/dynamis in favour of the second. From there follows what can be called an anthropology of (im)potentiality
which shaped not only Agamben’s most known work in political philosophy but also his view of the artistic
creation: both these research paths are therefore to be seen as the result of ontological interrogations. The footnotes
of the essay retrace key passages in Agamben’s bibliography that help to follow the development and refinements of
the concept of inoperativity.
Keywords: Benjamin, Broodthaers, framing, mirror image, representation, superimpositions.
Originale: https://soundcloud.com/embros-theater/giorgio-agamben-in-embros
Una riflessione sul destino della democrazia oggi qui ad Atene in qualche modo è inquietante, poiché obbliga a pensare alla fine della democrazia nel luogo stesso in cui questa è nata. In effetti, l'ipotesi che vorrei proporre è che il paradigma governamentale predominante oggi in Europa non solo non sia democratico, ma che non possa nemmeno essere considerato politico. Tenterò allora di mostrare che la società europea non è più una società politica: è qualcosa di totalmente nuovo, qualcosa per cui ci manca una terminologia appropriata e dovremo quindi inventare una nuova strategia.