Revisiting The Virtual in Art's Potential (2007)

E VIRTUAL IN ART'S POTENTIAL:
REVISITING TfI
THE
FROM THE BYZANTINE ICON TO THE CONTEMPORARY IMAGE
By
Slyl ianou
Elena A. Stylianou
Dissertation Committee:
Professor John
Jolm Baldacchino, Sponsor
Professor Graeme Sullivan
Approved by the Committee

!he Degree of Doctor of Education
CommiUee of the
t\Ay 1 ..4 2001

ZOOl'
MAY
0.'
____________
_
Date -------
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the degree

Submiued
requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education in
Teachers College, Columbia University
2007
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ii
11
ART' S POTENTIAL:
POTENTIAL:
REVISITING THE VIRTUAL IN ART'S
FROM TIlE
THE BYZANTINE ICON TO THE
TilE CONTEMPORARY IMAGE
By
Elena A. Stylianou
Dissertation Committee:
Ccmmillee:
Baldac4.'hino, Sponsor
Professor John Baldacchino,
Professor
Graeme
ProfessorGraeme Sullivan
the Degree of Doctor

Approved by the Committee of
ofthe
Doetor of Education
KAY 1I 4,4 2007

2\JJ1
MAY
----"'" ----Date
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the degree

requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education in
Teachers College, Columbia University
2007
ABSTRACT
REVISITING
I N ART'S POTENTIAL:
REVI SITING THE VIRTUAL
VIRT UAL IN
FROM TilE
THE BYZANTINE ICON TO THE CONTEMPORARY IMAGE
Elena A. Sty
Stylianou
lianou
Vinuality is not
DO( a condition that merely describes computer
computeT generated threeVirtuality
environments. This dissenation

dissertation argues that virtuality
space
dimensional C11vironments.
vinuaJity is the potential
potentia/splitt
of art to realize
art,
real ize a truth. A historical analysis of specific
spocific artistic periods and works of an,
including perspective frescoes in Italian villas
v illas and in baroque cchurches,
hurches, the panorama,
ofmodemity (Cubism, Dadaism,

and e~amples
examples from the artistic movements ofl11<)demity
Dadaism. Surrealism
distinguishes it
considerations of virtuality and di$\ingui~hes
and Futurism),
Futuri~m), problematizes
probtemali""" current co""ideration~
from unreality or deception.
vinuaJity as aII potential space this study also negotiates art's
art s
In cXlOsidemtion
consideration of virtuality
relationship to
10 truth. In contrast to IIa previous set of
oftheories
PlalO, Aristotle,
AriSlOtle, Hegel,
theories by Plato,
Kant. and following Alain Badiou's philosophy,
philosophy. a new consideration of
Heidegger and Kant,
tionship is presented. Art is viewed as the situation where a truth
troth occurs and this
this rela
relationship
truth is sim
ultaneQusly immanent (internal to art) and singular (unique to an).
"The
simultaneously
art). The
question ooff "presence"
"p"'.'ICnce" in the religious iconography
icooography of
o f Byzantium, as it was raised during
re lationship between art
example to illustrate the relationship
the Iconoclastic dispute, serves as an e:'tample
and truth. The study considers the importance of historical construction in the iconic
ewnomy;
ill ustrates the
economy; that is the political structure of the image. This discussion illustrates
OCCll1Te!"lCe of apresence
necessity of abse~
absence (of the lack of a narrntive)
narrative) for the occurrence
a presence (of a
art to truth ultimately supports

unique and internal artistic truth). Such relationship of an
art's unity, for it never presents an
lelos, an end.
art with a telos,
TIle contemporary works of Bill Viola, Ann Hamilton
Ham ilton and Laurie
Lauric Anderson
Andcl'SOn are
The
juxtaposed against Byzantine iconography. These works raise simi

similar
juxtaposed
lar issues to the icon,
icon.
such as issues of personal memories,
memori es. absence.
absence, inside and outside, history and its
representation, and of the relationship between language and art. Simultaneously, the
of contemporary works
woru to present us with a new oopenness
penness - because of their
potentiality of
lack for a prefixed narrative
IlIIlT1Itive - introduces the idea ofart
an
of art as pedagogical. At last, art
breaks static knowledge through its poetic process of presenting a dynamic truth that
1M! is
10 the work (artistic truth) as it is unique
uniq ue to the interpretation (self-knowledge
unique to
truth).
E.s.
E.S.
Ihose who never

ne\'er cease to
10 search
sta n'h ...
.. .
To those
111
'"
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I will be indebted and forever grateful

grateful!O
Morn and Dad for it is the
!he security of
to Mom
infinite love and their effortl
ess questioning that always drive me 10
their infInite
effortless
to all my
!he same time, this journey
jounw.-y would have been impossible and extremely
ClItremely
achievemenlll.
achievements. At the
encowagtrnenl of the person
lone ly, if it was not for the tOllSlant
constant support and wann
warm encouragement
lonely,
closest to me: Adam Jacobs. I will always be grateful for he, most of
all, kept me going
doses!
orall,
proje<:t.
even when at times I lost sight of my project.
of my teachers,
Certainly, I am forever thankful to all ofmy
teachers. friends and colleagues who
Dr. Judith Burton,

guided me to new ways of thinking. I would especially like to thank Dr.
whose watchful eye and deep faith in my academic endeavors never ceased to anta:(e
amaze and
Or. Graeme Sullivan, whose questions have always challenged me, and to
drive me, to Dr.
Hubard. who sets an example of friendship and astounding teaching. Special
Dr. Olga Hubard,
thanks to Dr.
Or. John Broughton and Dr. Maxine Greene,
Greene. whose warmth
wannth and intellect
intelle<:t will
always inspire
illSpire me.
Filllllly - and above all - this work would have never been the same, if it was not
Finally
for the endless supportive

Baldaeehino. His humor, sharp
supplnive efforts of my advisor, Dr. John Baldacchino.
judgment,
criticism, and insightful comments guided me throughout this
judgme
nt, constructive criticism.
process,
proo.;ess. that
thai has been most enriching and rewarding,
rewarding. scholarly and rigorous. In addition,
his personality and Mediterranean
signifIcance of
Meo;lite!'1"llrleaIl temperament
tempetarnent reminded me of the significance
~home~,
"home",
for khomc"
"home" is where all wisdom lies.
E.S.
,.
IV
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Lu i of Figures.................................................................................
FigurtS ....... _.................................................... _.. ...... ............
List
vu
VB
Preface...........................................................................................
P ~f.ce. ......... .. ... ........ . .. ... ... .................................... ... ... .. . ... ...........
IX
IX
Inlrodu~lion ..................................................................................
..
Introduction.
.... ... .... ......... ... ..... .. .......... . ..... .. ... .. ........ ....... .....
Assumptions..
... ......
.... .... .. ....
.......
...... .. ... ..
...... ...... . ..........
..... ... ........
...... .........
Assumplions ........
.........
.......
.. ...........
.. . ...
.... . .. .
U mics of the Research
Research.....................................................................
....... ...... ....... ........... .... ... ............ ......... ..... ..
Limits
Methodology ...... .... . . ........... ... ... ... ... .............
,...............
........
. ....................
Rationale .... .... ..........................................
Research Practice and Rationale...
Towards a "Crilical~
Methodology .......... . ....... .... .................. .
"Critical" Visual Methodology.........................................
Methods.....................................................................................
Meiliods .................................................................................... .
Semiology ............................................................................
Semiology.
................. ................................. ............ ................
Di$C(lur.;e Analysis
...................
. ..........
..... ..............
........... .........
.. ..... ......
.. .. ....
......
Discourse
Analysis.........
.........
......
........
. ..
Treatment of Information...................................................
Information .............. ..... ......... ... ........ . ................ .... .... .
Researcher ...................................................
Reflexivity: My Role as a Researcher.
Overview..
.....
...... .....
..... ...
... .. .. .. .
Chapter Ovcrview
. ............
. ..........
. .. .....
... ... ... .. .. ..
... .... . .. . .......
..........
.. ................
3
5
7
7
8
10
\0
10
\0
11
12
13
\3
14
Ch.
pler I:
I; On Virtuality.....................................................................
Virtu. lily .................................................................... .
Chapter
17
Khora ....... . .. . ............... .

Plato's Allegory of the Cave and the Notion of the Khora...............
"V
"A
U
......................................................... .
utopia:
opas of
0 fUtopia...........................
lopla
"Virtopia":
A7
Topos
Reali ty of Fiction
Fi(:tion Narrative.....
Narrative ......................................... .....
Virtual Reality
Pleasure and Necessity: Virtual Reality as a Non-Space.............................
NonS~ ........ ................... ..
Proximity . ..............................................
.... ....
Virtual Reality as Distance and Proximity.....................................
Summary....................................................................................
Summwy
.............................................................................
19
25
31
37
38
42
Chapter II:
thee Sear~b
Search for Truth;
Truth: From the Cn
Cavee to the Virtual
Cbapter
Ii; In
10 th
Virtu.1 Window.
Window .......
44
PersptXtivc as the Metaphor of the

ttw: Window..........................................
Window ...... . .. . .. . .......... . ..... . ........... .
Perspective
Vi n ual Architecture.......................................................
Architecture ........... . .......... . .. . .... .. .. .. . ... .. , ........... .
Panorama as Virtual
The Modem Illusions of All-isms
AII. isms (Cubism, Dadaism, Surrealism).................
S\lITCalism)................ .
Dimension .......................................... .
Futurist Painting and the Fourth Dimension.....................
45
53
57
73
Summwy
....................................................................................
Summary....................................................................................
79
the Work...........................................
Chapter nI:
III, The Artistic
Art" t", Truth of
orthe
Work .......................................... .
81
The Truth of Art and the Art

Truth...................................................
An of Truth
.. . .. . ... .............. .. .. . .. . ........ .. .. ....... . 83
Negotiation of InfInity:
Question of ""Presence"
.. ... .. . . . 96
InfIDity: The Qucstion
Presence" in the Icon.
Icon ...................
Voi d as "Nothingness"
~Nothingness~ and the Truth as "Something"
~Something" ........................ . 106
The Void
Reality; A Pedagogical Perspective......................
Pers~tive ..................... . 113
When the Real Overflows Reality:
11 3
...
................
. 116
Summary ................................................................. _,..
Chlpttr IV: The Politics

Polities of Absence in an
I n Artistic Truth
.. . ..... . ... .... .. .. . .... . . 117
Chapter
Truth...........................
The Political Dispute of Worship ......................................................
" ............
v
118
The Iconic Economy: An Achievement of Social Equilibrium.....................

Equilibrium.................. ...
The Mythmaking of Production in the Structure
Stru<:ture of the Image......................
Image. ................ .....
Everything
.......
E~r)thing is Illuminated ... in the Absence....................................
Absence.. .. .. . .. . .. ... .............. ..............
Declaring the Telos of Art
Unity............
An in the Nostalgic Re-Configuration
Re-Configurntion of
ofUni!)'............
Summary.................................. .......................................... . .......
Summary..............................
123
126
134
140
147
Chapte
Virtu ality and the
tbe Slowing Tum
Tu .... of A Narrative........................
Na rrative.. ...................... 149
Chapterr V: Virtuality
After the "Fall" and in the Absence ofa
of a Thrological
Theological Meaning......................
Meaning. .. ... ...... ..........
10 An Inner Void..
Void...............................................
Bill Viola: The Return to
....... .. ... . ... .. ...... . .. ......
ThePussioflS,c.2000-2003
.............................. ..................
The Passions, c.2000-2003.....................
ofthe Cross,
The Roomfor
Room/OT St. John O/Ihe
Cross. c.1983........................................
c.1983...... ... ... .. . ..................... ....
The
Sleepers, c.I992
c.1992 ....... ............................. . ...... ...... .... ... .. ........
TheS/eepers.
........... ..................
The Stopping Mind, c.I99I..............................
c.1991...........................................................
Ann Hamilton: The Spiritual Escape from History......
lIistory .. ... . ...
.........
.. .......
. ..........
. ....
...... .......
..........
Ihepicnueisslill.c.2001
........................ .. ........ ......................
the picture is still, c.2001.....
..................................................
...... ...
tropos, c.1993..........................................................................
Iropo$,c.I993
................ . .... .. ..................... .............................
reserve.c.
I 996 ........................... .... ....... .......... ........................
reserve, c.1996...
myein.c.
I998 ....... . .................................... ...............................
myein, c.1998...........................................................................
Laurie Anderson: The Interactive Voice of Politics...................................
Politics ...................................
LanguageisaVirus,c.1980
.... ............... ...................... ..................
Language
is a Virus, c.1980...........................................................
Places. c.1989-1990...........................
c.1989-1990.. ........ . .. ...... ........ ... ... .........................
Empty Places,
Songs
Stories from Moby Dick,
c.1999...........................
Slmgs and StOTies
Dick. c.
I 999.......... ................. ..
...... .... ...
Contemporary Art
An and a New Narrative of Virtuality.................................
Virtuality........... .............. ..... ...
Summary
.. . ..............
. ........
.....................
.... ... ...... ... ...
....................................
... ... ... ... ... ... ..... ..... .....
Summary...... ... ... ... ......
149
ISO
150
15 1
151
155
163
165
168
168
172
180
186
191
194
198
201
204
208
Chapter VI: Co
nclu~ion : On Education.................................................
Eci ueJI lion........... . ..................................... 211
2 11
Conclusion:
A Return to the Virtual...
VirtuaL. ..................................................................
....... ... ........ .......... ... ..... ....... ........ .. ..... .......
anlnterprelation:
An.... ... ..... . ..... .................
Interpretation: A Student of Art...................................
As We Imagine an
Education of Excellence: Virtu(e)ality of Art..........................................
Art ..........................................
InaWayofanEpilogue
...................................................................
In
a Way of an Epilogue...................................................................
212
221
227
229
References......................................................................................
Rde~nS. .......................... ... ........... . ....... . .. . .. ............................ ... 234
APPENDIX
A PPENDIX I...................................................................................
I ..... .............................................................................. 252
VI
LIST OF FIGURES
I. Laurie Anderson,
Anderson. Still from 4.17.05: The Fox,
Fox. 2005............................
2005......... ......... .. ........
Figure 1.
Figure 2. Laurie Anderson,
Anderson. Dream Box,
&x. 2005...............................................
2005.... . .......... . ..... . .........................
Braquc, Femme Assise
A$SLse (Seated
(Sealed Woman), 1934 .......... ........ ......
Figure 3. George Braque,
Figun 4. Pablo Picasso, L' homme au chien (Rue Schoelcher),
ScJwe/cher), 1915...................
191 S....... ........ ....
Figure
S. Goslin &
Vir/apia: The Endless Forest,
Poresl. 1992-1994............
1992 1994............
Figure 5.
& Morie, From Virtopia:
From Virtopia:
VirlOpia: Fang Cily,
1992-1994.............. ..... .....
Figure 6. Morie & Goslin, From
City, 1992-1994........................
Figure 7. Alice in Wonderland
Won;;/u/and - Falling through
Ihrough the rabbit
rabbil hole........................
Dingram ofa
ofa Wormhole............................................................
Wormhc!/e........... . ... ........ .. .................... ..... . .. .. . .. .
Figure 8. Diagram
Figure 9. David Cronenberg, Stills from eX"l.IlenZ,
eXistenZ, 1999..................................
Figure 10. Stills from
fromLe
I.e Tempest,
Tempesl, 2006......................................................
2006..................... .. .. .. ...........................
Pigun 11.
/1. Francois-Xavier Fabre,
Fa~, Marius and Ihe
Figure
the Gaul.
Gaul, 1796......... ......... ..........
/2. Masaccio,
Masaceio, Trinity, 1425-28.................................
1425-28 .................... . ..... . .......... . ...................
Figure 12.
JJ. Casa
CflSa dei Misteri,
MWeri. Pompeii, 60 B.C. .................. ........ ....................
Figure 13.
Figure 14.
U. Peruzzi,
Pen=l Sala delle Prospettive,
Prospellive. 1516-1518......................................
1516-IS18..................... ............ .....
IS. Andrea Pozzo, The Nave ofSant
'lgnozio, 1688-1694.........................
1688-1694......... ......... .. . .. ..
Figure 15.
ofSant'Ignazio,
/6. Camera Obscura, From the notebooks of Alhazen..
Alhazen.........
Figure 16.
. .. . ... ..........
.. . .. .. . ............
.. . .. .. ...
Figure 17. Abelardo Morell,
ofSanta maria della Salute
MorelL Camera Obscura Image ofSantQ
Salule in
Palazzio. 2006..
. .. . .... . ..................................................... . .. . ...
2006.......................................................................
Palazzio,
/8. Burford's Panorama. Section of the Rotunda, Leicester Square, 1801......
] 80 I......
Figure 18.
Figure 19. Juan Oris,
Gris, The Guitar,
Guilar, 1913.......................................................
1913................................................. .... ..
Founlain, 1917................................................
1917.. . ................... ........ ..................
Figure 20. Marcel Duchamp, Fountain,
hose Selavy?,
selavy?, 1921/64..................
1921164..................
Figure 21. Marcel Duchamp, Why not Sneeze Rrose
Figure 22. Jean Arp, Qverlurnedwilh
Two
lleels
Under
a
Blad
Vau/I, 1925..........
Overturned with
Heels
Black Vault,
Figure
f"igure 23.
2J. Rene Magritte, This is not a pipe or The Treachery
Tl-eochery ofImages,
of Images, 1928-29....
f"igure 24. Meret
Mere! Oppenheim, Objeci
Figure
Object in Fur, 1936..........................................
Figure 25. Giorgio de Chirico, Melancholy and Mystery
Myslery ofa
ofa Street,
Streel, 1913.........
191 3. . .. .. . .. .......
.....
Persislence of
Memory. 1931..............................
1931..... . .. .. . .. . ... .. . .. . .. .. . ..
Figure 26. Salvador Dali, The Persistence
ofMemory,
Figure 27. Gian Lorenzo Bernini, David, 1623-1624........................................
1623-1624. . .. . .. . .. . .... . .. . .. . ..... . ............
1482.. .. ... .. . .................
Figure 28. Leonardo da Vinci, Rider on aQrearing horse, 1482...........................
Figure 29. Umberto
Space, 1913.............
Umbeno Boccioni,
Boccioni. Unique Forms o/Continuity
a/Continuity in Space.
1913... ..........
Figure 30. Umberto Boccioni,
Boccioni. The City Rises,
Rises. 1910........................................
1910.... .. ... ... .. ... ..... .. .. .. . ...........
Figure 31.
Caravaggio, Narcissus, 1589-99...................................................
3/. Caravaggio.
\589-99.............. . .. . .. . .. .. . .. . ........ . .. . .... . .....
Marl: Rothko, Red on Maroon, 1959.............................................
1959 .. .... .... . .. . .. . .. "'... . ....................
Figure 32. Mark
Vk>lef, 1924....................................
1924......... ...... .. . ......... .........
Figure 33. Wassily Kandinsky, Black and Violet,
Figure 34. Piet Mondrian, Broadway
8roodway Boogie-Woogie,
&ogie~Woogie, 1942-43...........................
1942-43......... ......... .........
th
Figure 35. TheodoJ:os
Theodokos (Molher
(Mother o/Gvd).
o/God), 14
C.,
14'"
c., Byzantine Museum,
Musewn, Athens,
Athens. Greece.
th
0 Nymphios. (Mall
ofSorrows) , 16
16'"
c.,
St. Loukas Church, Cyprus ... .....
Figure 36.
36.0
(Man o/Sorrows),
C.,
th
Figure 37. Archangel Gabriel, 13
13'"
c., The Holy Monastery of SainI
Saint Catherine,
Sinai, Egypt...
Egypt ... ....................
. ......
.......
....
...........................
. .... .... ... . ... ........
... ..
. ... ...
...... .. ........
.. . . .. . ..... ... ..... ...
ofthc
Figure 38. Archangel healing lhe
the possessed monk Michael, 1346, Church of
the
Archangel
. .. . .. ....
... ..... ..
.. . ... . .....
Arehangel Michael,
Michael. Lesnovo............
Lesoovo .. . .. . .. . ....... ...
.. . ......
. ..... ........
........
..............
1228-36.. .. . ........... ...... . .... . .. .....
Figure 39. Berlinghiero, Madonna and Child, 1228-36....................................
VB
'"
18
18
24
24
28
28
30
30
34
41
45
47
49
50
51
53
54
55
57
60
62
64
65
67
68
69
75
75
75
78
85
92
93
93
96
101
108
108
110
th
40. The Presentation in lhe
15'"
C. . .. . .. . .......... . .. . .. . .. . .. . .... . .. . ...
Figure 40.
the Temple, 15
Figure 41. Tamas Waliczky,
Waliezky, Sebastian Egner & Jeffrey
leffrey Shaw, The Forest,
forest, 1993 ..... .
ofaa O
Crucifixion,
Figure 42.
41. Francis
f l1lllCis Bacon, Three Studies 0/
ueifuion. 1962 .... ......................
Figure 43. Diego Velazquez,
Veh\zquez. Las
Ll.is Meninas,
Meninos, 1656 ............................................
Allton Von
VOIl Werner, Panorama
Panomma of
orlbe
&1lle ofSedan,
o/SeOOn, Franco-Prussian
Franco-Prussion
Figure 44. Anton
the Battle
Waro/1870-7I
.... .. ........... ..... ..... .......... .... ................ .. ..
of1870-71..................................................
War
Figure 45. Thco
Theo Angc
Angelopoulos,
lopoulos, Scenes from Eternity
Elerniry and a Day,
Day. 1998 ..................
1918..... ........................ ...... .....
Figure 46. Kasimir Malevich, While
White on While,
White, 1918.........
Maroon. 1958...
1958.. .. .. ... .............. ................ ...
Figure 47. Mark Rothko, Black on Maroon,
Figure 48. Wassily
Wassi ly Kandinsky, Small
Smull Pleasures, 1913.....................................
191 3.. . .. .... .... . ....... ................
PicI Mondrian, Vertical
Verlirol CI'mposilion
White, 1936
1936.. ..........
Figure 49. Piet
Composition with Blue and White,
Weydcn, Descentfrom
Deseelllfram the Cross, 1453.......................
Figure 50. Rogier van der Weyden,
Figure 51. Bill Viola,
Viola. Emergence, 2002 .. .. . .... .. ... .. .. . .. . ....... . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . ....... . .
51. Masolino, Pieta,
Piela, 1424..............................................................
1424 ................................................ ........ ......
Figure 52.
JJ. Bill Viola,
Viola.. Five Angels
Angels/or
2001... ... ........................
Figure 53.
for the Millennium, 2001..............................
St. John o/Ihe
ofthe Cross, 1983 ................................
Viola. Roomfor
Room/or SI.
]995... . .. ... ......... ... ...
Figure 55. "Theo
Theo Angelopoulos, Scene from Ulys.,u'
Ulysses' Gaze.
Gaze, 1995........................
Viola.. The S/eepers,
Sleepers, 1992 ..... .. ..................... ..... ....................
Figure 57. Bill
Bin Viola,
Viola. The Stopping Mind,
Mind. 1991.
1991 ........................................
Figure 58. Ann Hamilton, lhe
the picture
still, 2001.
piclUre is slill.
2001 . .. . .. ...... .. . .. . ... .. .. .. .. . ... .. .. . ....
Fig ure 59. Ann Hamilton, tropos,
Iropos, 1993
]993 .. .. .. . .. ..... . .. . .. . .. . ... ... .. .. . .. .. ..... ... ..... ...
Figure
priWJIi<m and excesses,
ucesse$, 1989 .. . ... ...... .. ... ...... ... ... .... ...
Figure 60. Ann Hamilton, privation
Figure 61. Ann Hamilton,
'"
. Iamilton, mantle, 1998
1998.................. ... .................................
Anloni, Loving
lAving CU1"f!.
Figure 61.
62. Janine Antoni,
Care, 1993 ............. ....................
lAving Core,
1993 ................................. ...............
Figure 6J.
63. Janinc
Janine Antoni, Loving
Care, 1993................................................
Figure 64. Ann Hamilton, reserve, 1996 .. . ........................ . ........... . .. . .... ... ....
Figure 65. !,.aura
Laura Anderson
Andel"$()n Barhata,
Barbata, Shapono, (Stills from video projection), 2002
2002...
Figure 66. Ann Hamilton,
Hamillon, myein, 1999, (View of the
tile outside of the
tile US Pavillion and
through the glass panels.
. .. .. ... ..............
. .. ... . . .. .......
... . . ..
. ..... ....
.. ....
. ...
. .. ....................
. ..... . . .. ..
panels.........
....
.....
Figure 67. Ann Hamilton, myein, 1999.......................................................
1999.. . .. . .. . ... ... .. .. . .. . .. ... ........ ... ... . .. ... ... .. ..
!,.aurie Anderson,
Andel"$()n, "Talking Slick~
Figure 68. Laurie
Stick" from Songs and Siories
Stories from Moby
Dick, 1999...........................................................................
1999.. .. .... . ............. .. ............ ... .......... .... .. . .. .......... .......
Figure 69. Caravaggio, The Incredulity O/SI.
ofSt. Thomas,
ThotrUlS, 1601-2
1601 2 .. .. . .... . .. .. .. . ... ........
Figure 70. Christ, Medallion from an icon frame, Byzantine, 1100 . .... ... ....... . .. . ....
Nol, n.d...... .... ... ......................
Figure 71. Shcny
Sherry Levine, After Walker Evans N02,
Mal< Ernst,
Ems!, Virgin Spanking the
lhe Christ
Chrisr Child Before
&/ore Three Witnesses,
Wirnesses,
Figure 71.
72. Max
1926
1926. .. . .. . .. ... ........ . .. . .. ..... . ... .. . ..... .. . .. . .. . .. ... ... .. . .. . ... .. . .. . .. . .....
Figure lJ.
73. Marc
CrucifIXion, 1938 ..........................................
Mare Chagall,
O1.agall, White
While Crucifuion,
th
flodeghitrio, 15
]5'"
c.,
Figure 74. Theodocos Hodeghitria,
C., Corfu.
Corfu, Gree<;:e
Greece .................................
Figure 7J.
75. CrucifIXion,
Greece............................................
Crucifuion. 1550, Athens,
Albens, Greece
........ .......................................
VIJL
V111
110
110
112
124
130
135
141
142
144
145
152
152
152
153
157
159
164
166
169
173
175
176
1n
177
178
180
183
187
189
202
219
219
222
226
226
226
226
PREFACE
Without remembering exactly where and when my fascination with the imaginary
started, I can say with certainty

e<.:rtain\y that my childhood
dlildhood was indeed a compilation of stories.
Immersed in these stories, everything from my SWTOWldings
surroundings looked a little different to
thaI as D.a child I( preferred to attribute to magical powers that I secretly had.
me, something that
After all, my doset
closet was magical, the bath tap was my pirate ship, and the fire escape was
the office where I( kept many secret documents, which articulated a peculiarly personal
order of things. I used to have conversations with imaginary characters but I would like
to believe that the world that I imagined as a chi
child
ld is somehow, in some way,
way. part of
every person's early history.
As a child I(preferred
preferred wandering around a big house than playing with dolls or
Sret rooms,
rooms. abandoned houses, old objects, the woods,
wuods. the
kids of my age. Secret
neighborhood all seemed amazingly large and full ofmonslers

of monsters and fairies and aliens and
animals that
thai could speak, and fly and disappear. I was inlerested
libraries. old
interested in people's libraries,
di S(:ussions. As II was growing up in a culture where
wltere the
and dusty books and grown-up discussions.
church has an immense power in defining right and wrong, my fascination with the
tlte
tlte problematic stories ofihe
el<ister>Ce. It
II
imaginary was framed within the
of the Bible and God's existence.
was simultaneously framed around my own need to belong to a place, whose rights and
wrongs. as well
we ll as its presented history and politics, I was so ferociously questioning. I
wrongs,
undcrstand my own
was questioning what was true and what was not in an attempt to understand
oothing else but
historical presence. I was searching to defme
define my own history. I(knew
knew nothing
JlCI5pective and I was craving for altcma.tives.
one perspective
alternatives. I was as convinced then, as I am
IX
loday, that it
il is never possible for only a single truth to
10 exist isolated in its absoluleness,
today,
absoluteness,
but as I was
"'lIS then, I still am not able to exactly define that imagined multiplicity. It is
only tbe
me .
the conviction of its existence that drives me.
met, journeys
A series of life events, teachers that probed me, people
poople I[met,
joumeyslI took, and
books I[ read, S\r()ngly
strongly conflnned
confirmed my conviction that life is like a story. So, questions
arose again. Why do we need
rw:ed to
10 be part
pan of a certain community? Why do we need to
10
keep the rules that social institutions set up for us? How do we communicate our need to
histOl)' is true? What
Whal is truth and what is true? Is
belong? How do we know that oW"
our told history
God real or is it merely a creation of oW"
c hildhood's
our imagination similar to my childhood's
imaginary characters?
charncters? What is real and what is imaginary? Why do we always need to
10
the indefinable line between the two? And why,

exist within !be
wby. did we come to locate
locale the
cum:nt technologies in order to better explain it,
it. where it becomes
imaginary within current
between imaginary and true is one that is found in the

obvious to
10 me that the relationship betWf!en
core of being human? Why
Wby ddid
id we come to talk
talk. about the technological
tecbnological imaginary
imaginllJ)' as
virtual reality, when virtuality seems closer to my everyday life than to the use of my
computer? What is the virtual and what is its relationship with reality?
During the five years I have been in the United Slates,

States, a country that is not my
can say that I1 have been experiencing what others refer to
own, I[can
10 as the virtual reality of
computer generated environments. Disconnected from the
lhe country that I[once
once called
home, and always in search for a location that will hold my roots
TOOts and allow me to
10
surrendcrto
surrender to the safety and the comfort that every home promises, I found that I am at
ease with my new condition, that
thaI in which I need no reallocation
real location in order to
10 possess a
home. Rather, home is currently the in-between big cities, the Atlantic Ocean, the flight
IlC)lt, the emptiness in between trips, that allows me to

10 d<:fine
from one countly
country to the next,
defme and
redefine who I am in a constant attempt
auempt to belong
belOllg everywhere.
Right from the start I need to emphasize that my own virtuality has nothing to do
with computer tedmologies,
technologies, but it has everything to do with the possibilities of the space
in-between. I reshape the notion ofhome

of home and the place I find
in by making
of this in-i>elWeen.
fmet myself
myselfin
tenns with the layers of already existing stories of
o f this
up my own stories, by coming in terms
or that location. I fmd
find myself, like many others today, in meaning and I understand
ullderstand only
by negotiating this meaning. This is my space, this is my virtual reality; not the place
the all-around
where I am a being of matter and ideas,
ideas. but rather
I1I1her the in-between,
in-betwttn.lhe
simultaneously empty and full, like a zero that presents the nothingness and the infinity in
harmony.
So, how does one even begin to

10 overcome the problematic definitions of virtual
vi rtual
reality as that which simply signifies the technological illusion of the machine? How
does one begin talking about virtual reality in a way that allows for an explanation of the
dQes
relationship of the human to
does one bring
10 the virtual,
virtual. to the real and to the true? How
Howdoes
virtual reality into a closer relationship with human perception,
perception. history,
history. and the
started my dissertation that a

construction of social narratives? IJ was certain when IJ Slaned
on virtual reality was not
discussion OIl
Jl(>t merely a challenge of
o f a predetermined notion,
lIQ1ion, but it
was a journey to understand my own condition and potentially
polCl1tially to reach some truth about
the human condition. This is not an autobiography of any sort but it certainly
encompasses my biases and my affections toward
IOward ideas as much as to
\0 authors. I
apologize in advance to my readers for that. I[am
!hough that you will enjoy my
am hoping though
journey as much as IJ did.
Xl
INTRO DUCT ION

INTRODUCTION
This dissertation is the result of the intuition that virtuality

virluaUry is ultimately a human
condition. Beginning with the juxtaposition of earlier
Cllflier forms ooff virtuality to current
computer g<.:nerated
of interaction I reached the realization of
generated three-dimensional spaces ofinternction
rcaJityH as that which only reflects the illusions of
the problematic definition of "virtual reality"
WIL'l detennined
xamine the term
tenn further. However, since
si nce the certainty
the machi~.
machine. I was
determined to eexamine
al l the uncertainties
uncenainties
naturally ascribed to childhood has abandoned me and I am left with all
of my adulthood, I need the safe place within which I can stan
start answering my questions.
slart locating my self in art; II
thaI has
It is in the search for that safe place that I start
a space that
comfort. Simultaneously, an interplay between my past and my

always been one of cornfOM.
present, between the home:
home that I left and the
lhe home that
thai I currently find myself in, creates
a dialogic space between artworks from two seemingly unrelated
UJlrelaled art periods: Byzantine
iconography during the iconoclastic dispute and contemporary works or

of art.
an.
o f my present, Byzantine
Byzanti~ iconography is the
Whereas contemporary art is the art of
art of my culture, and in that sense, the art that informs my personal history.
hi story. Byzantine
Byzanti~
iconography was the first form
fonn of art that I ever encountered as a Greek
CiTeck - and as a Greek
I must also be, consequentially and unquestionably, a Greek Orthodox Christian. To
of an lliternative
alternative religion or belief
system, I find it easy
have never
nevcr been
becn given the choice ofan
bcliefsystem.l
to problematize
consideration of the icon as both an image and a means of worship.
10
probkmatize the considerntion
How
could one possibly contain the
Howcould
tbe infinite nature of the divine in the finite and material
form of the work? I grasp this as possibility for further examining the relationship
betW"n art and truth
troth - if we assume that the divine is truth.
troth.
between
Additionally, the relationship between art and truth
!rUth is further examined in the
contemporary image. Tbe
The icon as a social and
juxtaposition of the Byzantine icon to
10 the contemponuy
political agent for the Byzantine Empire's internal unity, until the latter's fall in 1453,
seems to
10 be
p...,,;enting its "opposite"
~opp<>Site~ - that is contemporary art.
he a sufficient means for presenting
individuality of
of the artist and even though it might at
Contemporary art is all about the iooividuality
al
times have a political character it never seems to have an aim of social unity. IJ would
contrast 10
to Byzantine iconography, contemporary an
art is an agent of the
rather say that in oonlnlst
Ihis opposition between Byzantine
Byzantinc
fragmentary character of current societies. In this
see the possibility 10

to further examine the potential of
iconography and contemporary art I sec
0 speak of some truth that is unique to art and irreducible to other truths.
art 1
to
In addition, either in a painting on the wall or a video installation, during a movie
perfOfTl1ance. while reading a literary work or watching a play, one realizes

or a musical performance,
thatlhere
that
there is something inherently unique in the ways in which art responds back to us. I
do not necessarily
nc=ssarily have the answer to the specific and individual dialogues that we tend
10
have. or not have,
have. with an.
10 address this through my work to
to have,
art. However, I will attempt to
examine art as pedagogical; that is, as entailing the possibility for us to learn in the ways
in which we interact with it. Even though I recognize the dange~
dangers behind arbitrary
generalizations I will only aim 10
to present what is most obvious to me: that when it comes
ger>Cmlizations
to interacting with art there are things that we share.
So, I embarked on my intellectual

intellcctualjoumey
journey of dissertation writing with specific
questions in mind. A) How con
lhe IlOilo.,
examim:d in the
lhe relationship
relalianship
can the
notion oj",lnua/ily
a/virtuality be examined
between lhe
lhe true within
wilhin lhe
lUI? and B) How tkJ
Byum/ine
the reul
real and the
the space of
ofart?
do Byzantine
contemporary works
iconography and the comemporary
iwnographyand
worM ofLaurie
o/wurie Anderson,
Andrson. Bill
8U1 Viola, and Ann
flamillOn speak of
v;rllmlity?
Hamilton
ofvirtuality?
I soon realized
real ized that those questions were
_re easy to
10 answer and they were
wen: only
touching the surface ofa
of a deeper discussion that
of virtual
thai could take place about the idea ofvinual
qllestions than I could ever imagine

reality. In the end, this dissertation answcrs
answers more questions
asking, and leaves me with more wonder and uncertainty than when II started writing. I
W8$ successful in engaging with this work in the $/lrtlC
guess I was
same way in which II came to
virlumiry. as a potential space for meaning and truth.

trulh. My own dissertation
talk about virtuality,
becomes not a vessel full of answers that
ofthe
thai can change the field of
the arts or education
il becomes a lake where

wbere one can choose 10
n:flections on the
with cenainty,
certainty, but it
to see reflections
surface or shadows in the depth of it where there is another

anotIw:r life to be revealed.
n:vealod.
Assumptions
ru! Llmptio n~
During the process of writing this dissertation
assumptions
dissenation I found myself making
maki ng asswnptions
of what the reader knows and of what is commonly
tried to
ofwhal
common ly accepted. I[tried
10 be as honest as
possible in my approach of study but I had to start
discussion taking
stan a diSCLl$Sion
tak.ing some issues for
granted, building the foundation

fouOOation of where my ideas would
WQuld take place, unfold and grow
into
Into arguments, hoping that these
the:se initial
iniual assumptions will
wi ll falsify or validate themselves
them:selvcs in
\0 revisit them at the end.
the process of this study, allowing me to
Specifically, I take for granted that art has a certain intentionality, potentiality or
troth. Even though the intentions of the artist are frequently considered when looking
look.ing at
truth.
art, these:
these intentions are not 10
to be confused with the intentionality of art
works of an,
!ll1 and
,
4
were not
oot debated in this study. Similarly, this study
study's
thallhe
is taking for grunted
granted that
the creation
of a certain relationship between the self and spectacles, such as works of art,
ofa
8Jt, is the result
of human consciousness that
thaI is as social as;1
poetk Specifically,
Spe<.:ificaJly, the ways in which
as it is poetic.
are both based on predetermined

we come to understand the world arc
predetermi ned and socially
constructed ways of seeing (Berger, 1972) and on personal imaginative ways of
perceiving and interacting with Our

our SUI'TOUIldings
surroundings (Merleau-Ponty,
(Mcrleau-Ponly, 2004). These
TIlese
prooessesofconsciousness
tile creation of meaning, at the moment of
processes of consciousness in terms of the
interaction with art, were not further analyzed.

In addition to
\0 the above, I constantly choose works of
ofaft
art to support, enrich,
thai all works ofan
illumi nale or present my arguments assuming that
illuminate
of art always have the
potential ofa
of a space where some truth
reached, notwithstanding their
uuth can be rea.:hed,
thei r conditions of
tile artist, or the historical and social moment in which they

production, the intentions of the
pnxloced. Even though this might not be always the case.
lhe aims
were produced.
case, it is not within the
of this research to
\0 debate the factors that contribute to that potential strength.
Additionally, I am not debating the degree by which the interaction between the viewer
and the work

work. of an
art makes this potential space possible.
specific assumptions that
debate in the context
thai I aimed to
10 further
furtllcr analyze and debale
The specifi"
of this research
resean:h are as follows:
can be e)QlIl1ined
examined within a notion of the real that
signification,
thai resists signification.
a) Virtuality "an
and which is different from lived reality,
b) The term "virtual
"virtual reality" is not something new,
!"leW, something that is attached
IIltached only to
computer technologies,
techno logies, but it is rather a notion
nolion that
lhat relates 10
to the seductive power
of images and especially to
10 our relationship
relalionship with images,
,
5
c) The notion of "truth" can be negotiated through the question of

of"presence~
"presence" in a
work of art, as the degree in which truth is internal to an,

art, and
art can reveal truth,
aoo an
d) Truth as presented in an
art is immediately related to the oonstruction
construction of social
narratives,
e) The autonomy of art
an is based on its own potential power to present some aspect of
truth,
~m.
f) Virtuality is the SpaiX
space that art creates and it
il is a space that
thai can be educational
because
b=luse of the infinity
infinily of meanings that
!hat this space allows the viewer.
Limits orlbe
of the Research
Reseauh
In an attempt 10
to answer my research questions, Ir find myself lost in the multiple
conn~tions
connections
between philosophy, art history and critical theory. Specifically, I[ use
authorll
authors who are considered 10
to have traveled across the gaps and leaped over the
boundaries between these disciplines. Coming to the understanding that
thai my arguments
would never be clearly identifiable as of~this~
of "this" or '''thal~
"that" discourse I realize that there is
an infinite possibility for answering the questions that I have already raised. Therefore,
with the knowledge and the skepticism that is required for such an ambitious overarching
wilh
arguments, I face the necessity of
entering my OWIl
own research
of ideas and arguments.,
ofentcring
researeh process with IIa
preliminary construction of limits. These move from theoretical references to specific
artworks
anworks from Byzantine iconography and contemporary works of art,
an, and back again, in
\bose limits will remain

aII constant dialogue between the two. The space beyond those
10 the reader to further explore the possible connections
connoctions that can
unexplored and it is up to
be draWIl
drawn between other theories and/or authors and my argwnents.
arguments.
''real'' and the "true"

'1rue" as it is
More specifically, the relationship between the '~real"
examined within the
tile space of art is initially located in Plato's
Pl ato's allegory
aUego!)' of the cave but
Freedom. as these arise within the Platonic
Pl atonic allegory, are not
nol
notions of the Good or Freedom,
presented or
Or further discussed here. Additionally,
Add itionally. when I present
prescnt the notion of
"virtuality" in its historical context, in order to argue for its perennial

pcrermial nature, I only
of the term.
examine specific historical moments that
thai were critical in the development oflhe
lenn.
This study is nol

the origins of
or"virtualityH
ofthe
"virtuality" or of the
not an extensive historical analysis of
ways in which it was actualized in specific genres such as photography,
pootography, cinema, music or
performance an.
art.
troth) is
Furthermore, the potential space of art (art's potentiality to realize truth)
exam
ir>ed in the relationship between
betwn a work ofart
of art and its viewer and in relation to what
examined
the viewer brings to this dialogue. However, the analysis of
or this relationship,
re lationship, and more
specifically the analysis of art's potentiality, remains within a socio-historical framework
framc"'Ork
of reference and does not engage directly in a discussion of psychoanalytic terms
tenns that
deeply touches
tOl,lChes on desires, dreams, or needs. Also, even though art's potentiality is
considered in relation to its viewer's perception and interpretations, the discussion does
not enter a psychological interpretation of our "ways of seeing."
seeing.~
Finally,
of art's formal
FiBally, this study is not a discussion about aesthetics in terms ofarfs
fonnal
elements or beauty that

lhat would instigate a certain
certai n sublime aura. I do not subscribe with
thoological neutralization of the image Hegclian belief
beliefas
this mainly Hegelian
as this achieves a theological
contrary. art is always viewed
which is something that this essay is pitted against. On the contrary,
mai n theories
within its own potential to allow for some truth to OIX:ur
occur as presented in the main
of the French philosopher Alain Badiou. Also this research
resean:h. never ignores the importance
7
of the social and political factors that engage in the structure of art and art is never
examir>e<l
Neverthe less, the research at no point aims
examined as isolated from those conditions,
conditions. Nevertheless,
to become a <ktailed
detailed analysis of specific sociopolitical references, even though it aims to
10
constantly remain aware of them.
Methodology
Method ology
Rrnarsh Practice
PDljt and
I nd Rationale
'(afloRa !r
Research
For the purposes

pwposes of this research
re=h a theoretical framework of references is
argument about the potential power of
considered. However,
However. it
il seems
seo.:ms ironic to
\0 present an argwnenl
an
[fan
fOT troth,
art limiting one's research to mere texts. If
art indeed has the potential for
truth, it seems
necessary for images to not only become Ihe

bul also to
\0 be in a
the centre of the argument but
pan of the
constant dialogue with the texts presented and therefore an integral part
~data~ for looking
of art can serve as the "data"
methodology. After all it is believed that works oran
into the human condition

deeper inlo
oondition and the ways in which ideas,
ideas. more specifically social
narratives, are communicated

commun icated (Sullivan.
oontext
(Sullivan, 2005). It is believed that it is within this context
that !here
there is some truth to be revealed about the relationship between art and the group of
people in which art is created but also about the function of
art itself in the course of its
ofart
intentionality and unity.

Hence,
Hcnc<:, Byzantine iconography and works
worn by contemporary
COfltempnrnry artists will be
examined through a critical visual methodology.

melhodology. The
"The methods of discourse analysis
QNllysis and
semiology will be used. Due to the fact
faci that Byzantine art cannot be studied as a
homogeneous entity, because it has been changed and influenced by many styles through
out the years, the period of the Iconoclastic dispute has been selected for the current
CUlTCnt
8
1
analysis
Byzantine iconography.
mysis of BylMlline
iconogro.plty. I It was during this
lhis period that the first questions
of "presence" in the work ofart
of art
were raised about the icon as an image, about the idea of'resc:nce"
about the nature of art beyond its relationship to religious cult. On the other hand,
and aboutlhc
contemporary works have been seltX:led

be<:ause it is in art today that
thai the same arguments
selected because
about presence arise Qflce
lime the arguments are
arc to
10 point out
oul that today's
today 's
once again. lltis
This time
works suffer from a certain lack (Benjamin, 1968). The

n.e works
W(lrk$ of the American artists
Laurie Anderson,
selected as primary representatives
Anderson. Ann Hamilton and Bill Viola were sdt<:loo
rcp:sentalives
of today's
today 's CQntemporary
art.'2 The selt<:tion
contemporary art.
selection was based on the consideration that their
imponant similarities while it still remains different and distinct

distillCi from
work bears important
Byzantine Iconography
Jcooography and from each other.
Towards a 'Critical'
Toward,
'Criljcal' Visual
Vi~ u. l Methodology
The visual -~ as that which can be recognized
m:ognized by human vision - forces a certain
understanding and sensitivity to the ways of the world but

bu\ also to
10 the way we interact and
Imd
come to an awareness of our past. Our visuality - the ways in which we see and are able,
allowed or made to see - is culturally constructed and driven. The visual and our
visuality have never been isolated from the context in which they are enacted.
enacted, that is their
historical,
historical . social and cultural context. Rather,
Rather. images have always been an integral part
pan
of culture and they are increasingly

inereasingly becoming of central importance in contemporary
societies.
I "The
ic:onoclaolic controversy
"""tn>ver$)'~
oroond 726 with Emperor
EmpenJr Leo III
III who
who...,ked
theuseof
.. ligiouo
The iconoclastic
started around
attacked the
use of religious
reslOnllion.
images ond
843 when the Empress Thodora .lIowed
allowed their restoration.
and ended in 1143
12 Other works or
b< preoc:nted
throull.h<>u' the orudy
_
-wropriaIe.
of ...
art will ol$o
also be
presented throughout
study,. ..
as this seems
appropriate.
9
to look al
at images 10
to better
life in
Specifically, we tend
lend 10
bener understand ways of
o([ife
particular times and places, as much as we tend
\coo to use images to illustrate ideas and
thoughts,
thoughts. or to transform objects and bodies into desired commodities. Nevertheless,
attention is
despite the centrality of the visual in our contemporary ways of life, little
tittle allention
given to an image as a powerful tool in its own right, especially when it comes to
10
conducting research. Instead, an image is still viewed as fully explicable in the mode
mooe of
textuality.
texluality. Having said that, and acknowledging the lack of tools that will validate such
,,",scarch
pnlCtice. a critical visual methodology,
methodology. as it
il is described by Rose (2005), is
research practice,
adopted for this research. A critical visual methodology:
cannot be fully reduced to
context, but
a) takes images seriously since these canllOt
10 their
thciroontext.
bul
instead "visual representations have their own effe<:ts

(Rose. 2005, p.15).
p.l S), In
In this
effects" (Rose,
M
autonomy of art is based on

i1 is indeed one of my assumptions that
thaI the alllOll()my
research, it
its potentiality to present

pre$Cnt some truth
troth and that this is isolated from the conditions of
an's
IIIe artist
art's production or the intenlions
intentions of the
artist.
efTe<:1!J of
ofvisual
aboul the conditions and social effects
b) thinks about
visual obj..,.;lS,
objects. Specifically,
"cultural practices like visual representations both depend on and produce social
critical account
inclusions and exclusions, and a crilical
accounl needs to address both those
practiees and their cullural

p,16). In the
t!>e conteXI
tile
practices
cultural meanings" (Rose, 2005, p.16).
context of the
CUrTen\ research, images arc
t!>eir social and historical oonlC:xt
current
are analyzed within their
context
whereas this analysis takes into lICCOunt
account the ways in which visual
vi$U3l representation is
influenced by social needs.
needs, Simultaneously, it does not neglect
neglecl the bipolar
orproduclion
relationship between the visual and its social forces of
production and the ways in
ilS own turn
tum influences those $truClures
inilially created it.
il.
which the visual in its
structures that initially
10
For instance, Byzantine iconography is the actualization of the

tile need for answering
lift: and of the need

nced of people to build a visual form of
ofacommon
a common
the mysteries of life
faith. At the $W1lC
same lime,
time, it is through the Byzantine iconography, among other
(octal'S, that
lhal the Chrhiian
factors,
Christian traditions have sustained themselves and survived
through time.
e)
imagel!. After all, "if ways ofsc:eing
c) considers our own ways of looking at images.
of seeing are
historically, geographically, culturally and socially specific,
historically.
spocific. then how you or IJ
inr>O<;<:nl" (Rose, 2005, p.16). As IIa researcher

resean:her who is
look is not natural or innocent"
emotionally and culturally attached to the images selt(:\ed

thi s research
resean:h
selected for this
proje<:t,
project, I need to not only view critically my arguments, my sources of
0011I also need to
10 critically view my own
information and my visual material, but
thoughts and standpoints. Certainly,
Cenainly, the analysis of my arguments and of the
visual representations I chose to

10 examine in this research
resean:h would have been
research was oonta<::ted
contacted in aBdilTen:nt
different place or in a different time or
different, if the ",seareh
if the same questions were negotiated by another researcher with a different
background than mine.

mine.
Methods
Semiology
Semiology exemplifies the ways in which an image can become a text for further
analysis. As Rose (2005) argues,
argues. semiology provides all the "analytical
~anal yticaJ tools for taking
an image apart
apan and tracing
lnICing how it works in relation 10
meaning'
to broader systems of meaning"
semiology
iology is selected as a research method
melhod is because it
(p.69). One of the main reasons sem
11
assumes
that constructions of social difference are articulated
aniculaled through images. Image
asswnes thai
most important
itself is the moSI
impoMant site of meanings and the selection of images is based on the
degree oftheir
of their conceplUal
conceptual interest rather than on their formal elements. Even though
semiology tends to
10 use complex terminology, its application as a method of analysis of
will be mainly concentrated on the idea of the signified (the Idea) and the
visual images will
signifier (the matter,
maller, the object) of that idea.
Additionally.
10 the fact that semiology rarely takes into acwunt
Additionally, due to
account different
to speak ofa
of a lever of reflexivity it
social conditions of viewing and therefore it
il fails 10
seems necessary
ne<.:esSary to combine this method with other ways ordoing
of doing research. Certainly,
art that remain silent.
silent, unrecognizable,
semiology ignores those signs of
ofan
lII\reCOgf1izabJe, hardly
identifiable, even after thorough analysis. For Byzantine iconography
identifiable.
ioonogrdphy those signs are
of history and culture
concealed in an emotional response to
\0 a repetitive symbolization nfhistory
cullure
that is only familiar
to a native of that
f!Ulliliar 10
thai iconography's background.
backgroWKI. In the case of
contemporary artists such as Bill Viola or Ann Hamilton,
Ilamilton, on the other hand, there are
an:
signs that remain
remai n always mysterious and never definable because they exist in the
moment of individual interaction.
Ilim .une Analysis

Analy, i<
Discourse
As Rose (2005) argues,
Brgues, discourse
diswurse ''refers
whio;:h structure
stroeture
"refers to groups of statements which
the way a thing is thought, and the way we act on the basis of that thinking. In other
panieuJ ar Imowledge
whio;:h shapes how
bow the world
words, discourse is a particular
knowledge about the world, which
(p.136).
is understood and how things are done in it" (p.
136). Art is transformed from certain
~crtain
institutions., SIIbjeclS
practillCS, which
whkh work to define art
an
visual images to knowledge, institutions,
subjects and practices,
12
itself. Also, discourse's reliance on intertextuality,
inlerlexluality. the necessity to look at other images
or tClIts
texts in order to understand the meanings of om:
one discursive image, is also important to
my own research. S~ifically,
Specifically, it is through the analysis of specific visual images and
texts and through their constant dialogue that discolmle
discourse is articulated in my ",search,
research.
\ends to bring together
togelher material that was previously seen as unrelated.
Discourse analysis tends
10 bring together not only theories but also works of art that
Similarly, this
thi s research tends to
\JJU'elaled attempting to build one coherent argument. In the end,

coo, since
initially seem unrelated
discourse analysis.
analysis, as adopted in this research, cannot argue that this is the only true
analysis of the materials at hand it
i, only attempts to present a persuasive rather than a
truthful argument,
argument.
Treatment
Treatm ent of Information
Inform ario n
cOIIjunclion with each

The texts
tex ts and theories used in this study are analyzed in conjunction
other, and with works ofart,
\0 identify those underlying elements that
of art, attempting to
support or negate
suppon
negale my initial assumptions to the research
rosoearch questions. I aim to keep texts
and images in a constant dialogue as they
!hey both assist in identifying oooccptual
conceptual
connections, possibilities and meaning-making
meaning_making processes. Furthermore, images are
treated as sites where the research takes place and analyzed through their social modality.
modality .
!his sense, allention
In this
attention is given to the social conlext
context within which the image was
produced rather than to the intentionality of the artist. Additionally, it is important to

remember that
of an image may be important sources
knowledge
All of the elements ofan
sourees of
oflmowledge
only we can identify them and sort them out. The
through analysis if
ifonly
aspe<:ts of images,
challenge is to responsibly address the many aspects
recognizing that the search for meaning and significance does not end in
13
J3
"facts" or "truths" but raflldrather produces
singular fucts"
produees one
OHe or more viewpoints on
humancireum!,"tlifWtls.
p.35.}6)
human
circumstances. (Collier, 2004, p.35-36)
Jmages
10 be treated
trealed as sites whose qualities "shape the social modality
Images are going to
n
in which it is embe<::ided
embedded rather than the o1her
other way around"
(Rose, 2005, p.24). At the
around (RMe,
analysis is contacted in the context
own social identity will
same time,
tiTf!&, the fact this lUllilysis
con:text of my ovm
be taken into consideration - in the ways in which it influences the reading and analysis
the image and in the ways in which it is pcOormed
performed within the.
the action of
the reading.
of th?
ofilie
relationships that the research
account.
The diagram below illustrates those
!hose relationship!;
feseart:h will take into 1!(:Olunt
Social Modality
Reflexivity: My Role as a Researcher

Refierlvity:
Rewan:her
My study is merely based on personal interpretations of works of art as well as
theoretical readings. I act as an agent of meaning, and within the construction of a space
of knowledge I wish to bring forward some questions that can lead the reader to the
relationship to art. Within my writing
search for a deeper understanding of our re1atiUll~hip
S0ltth
writill I am
attempting 10
to open the possibility for a dialogic space between tim
the text of my arguments
attemptillg
and my reader, vmo
who ultimately becomes the author of a new interpretation.
inteqm:lali~ Hence, as a
researcher I have the responsibility of being aware of the space of my research, which is
positioned within a larger political, cultural, social and educational framework.
practice requires a critical.
critical understanding
More specifically, while the research prmaice
under.ianding of
the problem and the questions that !his

this taises,
raises, 1hetc
there is also the necessil;y
necessity of an
understanding
urnkn;4mdiug of my own place within this space of inquiry.
inqwry. In a sense,
semc. the research
~
14
practice becomes
bewmes a reflexive
rejlexivr practice,
pnlClice, a space where I[ get immersed and perform
perfonn my own
identity. It
[t is within my own text and the choices I make in order to answer my research
actuali:r.ed. 1llen.:fore
Therefore my own
questions that 11a potential for learning about the self is actualized.
of potential for understanding,
research process becomes a11 space full ofpotenlial
ullderstand ing, learning,
leaming, and asking
questions. This is what the research will later call
cal l "virtuality";
"virtuality''; a space of potentiaL
potential. In
[n a
way, the
lhe study becomes the study's own e1Wnple,
of the
example, presenting merely a possibility or
troths (Wright &
Wright. 2004).
20(4). Hence,
truth, a single interpretation of multiple possible truths
& Wright,
the study advocates for the argument that

thaI there is no one right way to
\0 do research,
re$e8rCh, and
be: revealed but rather diffen.:nt

there is no single truth to be
different interpretations that become a
our culture.
vital aspect of the discourse
di scourse of oW"
C
h. plu Overview
Ovuview
Chapter
10 present general theories that
In the introduction of this study I[ will attempt to
define virtuality. I will begin my discussion on virtuality by referring to the Platonic
allegory oftbe
of the cave as one ortlle
of the first examples that contemplate the relationship
[n this chapter I will aim to

between the real and the true in the space oftbe
of the image. In
distinguish between the assumption
asswnption that virtuality
vinua[ity is unreality
ll/U"eality and deception (as argued
by Jean Baudrillard), and the notion
ootion that virtuality is simply a space of potentiaL
potential. This is
supponed with Jacques Derrida's

Derrida', notion of the
tile "khora"
"kho1ll~ and Alain Badiou's
going to be supported
tile "void."
"'void.~ The chapter will also distinguish between our lived reality
real ity and the
notion of
ofthe
reallIS this is defined by theories of Jacques Lacan
real
- the
tile impossible to signify situation - as
clarify the notion of
virtuality as
and Slavok Zizek. It
[t is hoped that these distinctions will elarify
ofvinuality
as similar to reality.
different from the absolute real,
real. but WI
"
15
Beginning from the computer gcncraled
generated virtual reality, as an immersive and
th<: second chapter

~haptCT will look at the history of images, attempting to
10
illusionary space, the
explore the degree in which virtuality is a current condition. This chapter will discuss
potential, adualized
actualized in the immersive space of the image. Moving
virtuality as a space of
ofpolential,
arti stic
along a line of historical intcrpn.:tation
interpretation the chapter will touch upon specific artistic
of art. In particular,
at the perspective frescoes in
periods and specific works afarl.
panicular, it
il will look al
Italian villas and the frescos on the ceiling of baroque churches.
churches, at
III the panorama, and
finally at the artistic movements
of modernity - Cubism, Dadaism,
movernenlS ofmodemity
Dadaism. Surrealism and
Futurism.
The third chapter will deal with virtuality as the potential of
ofart
art to present its own
artistic truth. The chapter will deal with the relationship between art
an and truth as this has
been defined by the philosophical thought of Plato, Aristotle,
Aristotle. Hegel,
Hegel. Heidegger and Kant.
The chapter will categorize those descriptions based on three

three: proposed schemata as they
appear in Alain Badiou's philosophy. These are: the didactic, the classical and the
roman/ic
iconognlphy, as
lIS it was viewed during the Iconoclastic
[C<)Ao)CIas\ic
romantic schema. Byzantine iconography,
dispute, will be used as an example to better explain these relationships. Finally, this
thi s
chapter will
",ill attempt to introduce a new schema for the relationship between art and truth:
the pedagogical. According to this scbema,
schema, virtuality
vinuality is viewed as the space of the
an) and
of art to present a truth that is simultaneously immanent (internal to art)
possibility ofan
art's potential for its own anistic
artistic truth
singular (unique to art). However, a discussion on an's
seems
Sl:e1l1.ll incomplete, if one neglects to discuss the way this potential is influenced by the
work's
context. This will be discussed in the next chapter.
work 's general social
oocial and political C<)ntext.
16
Specifically, the fourth chapter will discuss virtuality as the potential of art to
present an artistic truth in the absences and presences of historical construction.
constnu.:tion. n.e
The
of apresence.
a presence. I
chapter will aim to present the necessity of absence for the occurrence of
ortlte
VQidas
will return to Badiou's idea of
the void
as the nothingness that is necessary for something
to occur. In a way, I will argue that virtuality is the space that
thaI dwells in this
thi s nothingness
and ill
is filled with the potential of presenting a unique art-truth
art-trulh or a unique selfkoowledge-troth that ultimately supports art's unity.
unity . I will use examples from Byzantine
BF.antine
knowledge-truth
iconography and from the abstract paintings of Mark Rothko, Wassily Kandinsky and
Kasimir Malevich to support this argument.
contemporary artists: Bill Viola,
The fifth chapter will examine three oontemponuy
Viola. Ann
Hamilton and Laurie Anderson.
Anderson, to
space that
10 further
funhcr analyze virtuality as the potential space:
sustains art's unity. 1lle
mise issues that relate to
The works presented in this chapter raise
hi story and its

personal memories, loss, death.
death, absence, inside and outside, history
representation, and to
10 the relationship between language and art. These issues are similar
to issues raised with Byzantine iconography and the history of images. At the same time,
though, there is an opposition concerning the ways in which these issues arc
are raised. The
attention to the transformation
chapter will specifically pay anention
transfonnation of the
tile contemporary artist
Duthor - by ascribing aDpersonal narrative

narTDtive to the work - but also into a reader of
into the author
self+kllOwledge truth in the creative process. Within this
the work - by reaching a self-knowledge
Il(\ longer be didactic (as in the case of the Byzantine icon), but it
context, the image can no
is instead pedagogical.
In the final chapter of this study I will
w ill attempt
anemp! to further
funlter discuss art
an as pedagogy,
pedagogy.
and the educational implications of the notion of virtuality

vinuaJ ity as si
mply 8a space of potential.
simply
17
Chapter I
ON VIRTUALITY
VIRT UALITY
Sounds
Sound. and sweet
~eel airs,
airs, IMt
that give delight cmd
and hurt
hur/not
not
5o",el'II1es
fWWIgling instruments
Sometimes a fholL<anO
thousand twangling
",ill hum about mine ears,
eors, and sometimes voices
\IOiee!
will
ThiJl,
ifiliren
wakd after long sleep,
That, if
I then had waked
will roaM
dreaming.
make me s/eepagoin:
sleep again: and then, in dreaming,
The clouds me thought would open and show riches
Ready to
/0 drop upon me that,
thai, when I waked,
I{ cried to dream again
- Caliban in Shakespeare, 2000, Act 3, Scene 2
In September of
o f 2005 the gallery Sean Kelly in Chelsea New
New York
Yo rk presented The
Waters
Wafers Reglitterized,
Reglillerized, a work by the artist Laurie Anderson. Anderson attempted to
collect memories aftler
movie,
of her dreams through drawings.
drawings, still pictures and a short movie.
Following Henry Miller's essay on painting with the

[he same title as the exhibition The
Walers Reglitterized
Regliflerized (1946), she is demanding, like Miller, her
he r subconscious to remember
Waters
her last thoughts before waking up. So, every morning for the period ofa
of a year Anderson
WQuld wake up and sketch what the eyes of
o f her mind had ~n
would
seen the previous night. In IIa
way, her
ller images exist in the space between sleep and awake and fuse the boundaries
between the two in beautiful ways, cbllilenging
challenging the difference
di fference between reality
n:ality and
unreality. In her
short artist statement Some Notes
accompanies the
ber ~Ix.>rt
No/eJ on Seeing (2005) that accompallies
exhibition she talks about her dreams:
Over many months of drawing I started to become
~ome familiar with their
language. Often they were
wen: versions of the
tile day's
OOY5 events with a twist of
paranoia
occasionally
par1UIQia or fear.
fe31. Sometimes they seemed portentous, oecasionally
18
momentous. Sometimes they
\bey would evaporate and I'd spend the day
seeing them in tantalizing little snatches, feeling a sense of terrible loss,
my heart
of sight. Keys to
hean aching as they dropped out O(si8111.
10 lost worlds known
(p.l)
only to
10 me. (p.
l)
AndCTSOn attempts to capture her

herdreams
Laurie Anderson
dreams in still images and in a short
each
video, sustaining her dreams in time,
to let
lime, refusing 10
lei them vanish in the cold mist of
oreach
tile
new morning. She is transforming her memory into an image, from one medium to the
next,
to the paper, to
gelatin, to
next. from her body 10
10 the gelatin.
\0 the projected moving image. In the
movie titled
tilled 4.17.05:
4. 17.0j: The Fox (2005) (Figure 1),
I), Anderson transforms
transfonns one of her dreams
into a situation in which the viewer finds herself forced to experi
ence the artist's mind.
experience
The narrative
lWTlIlive of the
tile movie unfolds like the narrative
namtlive of
ofaa dream: unconnected,
spectator is in a way immersed into what Anderson

mischievous,
surreal, silent
silent. The s~tator
mischievous. s\JlTeal,
would potentially
she had not
p:;>\elltially have seen if
ifslle
nOl been
~n awoken. The viewer's
viewers thought
th<>ught is never
alone, for Anderson is always showing up at the
alone.
tile lower right part of the movie,
The question of
simultaneously present
"",sent in accompanying
a(:~ompany ing the viewer in her
h<:r experience.
experiCTI<;e. n.e
wh<:re, transforms the
tke act of watching
watchi ng into a Shakespearean
who is looking at what, and where,
act: ..
.
" ... if I then had waked after long slo:<:p,
sleep, will make me sleep again: and then, ...
when I waked, I[~ried
cried to dream again" (Shakespean",
(Shakespeare, 2000, 3:2).
~,
, '
t,
'
~,...
\"
,
iii'
f"igure 1.
I. Laurie Anderson,
Figure
Still from
ftom 4.17J)j:
~ Frn,
200S
4.17.05: The
Fox, 2005
Figure
Anderson,
f"iglil'e 2. Laurie
Lallrie Anderson.
DreiOm
BooA:,
200S
Dream Book, 2005
19
AndersoTl's artwork and in Shakespeare's play, there is a direct

In both cases, in Anderson's
dreams. as well as the assumed wish for
reference to one's affection towards one's own dreams,
an ""unreal"
unreal" world. However, the two are often only distinguished by a delicate line, a
liny fraction of
orlime
ofsleep
tiny
time between the moment of
sleep and the moment of awan;ness
awareness of
consciousness. One is here bewildered by the amusing possibilities that arise in this
in, between virtual space. Can we
recognized space between awake and sleep - in the in-between
carry elements of our MaIDS
thai only
dreams in our lived reality? Is aDdream a mere fantasy that
of the subconscious, and in
exists in the imaginary? Or, could the imaginary exist outside orthe
the life in which we awake to? What is it that differentiates reality and imaginary, real
and unreal,
UJ1Je3l. or real and virtual?
Plato', Allegory
Allego ry OrinI.'
ofKbora
Plato's
ofthe Cave and the Notion of
Khora
l1lc tension betwe<.:n
The
between the real and the unreal, or the real and the illusion, is
certainly not a new one; one could rather trace it to the beginning of philosophy, and back
10
to Plato. Plato asserted with firm conviction the difference between the two in his
Plato. ordinary humans live in a cave and they are
Allegory of the Cave. According to Plato,
thaI prevents them from turning their heads.
chained since childhood
chi ldhood in such a way that
Above and behind them there is a fire, and between the fire and the people there is a wall.
On this wall the fire reflects
renects the shadows of the people who
woo are passing along the wall
"carrying all sorts of vessels, and statues and figures of animals made of wood and stone
IK)!hing else
and various materials" ((Hooker,
Hooker, 1996).
\996). Hence,
Ilence, people,
people. having experienced nothing
but the shadows of things and of
themselves, falsely take that to be their reality.
Oflhernselves,
20
According
ACC(lrtii
ng to Plato,
PlalO, human beings experience the Real and the Good only when
they
tbey break free from the chains and turn
Iwn their heads towards the
tile opening of the cave.
Under the light of the sun (the Good) they finally realize that their life was only an
illusion, an image of what real life is. When Zizek (2001) talks about our reality today,
today.
he menlions
mentions that !here
there is an "ultimate impossibility to draw a clear distinction between
the deceptive reality" that we live in our everyday lives and "some firm positive kernel of
the Real" (p.

I). Basing his arguments
argwncnts on the Lacanian
I..aeanian notion of the real thing 8.'1
(p.1).
as the
Zizek (1999) suggests that every bit of
void, because of its impossibility for signification, Zizck
our reality is a priori SUSpect.
suspect. Specifically,
reality ' behind the virtual simulation, but the void

wid
the Real is not the '!rue
'true reality'
illOOmp!eteJillOOnsistent, and the function of
or eve'}'
which makes reality incomplete/inconsistent,
every
symbolic Matrix is to conceal this inconsistency
iIlC(lnsistency - one of the ways to
effeduate this concealment is precisely to claim that, behind the
effectuate
incompletelincolISistent
then: is another reality with no
II(l
incomplete/inconsistent reality we know, there
deadlock of impossibility structuring it.
il. (Pol)
(p.3)
"void~. which Lacan assumes as the real, is the "nothing."
"nothing,M
For Badiou (2003) the "void",.
This is not to assume that Badiou's "void"

~void" is the same as Lacan's
Lacan' s and Zizek's
Zi7,ek's "real",
-real", for
the latter
absolute authority, since it is impossible to be signified. However,
laller assumes an ah$(lJute
in Badiou, the "void" - even though it is also the "nothing"
"l\Othing~ - is not
I\Ot an expected absolute
that causes anxiety

''void'' is just a means,
W1)<iety because of its impossibility. Instead,
Instead. the ''void"
means. a
mat is given to the space where things first begin to occur. 1be
name that
The "void" is simply
that which is not there, that

mat which is necessary
nt:CCSSIU)' for anything to be there. It is the
foundation from which any situation is born.
1be
10 accommodate
3C(:ommodale anything
The concept of 'situation' is also designed to
is. regardless ofwhe\heT
which is regardless of its modality; that is,
of whether it is
necessary, contingent, possible, actual.
actual, potential, or
Of virtual - a whim, a
supermarket, a work ofart,
trucks. a
of art, a dream, a playground fight, a fleet of trucks,
21
2L
mine, a stock prediction, a game of chess, or a set of waves."

waves. ~ (Badiou,
(Badia ... ,
2003, p.7)
p.?)
Therefore.
Therefore, the "void" is that which is common in all types of realities as situations
thaI
i.'I very important when it oomes
that arise from their nothingness. Badiou's claim is
comes to
arguments about reality,

rcality, or better yet realities, and virtuality (and it is also essential for
later arguments on truth and education) because
of those
bet:ausc it allows for the
t11e consideration ortoose
Icnns as simply possible situations thai
'"void.~ Hence, reality and
terms
that can arise from the "void."
lIS they are both
virtuality can potentially both be situations that share common elements, as
tile "void." As sueh

don', have exclusive identities; their
situations that are borne of the
such they don't
unity is not, as in Aristotle's oorr Plato's ontology, a fundamental property of being but it is
merely the effect of their structure.

Furthermore, Lacan and many other psychoanalytic theorists, suggest that the real
might
not be experienced in our common situations of everyday reality, but there are
mighlllOl
]996). In those
\hQse moments,
moments when we come to dose
close encounter with it (Zi7..ek,
(Zizek, 1996).
usually
occur, for it is in
lIsually of dreams or nightmares,
nightmares. a "bliss" mixed with terrible horror oceW',
Plato's
those moments that we come to an awareness of the impossible real. This is like Plato's
man who is dragged up a steep slope towards the light. He "will suffer sharp pains; the
lhe
realilies of which in his former
glare will distress him, and he will be unable to see the realities
stale
sense. it
i\ is not the dream that
thai it
il is
state he had seen the shadows" (Hooker, 1996). In a sense,
tile traumatic
tnlumatic
fantasy, but instead oW'
our reality, into which we escape in order to aVQid
avoid the
effects orthe
ofthe real (Zizek.
(Zizek, 1996).
efTt<:111
encounter of the Real, Freud should have awakened like the
After his encounler
dreamer of the dream of
oftlle
the burning sun who wakes up when he
encounters this horrifYing apparition: when confronted with the Real in all
its unbearable horror,
the dreamer wakes up; ie., escapes into
horror,!he
inlo "reality"
(Zizek, 1996, p.18)
[[...]
... \ escapes into the fantasy which veils the Real. (Zizck,
22
,fwe
!hen
After all, if
we indeed assume that the real is the void and hence nothingness, then
there
encounter this void,
then: is no humanly possible way in which we
"1: can ever enCOWller
veid, unless we
ourselves dissolve into nothingness. Maybe this

thi s is what Derrida
Oerrida thought of when he
wrote about the gift of death, in death you can finally become the real.
reaL ""Most
Most often we
se<:ret [...]
[ .. ,J
neither know what is coming upon us nor see its origin; it therefore remains a secret
lies an irrefutable
irrefutlble past [[...]
... ] to a future that
We tremble in that strange repetition that ties
cannot be anticipated" (Derrida, 1995b, p.54). As long
1000g as there is thought and senses
then there is an a priori impossibility
impossibi lity for encountering the void, since thought always
attempts to possess knowledge and name an explanation. Having said that,
should
alternpi.'!
thaI, one soould
nol
that which we can only expericr>Ce
experience in
not confuse reality with the real. The real is thaI
positive fragments of its
ilS essence, or based on Badiou's theories,
Iheories, in its
ilS actualization in a
the real. Even
borne of
situation. Reality, on the other hand, is the actualization that is bome
aftlle
of the real, II
though Lacan would say that reality is that which veils the impossibility ofllle
would rather suggest that reality is that which eXlIClly
exactly unveils the impossibility of the
real.
""I.
Specifically,. I1
S~ificaLly
disagree with Lacan and Zizek

Zizek. who suggest that there is an
absolute real. I would instead argue that our reality merely elaborates that it is impossible
and irrelevant to have any type of absolutes. What we can only have is an agreed upon
interpretation of the combination of different aspeo;:\:i
aspects of reality, and this is what we come
to call history.
hi5lOry. The impossibility of grasping all realities together
togcther does not
nol suggest the
existence of one single real. It only sugges\:i

impossibili ty ofhwnan
suggests the impossibility
of human nature to
fabrica1c aLl
aLl. And
fabricate
all possible aspects into one single narrative that will reflect them all.
again, this as absolute is simply irrelevant.
23
2J
Derrida's idea of the "khora" that also lacks signification, can better explain my
argument. What we propose to name as 11a space should not
nol be identified as such or
enclosed in a linguistic signification, for in actuality ""its
its name is not an exact word"
I995a, p.93). Consequently one could argue that Zizek's
(Derrida, 1995a,
Zizck's "real" seems to be
like Derrida's "khora"
"khora" instead, which is
oth<.:r than the sum or the process of

O[whal
iTlS(:Jibcd
what has just been inscribed
nothing other
On
oCher,
her, on her subject, right up against her
on her [khora], on the subject of
subject, but she is 1101
not the subject or the present support of all these
subjed,
interpretations, even though, nevertheless she is not reducible to them.
(Derrida, 1995a, p.99)
(Derrida..
clIample, an atom is the:rum
bUI in terms
tenns orits
In physics, for example,
the sum of its protons and neutrons but
of its
energy of its protons
to the sum of the en.ergy
energy it is never reducible 10
protOns and its neutrons after
the splil
split of the atom is attempted. However, the protons and the neutrons are never less
real than the atom and the atom is never considered to be an absolute entity in relation to
its particles. In the case ofarl.,
of art, a cubist painting is the result of many different angles of
one object put together.

together. However, if one attempts to dismantle the different pans
parts of the
re-wllage them,
them. she will never end up with the original
painting and then attempt to re-collage
However. the painting is never "less
Mless real"
object.
object, nor any description of the painting. However,
il represents,
represents. or vise versa; the object and the painting
painling of
the object are
than the object it
ofthe
simply two different realities.
Braque's painting
painling Se~led
instance. has no real
Seated Woman (1934) (Figure 3) for instance,
reali stic representation ofa
semblance to a realistic
of a woman seating on a chair or any explicit
n.:aliulion
realization of the different angles presented to vision when one watches a woman seated.
dmwing is rather a fusion of vision, imagination and perception creating a space
Braque's drawing
mostly for questioning real space and our understanding of it.
il Braque is extending our
24
presenting what our
our eye ",uuld
would potentially capture,
were to move around
vision by presentiug
captwl:, if
jf we ;vw:
an o1<ier.1
object in a rapid spin,
spin. lua
In away,
way, he briugs
brings the viewer in the spare
space of the
!be object
extending painted r<ality

reality into thre!Nfuncusionaiity.
three-dimensionality. Thcrefure,
Therefore, the real is not
oot that which
v.hkh
extcruling
"khora,"
atom, or to a cubist
experience, but similar to the ilka
idea of -kJl<)ra,
we cannot experienoo.
" or to
10 an aIool.
cuhist
painting, the real
never reducible to llpeCifie
specific sign:ifi~
signifiers; it
rea! is
i~ ll.Cver
it is that which
whkh we simply
paintiug,!be
cannot name.
fif;ur
Figure J.
3. Crecrge
George 8""1"'"
Braque, i'e.mne
Femme As.m:"
Assise
(Seated W<.>maIl),
Woman), 1934
F'igure
rabID Picasso,
Pica550, LL'' homme
Iwmme au
all chien
eMm
Figure 1.
4. Pablo
(Roo Schoelcher),
Sch<lelcller), 1915
)915
(Rue
Braque and Picasso, innovators of the Cubism movement and influenced

influenccd by Cezanne,
render throo-dimensionality
three-dimensionality and capture it within the limililtioliS
limitations {Jf
of the paper's
surlice.
surface. Deptb
Depth and vumme
volume of the real cllject
object are eliminated in the lines, colors, and
shapes that potenti:illy
fumltire artists
artist> are
potentially form
- and inform -!be
- the drawing<!.
drawings. Even though the
are
of
the
real,
phenomenal
world,
they
observing
an
existing,
true
to
their
senses
object
~ing
ex.isting,
ttl
~
real,. phcoomenal v.'Orld,
present it 'within
within multiple perspectives of perceptual vision, ascribing
pwmo1
I15Cribing to
ttl that object
something ,hin
vision and
that is no longer ofits
of its own IlIIture
nature but :rnther
rather of the 1'lIItUre
nature of vision
imagination. for
ofPteasoo's
druwing L'
Picasso's drawing
For instmlce,
instance, in the emptiness and I1atnes.s
flatness of
hfYmme
Ihere existS
viewcr can
CM only
homme au chien (1915}
(1915) (Figure 4) there
exists iIlltOI.her
another spaoo
space that the viewer
drawing' $ lines. They
cxperienoo
experience wl:l!l
when ooncentrnfing
concentrating on the spatial tt:ltItlou;:hlp
relationship of the drawing's
IXl\Uldaries where the
are uo
no longer the lines {Jf
of the objool,
object, hut
but instead they belme
become boundaries
travel along,
along, through, ""ithin
within and over, playfully transporting
eye can trayci
trlIIlSporung the viewer into
the spooe
space of the drav.ing
drawing.
25
Virtopia:
Virfopill: A Topos
Top!u of Utopia
Before Braque
8raque and Picasso, and during the many years that
thai followed, artists have
consciously and constantly been exploring these ideas of reality, unreality and virtuality,
whereas the epitome of such explorations has been lately

lalely launched to
10 art that is made
through computer technologies.
tc<;hnologies. For instance, in the early 1990s the designer Jacquelyn
Ford Morie and her partner Goslin developed Virtopia.

Vir/apia. The two were initially hired by
the US Army to creale
create a scientific work, a three
lhru dimensional, computer-generated virtual
reality environment that aimed 10
to build training scenarios for the military.
mi litary. Instead, they
gradually started thinking of ways in which they could use this technology
tethnology at hand to
\0
create an artwork. J3
to design aB work of
art that
Their ambition was 10
orart
thai. would eexpand
xpand its own dimensions
to
\0 fully encompass the viewer and it would be emotionally engaging and intriguing in
such a degree that participants would want to
\0 visit again. Morie and Goslin wished to
create the conditions ofan

of an addictive three-dimensional environment seemingly based on
\0 ellilCt
the assumption that when people have the possibility to
enact and re-enact feelings from
situations ooff their

the ir everyday life in the safe space of the artwork, they will potentially want
\0 visit this environment again and again. They
Tbey believed that the more emotionally
to
is. "the more he or she will

wi ll 'buy
' buy into' the virtual world, thinking
engaged the participant is,
of it less as a construct and more as a personal experience"
Morie. 1996,
1996. p.97).
experience" (Goslin & Morie,
The idea of buying into an
l\Il environment (because
(be<:ause you find ways to eSlablish
establish
yourself in it) is exemplified by the construction of the -World

"World of War" by the American
news channel CNN. This is a truly
tnd y virtual environment, like
li ke Virtopia,
Vir/apia, in the sense that
,3 In "Appendix
-Awendi~ I"
r It briefly dio<:uso
liIy onvronm.nc.lhaI
bosoi
discuss virtual .....
reality
environments that ore
are tech"""'sicali)'
technologically based.
26
the news channel has created a "world" that
thai has no physical location, but it strongly
exists in the reality of eV(:ry
~ World of
every American as a psychologically relevant situation. "World
War"
space that enters
War~ becomes a $plIoo
enlers the commonplace and the mainstream and thus is
questioned.4 After all, this is part
almost never questioned.'
pan of the paradox of every political power.
power.
Zizek (2006) mentions,
As lizek.
mentions. "in
~in order to retain its force, power has to remain virtual,
virtual , a
threat
of power". As a result, people tend 10
to happily fall
tweat afpawer".
fal l for this idea of the
tile war against
consume like
of fear stimulated through repeated images of
li ke candies the sense afrear
terror and conswne
unknown-to-most places, and Hollywood-like shots of men
unk.nownto-most
meo with guns and black masks.
of a sense of
The cultivation and the sustainability ofa
ar fear through images derivative
from a world, identified in the United States
Stales for the past few years
yearn as the enemy or the
''Other'' serves best as an example of
or the ways (unfonulWlte
(unfortunate in this case) in which images
"Other"
to seduce
have the power 10
sed~e the viewer. Even though the idea of seduction has negative
connotations, and even though the example just presented maximizes this negative
connotations.
negalive
importl\llCe arc
e~isl in
character.
character, what seems of more importance
are the ways in which virtuality can exist
thf. COnseiOUSl1eSS
beeatJSe of
ofaa certain degree of
ofrclevancc.
i/lStance, the
relevance. For instance,
the
consciousness of people because
thf.
presentation of photographs of eighteen-year old soldiers who died while in Iraq is the
ibis "World
KWorld of War"
Waf' validates itself by generating a feeling of empathy in
way in which this
the American public. One wooden

wonders here about how many photographs of young men one
needs 10
Waf'
to see before deciding on the absurdity and obscurity not of the "World of War"
cUlTC1lily live; a world that
!hat is very similar ill
but of the world in which we all currently
in some ways
10 Virtopia.
Vir/opia .
to
_
f*1
oflhe
....u.str...m it can no longer
Ionget be catled
boot .......
bcx:u ......a
When a ..,..::e
space becomes
part of
the mainstream
called a ..,..,.
space but
rather it becomes
p"""'_ As it~ will be ~
thi$ chapter a ..,..::e
diffttent than a place
pi..., not only because it a
place.
argued later in this
space is different
."....,
physi<:alloeation
l-rs.........,.
poe$ibility for
fur beooming
space ClfI
can have no physical
location but abo
also too<;...,.
because it aalways
assumes a possibility
becoming and
qYOSlioni",.
questioning.
27
VirlOpia,
it.selfasswnes,
virtua.l. It
Ii initially
Virtopia, as its name itself
assumes, is a place, a topos that is virtual.
heferotQpias.
seems to be similar to what Foucault (2002) liked to call heterotopias.
also, probably in every culture, in evCT)'

every civilization,
There are also.
civi lization, real places
- places that do exist and that are formed
fonned in the very founding of society
soc:iety which are lIOmething
something like counter-sites, a kind
of effectively enacted
kirul of
utopia in which the real sites, all
all the other real site
sitess that can be found
within
repm;c:ntro, contested and inverted.
within the culture, are simultaneously represented,
ofthis
kind are outside of all places.
places, even though it may be possible
Places of
this kilKl
to indicate their location in reality. Because
Because: these places are absolutely
aboul. Il shall call
different from all the sites lhal
reflect and speak.
that they reflect
speak about,
them.
(p.23 \
them, by way of
of contrasllO
contrast to utopias.
utopias, heterotopias. (p.231
Vir/upia
differenl aspects of life
Virtopia like any ~r
other helerolOpia
heterotopia is a site that brings together different
cannot oo-exist
co-exist in real life. In a way it
il becomes an impossible place because
because: it does
that cannol
not bear any similarity to anything known from lived reality. Even though Foucault
latter are unreal places - whereas
suggests that heterotopias differ from utopias for the laller
heterotopias can exist within
heterotopias and utopias
within culture -I
- I would suggest that both heterotopias
could equal
equally
exist
,ould
ly ex
ist in reality. The assumption that utopia is an unreal place establishes
Utopill.'l are part of the human
utopia to also be untrue, which is a mere fallacy. Utopias
people' s reality.
consciousness and imagination
imagination and Il.'l
as SllCh
such they can only be true in people's
utopill.'l are not
IIOt places that can be found in a
However, I would agree with Foucault that utopias
physicallocalion
physical
location in our reality the same way that heterotopias can. Specifically,
Virtopi(J, is
the computer generated image or landscape in Virtopia,
heterotopias, as in the form of tile
in some $CTlSe
sense the actualization of a utopia. '6
utopias t$
as the site;
sites with 110
no real plaoe.
place. ~" 1bey
They are
a general
,5 Foucault
Fwcauk (2002) names UIOpias
ore sites
sil" that have
"" .....
generat relation
felation
inverted analogy with the _t
real """'"
space of oociety.
society. They p.--nl
present society
in a perfected
of direct or inve<led
oociety itself
itselfin
perf..::ted
form.
.. oociety!llmed
y case these utopias are
.... fundamentally unreal
un .....1places"
places~
form, or .1
else
society turned upside down.
down, but in ..
any
(p.231)..
1231)
6 Morie
Mor~ and Gool;n
Ied display (lIMD)
ofhigh
Goslin """'"
chose to in<:<JrponIt.
incorporate in their p)ject
project the head ........
mounted
(HMD) of
high
raolll1ion,
int:l;ns the
tho......,
panicipant. a.~ick
resolution, a trl<k;"3
tracking dev~
device \hot
that ....
maintains
sense of orien\2tion
orientation for the participant,
joystick or
mouse to control movemenl
movement through
the "'orIeL
world .-.d
and .a Convol~.
Convolvotron. "..
The Convolvotron,
a machine
""""'"
tllrough tile
Convolvonoo. was
"'...
mach~
28
As JIlI('t
tOO artists
a.ttis1I; created
crotrted
part of Vir1tJpio
Virtopia the
different ,,'Uth:!wC1lviromntmts
worlds/environments that
diffumnt
tbat the users
stimulates
can visit and each
eacll one of them Slimulates
different emotions. For instance,
diifurenl
iusl!mce, The
The.
(19921994) (Figure
(Fig;w; 5)
Endless Fores!
Forest (1992-1994)
Figure J.
5. Grulin
Goslin &;
& Moot;,
Morie, From
Virtopia
Fif(lfff!
Prom Virtupla
The Endless 1'=41'>92>1994
Forest, 1992-1994
TheEndle,m
consists of "massive symmetrical and richly

c<:msists
textured
populated by wraiths" (Gmilln
(Goslin
textu:red trees populillOO
apparitions
& Morie, 1996). These ghostly
glm5J:Iyepparitimlf
move througb
through the trees in hypnotic
ttKIVe
bypeGlk rhythms
rhy!l.uru;.
a choral
and 10
to the roum:.!
sound of
lII1d
{If 11
cllorul fugue. The
of loneliness and
invokes a feeling ofkmcU!le<:i$
world im\-.ke<:i
and.
melancholy as
me_holy
~ the
tOO user
aWl' moves along the
sound and drifts through
~
throU&h the
tile forest
furest without
ever been able to approa.;b
approach the wraiths.
Fang Cjf)'
City (J992-J994)(Figure
(1992-1994) (Figure 6) is
another
is!ltlO1her
of these environments.
example oftl!e:se
eKrunple
envitJJflffWClts. This
Tbis one
om:
arouses emotions of anguish since the
the user
finds her self into an idyllic place,
pla<::e, which
...melt
slowly begins to shift
sluwly
~h!ft into
illl!) a
e daunting
landscape. The sky starts darkening
lan.<.Iwape.
dark<ming and ''the
"the
scene melllJllQl'Phores
metamorphoses into an urban
u.rhoo.
nightmare". Fanged buildings
start tearing
lIightm;ue".
bwldings slart
rem:ing
the ground and anthropomorphic
through \h
clocks wander around sounding out the
tOO time.
time"
P'iJt'tNt6.
I'...,m Virtopia
Virlopla
Figure 6. Morie &:
& O,dia
Goslin, From
Fr:mgCiry,
Fang
City, 1992-1994
Ifwe think of utopias today, these are events of displacement, ofthe transnational
l<kntity
sp:u:~>ihat
identity and the global pelWlla.
persona. We 00
no longer Ih'\!
live m
in rcal1J!I!S,
real sites, but rather in spaces
that
don't really exist in physical, mtegral

In-lxnveeu
integral fonns
forms hut
but oo1y
only in poet\:eptioo
perception and in the in-between
Sf"".
developed during lilt

the 19S&:
1980s '"
at iii<:
the Amees
Center A
of NASA
Aeronautics and
dcwlop!
~ Research
~ Comt.
NASA (National
(Notk>Ml Aoroniouticl
""0 Space
Administration). ""'"
"The Convolvotron CIlIttP_
computes.a
mathematical relationship
the participants'
AdmmHm!i<m"
a m;M~ll:U\i<:Io!
,..,~p between
i>etwoon1fu:
part;';;poot:;'
location and (Il'im!m:l<l1I
orientation [[...]
relative '"
to agi"""
a given source and ~
processes the
in such a~ way
1""";00
J rellrtiv.
tlIC sound
_
Wtty as
... to
ffi
simulate i~
its ~~
apparent ~ioo
location wWlln;m
within an _1!JiY
imaginary sphere
surrounding the
head" (Goslin
s"","IOI
qrll."" ~iJ!g
IIw person's
~'~ ha!a"
(<Mlw &
M<;rii\
&1<1 sense
_
~forientation makes the
th<l
Morie, ]9%,
1996, 1'98).
p.98). Theililrtlbl_
The combination <If!Ofl'tlfid,
of sound, hlgll
high qmttty
quality l!n>,
image, and
of
experiences
in
these
worlds
deeply
immersive
The
participant
is
no
longer
outside
the
image
but
rather
~ ill fueso """,1& de<>pIy im:lri.mve
p;wtidpant Is m, loo!l"f ~1h. image
rntl>e<
h
hil>1w emotional
_ _ I responses
_poo _and
_
he Of
or she i$
is iIIdoo!be
inside the image, """",!lOOd
surrounded by
by all
all til.
the _uli
stimuli that trigger his/her
the ""peri.!lOOl
experiences i"
in a.....
these ""'kk
worlds ill
in """"
more 1"'!N!l3l
personal !11M
than reelmI>!ogio.!
technological ways. The
user directs
direct u..
TM\ISer
directK the
experience >In<I
and die
the _me
outcome Qfm-~"""
ofthose experiences >gnitivcly,
cognitively, psychologically
making
""P"rienc<;
P'yclIQI~1} and
&ld physically,
physically._lot
experiences lik.
like lhii
this ~hle
impossible ro
to p1ltlIl;!ting
permitting ,gtlMtcli..noo
generalizations.
c.m",lv""""
,ti.
"""*",
ill."""
"'= _
_ion.-'*
_lri!!$'"
""l'I',
""p.rk,,,,.,,
29
[n IIa sense, our identities become utopias, as well as our sense of
of a journey. In
space ofajoumcy.
belonging, only because those can currently c:<;SI

exist in the ways in which we imagine them
perceive them to be. So, utopias are currently "phenomenologies"
or percei\'e
''pllenomenologies~ of places that are
potentially possible 10
to inhabit. In a sense, utopias are not places,
places. they are spaces because
they are in oonSlant
constant formation, a "not yet" but in the happening
llappening (Sheldrake, 2001).
Ken:mac, for instance,

instance. when he was writing his novel On the
lhe Road
Rood ((1957)
1957) in
Jack Kerouac,
a continuous single long scroll, traversed his own act of writing into the journey. He
ceased
single
ce-dSed having any other location but the road, and all roads became one si
ngle place for
of streets, avenues
Kerouac: that
thai of his page. In
[n his book, Kerouac eliminates the names ofstreelS,
avenlleS
or highways and what the reader is left with

wilh is a sense of a utopia in the idea of the road;
an unfathomable freedom that
thaI reaches the "void," the nothingness.
nothingJlCSS. For Nikos
Kazantzakis (2004) the same utopia is actualiud
actualized in the situation of Alexi
Ale;d Zorbas.
Zorhos. Zorbas
just a clwtracter.
character. Zorbas is a "pla:~
"place" of possibility and potential, humanity and
is not
notjusl
moral ity - one that is without institutionally perceivable laws of measurable (and hence
morality
K.a2antzakis' Zorbas is the epitome of the aetualization
malleable to judgment) behavior. Kazantzakis'
actualization
ofa
of a utopia within the spirit of one man.
lion. the
The Lion,
Space as utopia is also eloquently presented in C.S. Lewis' book TIu.!
fhe Wardrobe
WiJFdr. ((1950/55)
1950155) or Lewis Carroll
's book Alice
Aliu in Wonderland
Wonder/and
Witch and the
Carroll's
(1
8651l940) (Figure 7). In both books,
books. utopia is not the place ofNamia
(1865/1940)
ofNarnia or the
Wonderland but rather the transition to these worlds; the possibility of these worlds
worl ds to
come 10
to life. This reminds one ofa
of a wormhole (Figure 8), a hypothetical topological
feature of space-time in physics that essentially assumes a shortcut in time and space. A
inlO the unkno"'ll.
wonnhole hypothesis though, all
black hole sucks matter into
unknown. Based on the wormhole
30
that canool
cannot escape from the back hole are transported
It3llSported through the wormhole
WQmthole and get spit
out from the opposite side - through a white hole _- in a different time and space of the
universe. In
[n a sense, a white hole (fantasy world) is a black hole (real reality) that runs
backwards
lime and as such it is impossible to reach. So, one could say that fantasy
bac kwards in time
and reality are sides of the same spatiotemporal situation in which they are connected by
utopia, a space for becoming or what we will from now on call virtuality.
virllUJlily.
Figure 7. Alice In
in WonckrlanJ
WonderlandFalling Ihro~gIo
through the
lhe rabbit
robbil hole
Figure
8. Diagram of
ofaa Wormhole
Figwe 8.
Going back to my example of Virtopia,

Vir/apia, it becomes apparent
appm:nl that Virtopia
Vir/apia is not
nol
o(the
actually a virtual place. The use of
the words "vinuar
"virtual" and "place" in one phrase would
immediately create a paradox, since I have already argued that virtuality exists in space,
virtual , for
which is inherently different than place. So, how can we have a place that is virtual,
al the same time? I would rather say that
INn
that assumes that we have space and place at
Vir/apia, as heterotopia, is the site, the actualization, of utopia or virtuality. However,

Virtopia,
one should not confuse utopia and virtuality here as argued to be the same, but
bul instead the
presenl a space of
ofpoun/w/.
two are 'Ihe
'the same' in so far as they both present
potential.
31
Nnrative
Virtual Reality ofFictioll
of Fiction Narrative
The idea of virtuality as IIa space that contains the potential for things
Ihin8$ to happen -
things that would not otherwise

olhcrwise take place - is inspiring aII number of contemporary
authors of fiction. Additionally,
toward the idea oofr a space where
Additiol1illly, the public's affection IOward
whert:
occur, and the immediate
through the wide
alternative realities
rcalities can OCCW",
ilTUTledialc access to
\0 this idea thro\.lgh
computer generated virtual realities, has
on
spread of
ofoomputer
hlu stimulated a number of writings On
virtuality. William Gibson and directors
din:ctors Andy and Larry Wachowski are merely two
examples of authors who talked about virtual reality in the framework ofa
of a near future. '7
Paradoxically, this future presents

as always reliant on the possibility of
~nts virtuality 8.$
technology
over human
u:.:hnology to
\0 take
tale O\'eT
hwnan nature, with the result of humans to
\0 dwell in a world that
Gibson (2000) first called "cyberspace"
"cybcrspace~ in his novel Neuromancer (first published
publ ished in
1984). William Gibson assembled the term

\cnn to describe a world behind the computer
screen, a pia
place that you cannot see but you know is there. It is heterotopia that becomes
screen.
possible through a hyper-dimensional realm, which is merely based on visual
information.
bloodl il dark behind his eyes, silver phosphenes boiling in from
And in the bloodlit
hypllllgogje images
imagesjeding
led
lite edge of a space, hypnagogic
jerking past like film compi
compiled
the
fTOm random frames. Symbols, figures, faces, a blurred,
blum:d, fragmented
from
mandala of visual infonnation.
information. (Gibson, 2000, p.52)
funher examines Gibson's term "neuromancer",
-neUTOl1UlnCer", one can start looking
If one further
Wldcrstanding ofvinuality
de<:per
deeper into the complications that such title presents 10
to our Wlderstanding
of virtuality as
NeUTQmQnceT sugg""~
rdati<>n.'lhip between the
suggests a cenain
certain relationship
a technological innovation. Neuromancer
7,
William (iibooo
Gibson is the
author
science-fiction novels
tI>t ..
thor of numerous
r.u"orous scienco-rtelion
""~" such as
IS Pattern
POlIUII Recognition
Rmog>tlliolo (2003) by
G. P. Putnam's Sons,
(2000) by Ace Books,
Sam , Neuromancer
N" ..._~r(2000)
900Iu , Idoru
liJont (1997) by Berkley,
Berldey, Mona
AI""" Lisa
Spectra, &:.
etc.
Overdrive ((1989)
1919) by Spoctra,
Andy....s
~ Wachowski
Wacbows1<i...,
tI>t _wriIen
ond directors
dift>ClOrS oftl>t
170t Matrix.
MOIrix. This includes
Andy
and Larry
are the
screenwriters and
ofthe trilogy The
The
The Matrix
(2003) and
170t Matrix
MOl'1x (1999),
(I 999). 170t
"""'Ix Reloaded
RtI""""'(2003)
ond The
170t Matrix
MaITbt Revolutions
_Iltiom (2003).
(2003~
0..,.,,"'"
32
12
user and the visual infonnation
information that is not external but rather is in the neurons of human
perception. (This is where one can start
about the further particulars of
stan contemplating aboutlhe
virtual reality as a phenomenological possibility. One here can also start building the
assumption that virtual reality is actually closely related to the ways in which we perceive
pereei~
our worlds and create our narratives
nanatives rather than an exciting new genre of media
technologies). Even though this is a mere assumption of what William Gibson might or
might not have thought when C(lming
coming up with his title, it does provide the foundation for
story. Specifically, he refen
refers to the
what is to be presented in the content of his $lory.
reconfiguration
ofthe
rcconfiguration of
the human body and identity, and one's attempt to
10 control one's
environment by the "displacement
~displacement orlile
of the material body from the confmes
confines of
orits
its
immediate lived space" (Featherstone & Burrows, 1995, p.2).
Even though the Gibsonian idea of cyberspace, frequently taken literally as the
next step in human evolution of
"disembodied integration into electronic infonnation
of"disembodied
information
syslems~
systems"
(Pumlay.
10 be an understanding
ur>derstanding of virtual reality
(Punday, 2000.
2000, p.200), it does not cease to
mcre technological character. Nevertheless,

Nevertheless. it becomes apparent that,
as one that has a mere
argwnent of virtual reality asjust
lICtualization of the real and as a
despite my argument
as just anolher
another actualization
space filled with possibility, others look at this notion with a far deeper degree of
skepticism. These are indeed narrowly based on the current
ClIlTCJ1t relationship between
virtuality and computer technologies,
techoologies., but they are important to also be considered. They
under5tand. not the nature of the virtual,
virtual. but
provide IIa different angle by which we can understand,
tile affection toward the virtual.
rather the reasons for the
refe-rs to
10
The best cl<aIllple
example of such theories comes from Baudrillard (1988) who refers
attemptS to
the virtual as "techno-worlds of illusion," aII mere hallucination that eitber
either attempts
33
J3
represent reality or to replace it.
of the real because
il. Baudrillard talks about the betrayal ofme
according to
10 him the virtual
viAllal is inadequate 10
to represent those aspects of the real, the same
way that
The real for Baudrillard is not
thai we are
arc able to grasp them in our everyday reality.
reality, n.e
oot
that
life Silualioll$.
situations. He
thai which we
\\'e cannot name but it is rather that
thaI which is the true, real
rcallife
believes
believe; that
thaI this real is at stake for it is reproduced from models, "miniaturized
'"minialuri7..e(i units,
from matrices, memory
meroory banks and command models - and with these it can reproduce an
p.I66). So, since the real is reproduced by
infinite number of times" (Baudril1ard,
(Baudrillard, 1988, p.166).
the imaginary, the unsubstantiated digital information of the machine, it can no

00 longer be
true
truc - hence it loses is essence as being real.
\0 accept in his theories that

!hat
Baudrillard confuses the real with the true, failing to
both dreams and everyday life are equally true for they both exist and reflect
renect experiences
internal
Cronenberg's8 movie
intcmal to us. The
l1le best illumination
illwninalion of this idea
idu. comes in David Cronenberg'
eXistenZ (released in 1999,

eXislenZ
1999. the same
SIIITI<: year as The Matrix)
Mil/rix) where users move in and out of
a role-playing
connected to it through an
roleplaying video
vid! game (eXistenZ) by constantly being connoclcd
pon drilled in the players' lower back (Figure9). In a way, the game overlaps
artificial port
util izi ng real world media in order to deliver an interactive narrative
narTlItive
with reality by utilizing
experience to the two players. The ambiguous ending of the movie leaves the viewer
ifferent levels of virtual
vinual reality in which we participate
with the question regarding the ddifferent
is, The phrase "'This
and where the line between illusion and reality is.
"This is not a Game~
Game"
central to
10 the plot of the movie illuminates the potentiality of vinwlity
virtuality to be
simultaneously true and fake, blending the boundaries ooff where recognition of the
separation between the two worlds is successfully achieved.
34
Figure 9. David Cronenberg.

Cronenberg, Slilis
Stills from LX"mellz,
eXistenZ, 1999
However, dC$pite
despite the poetic oppea/
appeal of
of the term "'vi
<4virtual
rtual reality", and its
philosophical echoes in suggesting 'today's

lift with computers"
<4today's ambiguous merger of life
p.65), the technology at hand
(Heim, 2000, p.65).
!land is currently far from leading its users into a
an: capable of
world of pure fantasy, more than a good book.
book, a movie or an artwork are
doing. What
Whal is of
BaudriUard's theories is the explanation of his
of great significance in Baudrillard's
relevance of the technologically mediated and
skepticism as one that rests on the relevlIl1Ce
constructed worlds of fantasy

fanwy to our affection toward a new way of life.
lift.
M
'1101e and
",itl, eleo;:\f.,mic
oonun\,nicatio""
as people ~~I)\
spent more
and (110ft
more time with
electronic communications
(tuned.
10
(tuned into the radio, glued 10
to TVs,jacked into computers, turned on to
walkmen and ghetto blasten.

blasters, COIlvcrsing
conversing on telephones, sending faxes,
receiving c:-mail),
e-mail), more time exchanging symbols through the mediation
of increasingly smart machines, the world offacc-\o-face
of face-to-face was becoming
interface.' (Poster, 1998)
the world of the 'interface.'
As Zizek argues (1996), computer technologies r.use
raise a series of basic questions
thaI move beyond the machine

'5 instrumental fW1Clion
conlX'm the
that
machine's
function to questions that concern
specificity ofbuman
of human thought and communication. Specifically, one could suggest that
sucb
cffect that these technologies
teclloologies
such concerns seem to be based on the appeal as well as the effect
- or the images made through these technologies - have on users. As Robins (1996)
chums,
claims, questions of epistemology, representation and truth are raised because we are now
whicb we apprehend the world of these new relations,
forced 10
to think about
about the ways in which
or new boundless identities.
identities, "The essenlX'
essence of digital infonnation
information is that it is inherently
"
35
malleable and plastic" (Robins, 1996, pAl).

pA 1). Hence,
Hence:, within the pessimistic view of the
of real reality by virtual
vi nual reality, one experiences
expericn<X:S in Baudrillard's
Baudril lard 's arguments an
dismissal or
important question that
to be asked about virtual reality. Even if the definition of
thai needs
n~s 10
to tackle due to
the term appears to be a difficult task 10
\0 polarized discourse, there seems to
10
be a common question that rises from those disagreements and this responds
respoods to
\0 the
reasons for our affection toward
loward the virtual.
The answer to the above question is certainly not
nol a single or a simple one to
\0
undertake, but
of our relationship to
bUllI will initially approach it through the examination ofour
re<:enl example of
computer-generated images or landscapes, for they are the most recent
virtuality.
Specifically,
vinuality. Specifically.
cyberspace's immateriality and malleability of content provides the most
cybenpace's
tempting stage for
fOT the acting out of mythical realities, realities once
~oonfined" to drug-enhanced
drug-enhanccd rilual,
\0 theater,
theater. painting, books,
books. and to
\0 such
"confined"
ritual, to
media that are always, in themselves,
themselves. somehow less than what they reach
for,
(Benedict, 1991,
for. mere gateways. (Benedict.
]991, p.6)
Computer generated three-dimensional and interactive

intcractive landscapes, of which Virtopia
Vir/opia is
just Olle
P'Wple used
u.sed to
10
one examplc.
example, allow for the cX\emalization
extemalization of the same fantasies that people
experience through stories,
stories. myths or fairy-tales. Currenttcchnologies
10
Current technologies allow the user to
act these fantasies out in a space that has no
00 material
matcrial e~i
stence, a non-space, in the same
existence,
images. performances,
perfonnances, and cinema do. In each case these fantasies might
way in which images,
often seem inconsistent or extreme when measured against reality's
realitys standards,
standards. but they
bejudged
imaginal ion and
need not 10
to be
judged or validated when they maintain the sphere of imagination
serve nothing
oothing more or nothing less than a personal amusemenl
amusement and fulfillment.
enactmenl of
The exhilaration of the virtual world as a space that allows for the enactment
fantasiescornes
fr(lm the
lhe ability ofthis
of this space to
10 be liberated from the material and
fantasies
comes from
36
''the boundaries of self are defined
embodied world. On one hand, Hayles argues that, '"the
less by the skin than by the feedback loops connecting body and simulation in technobio-integrated
cited in Robins, 1995,
bio-intcgratcd circuit"
circuil~ (as ciled
]995. p.138).
p.13S). On the other hand, Michael
sayan
Benedikt
Benedikt says that "cyberspace can be seen as an extension, some might say
an inevitable
age-old capacity and need to dwell in fiction,
extension,
extension. of our ag\XIld
ficlion. to
10 dwell empowered or
enlightened on other, mythic planes" (as cited in Robins,
Robins. 1995, p.139). In
In general, virtual
vinual
reality promises to deliver us from the constraints
constrai nl$ and defeats of physical reality and the
physical body. It is the combination ofthe
of the objectivity of the physical world with the
unlimitedness
unl imitedness and the uncensored
WJCensored content
CQIllCnl that
thaI is normally associated with dreams or
imagination.
desire to escape our
Is then virtual reality a space created OUI
out of the need and desirc
current
Or, is virtual
out ofa
of a mere need for
cum:nt reality? Or.
vinual reality a space that is created OUI
creation and imagination? As Gene Youngblood puts it,

it. what matters in our relationship
with technologies
tcx:hoologies is our ability to generate simulations and have the political power to
control the context of their representation
rt:prescntation (as cited in Robins, 1996). Even though
Yowtgblood does not
nol explain the degree or the type of political
pol iiical power
po_r we
_ have in the
Youngblood
realily oflccltnntogically
IIC<:U1lIlely points oul
of technologically based environments be
he accurately
out that.
that, "when
virtual reality
then: is no need for sleeping" (Robins, 1996, p.39). Robins (1996)
life is a dream there
completes this by saying that, "illusion

"'illusion ceases where
wbert: elljoymenl
begins.~ Along the same
enjoyment begins."
tIw: need to
10 escape
lilies, I would suggest that even if virtual reality was created out of the
lines,
lifc, it still relates to our need as human beings to always create and recreate, deconstruct
life,
li fe in the way that better
beller lIeeOl.'l
Aftcr all.
Ihis not
1101
rewnstroct this life
and reconstruct
seems to make sense. After
all, is this
37
31
presc:n!ed here with the problem of the

the reason why we evolve through time? We an:
are presented
our relationship with life's representations.
nature of our reality and of
ofou.
Pleasure
Ntssity: Virtual
ViTi". ] Reality
Ru l, ty as
u.a Non-Space
Non-Spaa:
Pleu ure and Necessity:
One could assume there is nothing

of the
oothing predetermined
predetennined in the virtual reality o[the
architect1m' - in the space

5pa<.:e behind the numerical codes that make the threecomputer's architecture
dimensional worlds possible. Virtuality created by the computer generates communities
thaI users tend
lend to visit,
visit. or often inhabit.
10 the universe
Wliverse nfthe
or sites that
inhabit, as an alternative to
of the real
reality and in this space users tend to

\0 have
kave aII different
di lTerent identity and no
00 predefined
responsibilities. Such sites become non-spaces. Bauman
Bawnan (2004), when discussing the
ornon-space,
~boat, n that is
notion of
non-space, refers to Foucault's notion of the "boat,"
aII floating
of space, a place without aII place, that exists by itself, that
neating piece o[space,
is closed in on itselfand
itself and al
at the same time is given over 10
to the infinity of
the sea; it can accomplish that 'giving itself
to infInity'
irsclfto
intinily' thanks to
10 sailing
sai ling
oome port and keeping its distance. (p.99)
away from the home
oomputer-geneJ1lted site becomes a "purifted"

~purified" space not
In a similar way, a computer-generated
because it
il is clean from variety and differences, but
bul because it
il is a place without
withoul a ceMin
certain
place. We can access it from any physical location, as long as we have access to the
necessary. and it
il offers what no "real reality"
reality~ can give; the balance between
technology necessary,
lkeause within these non-spaces (8
place). like
freedom and security. Because
(a place without a place),
"lemples of consumption,
Bauman's ''temples
consumption,"~ the user can choose from a variety of sensory
sensations and enjoy them without
witb<:>UI fear.
fc:ar. When the risk
ri$k is taken
Ulken oUl
ofthc
out of
the adventure what
purified. Munalloyed
WlCQntamil\8led amusement"
amuselJlnlM(Bauman, 2004, p.99).
is left is a purifIed,
"unalloyed and uncontaminated
1996), "illusion ceases where enjoyment begins."

begins.And returning 10
to Robins ((1996),
38
Going a step further, one could suggest thai
that the appeal of
o ( virtual reality, as it
il is
actualized in the computer-generated image, rests not only on the possibility that it
actualiud
provides for the enactment of our "innermost
Mirmcnnosl fantasies in all
al l their inconsistency"
inconsistencyM but also
on the possibility of doing so in a playful way (Zizek, 1999, p.4).
p.4), Computer-generated
Compute r-generated
landscapes allow for the refusal to confonn

conform to
10 society's requests and predetermined roles
[n this space, regardless ofme
without the fear of being marginalized. In
of the fact that it is by
nature built on and from the forms that it attempts

attemptS to escape from,
from. there is always a
certain
cenai
n lack
Lack of social, political and especially physical margins. Escaping in the virtual
sheer act of
escaping itself,
seems like a game for the she<.:r
ofcscaping
itself. involves no risks that could
potentially have consequences similar to those in real life environments.
The virtual
envirorunents. 1be
space and consequently the act of escaping both become unreal as soon as the user
off her computer. Therefore, the lure
chooses
~hoose5 to
10 log offhcrwmputer.
lun:: of virtual reality hinders
hindeB in its
il6
capacity to
to maintain a minimum of distance
\0 externalize our fantasies
fWltasies by allowing us 10
distancewhat Lacan refers
to as "traversing
like Foucault's
refen 10
~travcrsing the fantasy"
fantasy"likc
foucault's boat that is sailing aaway
v..ay
from its port and keeping a distance from what counts as reality.
Diuanee and Proximity

ProJ:imity
Virtual Reality as Distance
l1Iere are examplcs
abovc idea into question
There
examples ooff new technologies that put the above
thc samc.
since now distance and proximity become one and the
same. The new Macintosh
computer, for instance, comes with a built-in camera that results in 11a <:(Instant,
constant, an at-allthc
times mechanism of surveillance of the user. The <:(Imputer
computer screen ceases to be the
spectacle and instead transforms its own user into one through her mirroring on the
thai follows you around, the computer presents
pre5ents your image back 10
screen. Like a mirror that
to
39
you, forces you to look at yOUT
your self and your actions. lbe
The user ends up gazing back at her
self, being objectified
obje<:\ified by her own awareness of appearances, while
wllile interacting with others
in the World Wide Web. The gue

gaze makes us aware that we might be looked at, and this
the gaze moves
to the
awareness becomes a part of
o f identity
identilY in itself. The distance of
nfme
moVe$IO
proximity of our own body.
We raise a hand and fmd
find ourselves in perfect harmony
hannony with the opposite
hand of our replicant sel
self,
f, the one floating
noating before us in virtual space. This
replicant is a separate enti
entity,
ty, but is also inseparable from our other real
self. In order to coincide with this self-same simulacra,
simulacra. the body must
break the boundary of
its
skin
and
simultaneously
occupy both sides or
of its
orits
oox:upy
senses. It must somehow incorporate this divided $Clfand
self and be both before
5C!Iscs.
of its own gaze.
and behind
beh.ind the mirror,
mirTOr, be both subject and object orits
(Batchen, 2002, p.242)
(Ralchen,
Jean-Paul Sartre
one may
Sanre (2004) describes a similar
simi lar situation in which Orll:
rnay look
wilhout any awareness of
ofthc
through a keyhole without
the self, until the moment footsteps are heard
of the self is gained through the realization that I[am

am gazed at,
in the hall. Awareness ofthc
since the gaze of the other
olber is what validates my existence. In the case of the new
nt:w
00 longer in need of the other to realize
realize: the self, since ont:
Macintosh computer the user is no
one
is now constantly looking at one's self. In this ease,

case, the gaze is simultaneously inside and
outside, and one is simultaneously the spectator
speo:.:tator and the picture.
pieture.
As Carol-Anne Tyler explains about this paradox of the mirror: "The subject can
image. the eye which sees and the
never reconcile the split between itself and its mirror image,
eye which is seen, the I who speaks and the I who is spoken, the subject of desire and the
subj~ of demand, who must pass through the defile"
fiers~ (as cited
subject
defiles of the Other's signi
signifiers"
p.2] 8). When

~n I see myself in the mirror, I can never see the Ideal "I"
~IH
in Mirzoeff, 1999, p.2l8).
of the imaginary, but only the Symbolic "I."
~I.~ This takes one back to the skepticism
concerning the ClUTeO!

current technologies that create a sense of immersion or simulation
40
through different means. This skepticism resides in and evolves from issues concerning
reality, unreality and truth,
trulli, and are mainly based on the possible effects that technological
come 10
to
illusions can or will have on social consciousness, and on the ways in which we oome
define the "]"
"I" in relation to
10 others - or in relation to
10 itself. Even though the validity of
such skepticism is unquestionable we oomc
come 10
to the point where we need to
10 now ask: "So,
"So.
the
what's next?"
technological illusions of
nextT' Are we indeed doomed to
10 lose the self in the tochnological
o(the
machine, get lost into the worlds of fantasy and hallucination
hal1ueinalion and never be able to
10 awake
again from the lures of such situation
sitWltion where
when: amusement
am~nt is achieved? Art might be able
to give us some insight.
Artists
technologies that
Artisu incorporate current
currenl1cchnologies
thai dislocate the
lhe idea of the image from
its traditional positioning from one on the wall or on the SCrc<:n
screen 10
to one that attains
attai ns aII multimulti
layered and muhi-dimensional
multi-dimensional reality. "I1Ie
The image is no longer flat
nal or static, but it
i1 rather
leads to aII fantasmatic
fanlasmatic play with one's imagination and perception based on a sense of
immersion that is fluid and changes with time. In ShakCspelln"S
Shakespeare's play The TeMpesl,
Tempest,
performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) in New York in November of
2006, three-dimensional
three-dimensionaltcchnologies
technologies were incorporated to creale
create an illusive sensation of
l be actors on stage were engaged in a theatrical dialogue with the

reality (Figure 10). The
holograms of actors in such a way that at times the spectator had to glimpse once or twice
before deciding which one of the figures

ligures were actually on Slage.
stage. The play blends the
boundaries between the real and the imaginary or the dreamy,
dreamy. commenting on theatrical
illusions and enacting in actuality the play's 0\\011
own issue oflife as being a storm - that is
chantcter, Prospero, claims

clail1'l$ during
nothing more but a long act of dreaming. The main character,
one of the scenes that the whole world is an illusion:
4t
41
[[...
... )] the great globe i!Self
itself
Ye all wllich
which it inherit, shall
shall dissolve ...
...we
we as such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is
with a sleep [[...]
. .. J
[s rounded wilh
4: 1))
(Shakespeare, 2000, 4:1
Tempo . 2006
Figure 10. Stills from u
Le Tempest,
-e come full eilde

nol really a
Here ....
we
circle ba\:k
back to the discussion that virtuality is not
dream or aa hallucination in the same way that Baudrillard
Baudril1ard understands it
;\\0
bul rather
mther
to be, but
il is a space where
when: things, otherwise impossible to
it is like a dream in the sense that it
not opposite to reality, but instead it is part
happen, are now possible. So, virtuality is 1101
pan of
reality;
alternative access to the unnamab1e
unnamable real. In light of this, computer generated
real ity; an ahernative
immersive and tIlree-dimensional
three-dimensional site$
sites are virtual so far as they present us with the
the
possibility to dream and imagine. They are the actualization of virtuality, but they are not
virtuality per se. Hoping to make this argwnent

argument clearer I will tum to the history of
images in
in order 10
to further discuss the idea ofvinuaJity
of virtuality as a space of possibility in art.
an.
42
Summary
SUlII"'.
ry
The Platonic allegory of the cave

as one of the fIrst
cavc stands lIS
first examples that
thaI
contemplate the relationship between

betWiX'n the real and the true in the space of the image.
Images are what people $
see as sllado~
shadows on the wall of the cave and therefore they are
of an ultimate
tum also representations
n:pn:sentations nfan
only representations of objects, which are in their turn
truth. Despite the fact that
thaI images are seductive and illusionary,
illusionary. Plato's man is always
Ihe sun outside of the cave that

thai is
returning back to the cave, even after he experiences the
(llcidegger, 2002). In
[n a similar manner, Shakespeare's character Prospero in
the truth (Heidegger,
The
soon as he wakes up, whereas the artist Laurie
ThIt: Tempest
TempeSf wants to return to sleep as $()On
Anderson attempts to capture her dreams in her work as vignettes of inner and valuable
worlds that need to
10 be safeguarded.
A discussion on the distinction between the real and reality was presented and it
~khora" or Badiou's "void."
~void.~ The real is not
001 an
was argued that the real is like Derrida's "khora"
Ihal
ultimate impossibility that we can never experieroce,
experience, as Zizek claims, but rather is that
which we simply cannot name or signify. It was also argued that virtuality is Il<)t
not un-
il is similar to
10 utopia in that it presents possibility and potential. Hence,
reality but it
potcntial. and it is inherently different from the static
virtuality is in space.th.at
space, that is full of potential,
localion.
notion of a place or location.
However, virtuality has been also associated with spaces ofimmersion
of immersion that is
usually generated by illusions. In Plato's description of the cave human beings immerse
in the illusionary sh.adows
shadows of objects and in theories by Baudrillard and Zizek human
ill usionary effects of a three-dimensional envirorunent

environment created by
beings immerse in the illusionary
computer technologi<:$.
technologies. Thus, in order to better understand virtuality as aD. space of
43
potential, one needs to
10 further
funher examine the idea
i&a of illusion in the space of images, for it
seems there is a certain historicity in our relationship to
10 such spaces. If
I f this is the case
then one could possibly assume that

thaI virtuality, described as
lIS an immersive and illusionary
The following chapter will dive into the history of images
space, is aB perpetual situation. 'The
attempting to further examine the notion of virtuality
virtualily in immersive and illusionary spaces
this fIrst
il was described in Ihis
first chapter.
and how virtuality can be a space of potential, as it
44
Chapter II
IN T
THE
TRUTH:
H E SEARCH
SEARC H FOR TRUTII:
HE C
A VI: TO TilE
CAVE
THE VIRTUAL WINDOW
FROM T
THE
found myself;"
myselfin a<l dream-like
exaltation in which we seem to
I[found
dream-liM ,,:rolla/iorl
10 leave
[taw the
lhe
body behind us
into one
another, like
US and sail away in/Q
Q/It! strange scene
seeM after
ajier al'Wlher,
[ ...]
outwardframe in the
armchair at my
disembodied spirits [.
. .] I leave my
myoutwardframe
lhe arnrchoir
table, while in spirit Il Um
am looking down
from the Mount
c/Q... n upon Jerusalem
JerusaJemfrQm
ofOlives
of
Olives
- Wendell
cited in Mirzoeff,
Wende ll Holmes (as ""ted
MirzoetT, 1999, p.94)
closed-off image space of illusion" is at

"Installing an observer in a hennetically
hcrmo:tically "losed-<l1T
the
bc:tween humans to images, says Oliver Grau in his book
lhe core of the relationship between
Vjrruol Art (2003). In
[n order to support his argument and prove this assertion he takes on
Virtual
the ominous task of presenting a number of examples from the history of images. This
cltapter will attempt 10

chapter
to do the same. However, this chapter is not going 10
to be a lesson in
art history or an extensive analysis of historical periods in relation to
10 the political and
social issues that eaus.ed

caused specific shifts in the practice ofart
of art and in the way such practice
was perceived as a disciplir>e.
discipline. These shifts are taken for granted, as it is not within the
alms
aims of this chapter to question them. Thus.
Thus, only specific historical periods will be
considered and only specific examples of work,

work. mostly from Europe, will be presented.
The choice of these works is based 00
on what seems to best describe the relationship
paiotings,
between human beings and immersive images. Examples include perspective paintings,
panonnnas. and art from Cubism, Dadaism,
Dadaism.. Surrealism,
Sunealism, and Futurism.
baroque panoramas,
45
Perspective ali
as the :vietapborofthe
Metaphor of the Window
Persp1lve
When
V;ben the future American
Amexkan
President Thomas Jefferson saw the

!he
neoclassical painting by Francois-Xavier
fmnoois-Xavier
Fabre, Marius
the Gaul (J
(1796)
(Figure
Aiorius and (he
7tJ6HFlgure
11) he said: "[...] I lost all ideas of time,
even the CUIlsdousness
consciousness of my existence"
exislence"
(Grau, 2003, p..92).
p.92). Jeffe='g
Jefferson's
(Gnu\,
experiences directly address the same idea
Figure
FigllU! 11.
f r Francois-Xavier
fll:ll'1C(lj~-Xf!vjtt' Fabre,
Fal:>re,
Marius
and the GauL
Gaul, 1796
MiUfus ami
11%
of technologically based virtual reality environments; they are illusionary and immersive,
or better, they are immersive because they are illusionary.8 Jefferson's comment and
technologies today both "indicate that virtuality can be understood as the transformation
exterior three-dimensional
poly-dimensional interiur
interior
of space away from mnerior
thretHlimensioHBl reality to the poly.rumansional
world of the self' (Grall, 2003, p.92). In the immersive space of the specific painting that
dmws
!he viewer
Vie1.\,-ef into !he
draws the
the occurring -00,.
scene, President JeffefSOfl
Jefferson lost all consciousness of
!hat the interaction
illlilrnctioo with
wilh the space of this image happens in
his exislenml.
existence. This reveals that
him - that is in the v{ay

tim! he perceives !he
image.and
way that
the image
and in the way he illlllgines
imagines !he
the scene
to unfold in fu:ml
front ofbis
of his ~
eyes. This:
This lCfI'NS
leaves ooe
one with the identificatillH
identification of n
a certain
rclaI.ioosllip that human beings have to images that is transparent.

tmnsparmt!9
relationship
Illusionary l~
is btre
here def""'"
defined .,;
as $lrnpb'!IUlI
simply that whkh
which deoo!_
deceives """
our m\rtd
mind and lit
our senses.
,8 mwi<lnllly
_sell. In this
!Ill' essay,
O$Il.y,
illusionary "tim
is not that whkh
which is the
or the untrue,
since
that allows us
perception is
;U",,0Il\l!)'
th< false
folso Qf!lle
\IIl\rue, ...
""" anything
MyfuJ<lgll!llt!llk>wi
\IIi _tIDa
is by
Micro immOJdi:U.
_ _ arftmind.oM
nature
immediate Ii:!
to 00f
our senses
and mind and ~fM,
therefore tme
true..
in this ctI.%
case considered
ability ofth.
ofthe vieww
viewer ro
to access
the lmog<;
image as a ""'"
very
9 Transparency
T"","l'"""0' "is ih
~ to
Ii:! be
00 the
fuIlllbtlily
"""""" <II<!
recognizable .huatioo
situation 1h>m
from real
reality
life.
,oal ooily Ilk.
"""IIll"'*'"'
46
llte
IrMSparell(:y, strong in ancient
ano::ient Rome and Greece, grew stronger in
The desire for transparency,
the centuries after the Renaissance and led to the development of the technique of linear
as current compulcr
computer generated virtual
perspective. The perspective paintings - just 115
reality environments - offered the experience of "being there".
there" . The word ""perspective,"
perspective,"
which comes from the Latin "seeing
Msceing through," indicates the attempt to position the
viewer in close proximity
JITOltimity to the painting and to the objects represented. The work's
work' s
transparentlayen
ofdistanc:e
transparent layers created the notion of perspective that generated the illusion of
distance
depth while the frame that enclosed the image enforced the idea of
and dcpth
oraa "wrapped"
"Wrapped"
vicwer could chose to enlcr.
It seems as
115 if the perspective painting
reality that the viewer
enter. It
literally
liternlly became a window to another world that revealed itself in the process of
unfolding the
!be layers that construct it.
110 century humanist, poet and scholar, architect and
Alberti. the 15th
Leon Battista Alberti,
prir>eiples to be followed by a painter, in
art theorist, engineer and mathematician, set the principles
his book On Painting

(1435).10 In his
Palming (1435).'0
hi s writings Alberti
Albeni described the
\be fundamental
advanced
principles for
fo r the construction of perspective by extracting them from the most advlll1CCd
Donatel1o. Masaccio and Ghi
berti. These artists "adopted
Ghiberti.
pictorial practice of Donatello,
Brunelleschi's invention for the a priori laying down of imaginary settings in

mathtlllatical perspective" (Kemp, 1972,
1972. p.21
p.21)."
mathematical
).11
..
10
Atberti' , work was

_ not
1>01 translated
tran<latcd and published
publi","" in English
Englio/1 until1956,
WOOl an
on attempt
lIIlempt
Alberti's
until 1956, ">'en
even though there was
to translate
the .igh-.III
eighteenth century.
10
uan.loIe it in tho
II11 Filippo Brunelleschi

Elmnel\e$cbi (l)n.I446)
_ the first
rU'Sl to find
r!lld aI method of
of~ing
perspecli"" so
00 that
tIIaI it
il
(1377-1446) was
representing perspective
. lmosIlPII""B
almost
appears perf"",
perfect to the eye.
on assiduous
lSSid"""" study or
remainiOS monuments
JIIOoluments of Romans
Rom .... architecture
archilecture _
_ thus
Ih ... enable<i
He made an
of the remaining
and was
enabled
to ...
revive
classical principle of
ofthe
order which gave
clearness to the <Ie<;om:ive
decorative forms
already
vi"" the clossical
the <>nIe<
P '" logical
Iogicol cieameu
flKnts a1teady
lArgely
f lomlce "",iOS
fur humanism,
humani ..... while aI further
furdIer study or
largely dit"fused
diffused in Florence
owing to the growing paoSK>rI
passion for
of
mathematics
concrete the rules
of perspective
mathemalics enabled him to o:ono::o'&
DIles or..,.
........ 'ive which
whicll in their turn
tum explained
.""laincd the
47
For instance, Masaccio's fresco Trinity (142528) (Figure 12) in santa

Santa Maria Novella in Florence,
Fleronoo,
believed
be painted
1425 and 1428, ita
is a
be!iN'Ild to
tu 00
puinted between
beNlXIl142S
Brunelleschi's arollirecrttral
architectural principles.
12
revelation
revelmiOll of
ofBrunellcschi's
prlnclplcsY
Vasari
described the
saying: " But the
V_ i (1568) de=ibed
!he painting sayin{;;
most
the figures,
a banelbarrelmort beautiful thing,
tiling. apart from !he
figure;;. is it
shaped veulting.
vaulting, drown
drawn in ~Y
perspective and divided into
squares
filled with rosettes,
for-shortened and
Jqut\J'Cs fined
rosettes. which are for-Nwrtetred
made
that the ,""ullllj:!pea.rs
wall appears to be
m!iOO to diminish so well tllat
he
pierced" (1',384),
(p.384). MOIspedfieally,
More specifically, Grau {20(3)
(2003)
pierced'"
perspective and
the technique
explains that in me
teclmique of persjRXllive
Figure
Masaccio, Trinity.
Trinity,
Figure!12.
2. Masaccfu,
1425-28
141$-28
[t]hrough the device

a single
ltjhrough
devi;:e of seeming to extend the wall surface beyond it
plane, !he
the room appea:rs
appears larger than its lICtual
actual size and drow;;
draws !he
the visitor's
vi,iwr's
gaze into the painting. The most effective examples of these frescoes
~ use
motilE that addrc:;s
motifs
address tile
the observer from alJ
all siJes
sides in na unity of lime
time and place,
endosing
Iwnnetieally. This CI'Cll<es
ilIusiOll of being in (he
enclosing him or her hermetically.
creates an illusion
the
~. inside an i~
spa;;;<: and its illusionary evenn;,
image,
image space
events. (p.25)
Masaecio's wmk
filSl C\idoocc
nfperfect
rcpt'CSCmmion of
Masaccio's
work is emong
among the first
evidence found of
perfect representation
perspective tlml
ill.usimls, such
iilleh lIS
whiell "the wall
wnIl nppeam
that creates illusions,
as tbe
the one in which
appears to be
pierood.~ Perspective was
WIIS IIa method and
nod in an sense a new "technology" that facilitated
fnci!itated IIrt
pierced."
art
deny tha1.
that
to obj<;ctivcly
objectively ~m
represent lite.
life. As Alberti (145311972)
(1453/1972) claims: "No one will <leny
things which are not visible do not concern the painter, for he strives to represent only the
s!!piJ.rl&Ity
00th from &a rutiOW>i
voint "rvrew
_ from ""
superiority of """lml
ancient m<><kk
models both
rational point
of view and
an ooothcti<:
aesthetic oornptcl>on,.",
comprehension ~,
or
It<~,..)tl.;t,;(OuH.
19.$), p,11
architectural
facts (Carli, 1952,
p.2)
_mg.
"12 Masaccio
~'" WM
ft,end ro
PiIJpj><> Brunelleschi
Ilruudkmlll woo
ti!U,gIlt him
blm the
ili/l .
- of
<If perspective,
~jve. ",Wm;'
was II.
a "kse
close friend
to Filippo
who taught
idea
which is
.1iIR>lIt al"1l}1i
~ in 1m
NIlJiy was
"'lOS""""""""'"
almost
always apparent
his paintings afa.cl!oo"",l_
of architectural structures. Trinity
covered two }""'"
years after
Vasari's
V~'. b<:><:>k
book """
was published
puhlWied in 1568, by tile
the _ioo
erection uf
of an ..
altar
tat ""d
and ~a panel ufllle
of the Madonna
MaJ""". <If
of 1h
the
Rmruy, painted
p<ili1tod by Vasari
V=i himself.
him""lf Thus,
-n...., IIle
unlmmon frnm
Ism til!
lU! when
whon the
m.
Rosary,
the tre.o.:>
fresco mIl"",.d
remained unknown
from 1570
till 1861
altar
was \lJlW.ffl><l.
uncovered.
;Uta< "'AA
48
things that au
are seen" (p.37). One could
coul d argue that we currently use complicated
technologies 10
to create illusionary images or enviJ'()nmenlS,
environments, in a similar way that fifteenth
century artists.
artists used complicated mathematical formulas and techniques to create the
cen1Uly
oftransparency.
creating
proximity. of
transparency . Artists
Anists were creati
ng for the first time the
illusion of absolute proximity,
metaphor of the window that opens up to a different reality (Gnlu.
(Grau, 2003). "On the
size I want, which I
reetangle of whatever si7.e
surface of which I[ am going to paint, I draw a rectangle
regard as an open window thJ'()ugh
through which the subject to be painted is seen" (Bolter &
OJ'()mala,
Gromala, 2003, p. 36).
o Niobe! With what afflicted

amicted eyes
Thee I beheld upon the pathway traced,
tJac:ed,
([ ... J]
'Nhoe'er ofpecil master was or
Of stile,
Whoe'er
That could portray the shades and traits which there
ThaI
Would cause subtle genius to admire?
Dead seemed the dead, the living seemed alive;
Better than I saw not who saw the truth,
wen\.
All that I[ trod upon while bowed I went.
(Vaswri, 1568,
1568,p.259)
(Vasari,
p. 259)
Perspective was gradually adopted for painting frescoes in Roman villas.
ThJ'()ugh the technique of surrounding the observer's vision, the attempt was to break the
Through
barriers between the observer's physical existence in aD certain real time and space and the
Where there is no break in the continuity of the
virtual time and space of the image. ""Where
wall surface the ritual drama achieved truly classical unity of time and place"
place~ (Maiuri,
1953, p.53). It seems that it is through this totality ooff perspective that illusion manages to
oblicrver spatially with the mythical sne~
of the image (Gran,
p.21).
""meld
meld the observer
(Grau, 2003, p.27).
scene" ofthe
fresw in the CO$Q
de; Misteri
Mis/eri (60
Especially in scenes with mythical gods such as in the fresco
Casa dei
13). the combination of human cult followers and ancient divinities
B.C) (Figure 13),
10 intensify
intensity the identification of the observer with the events depicted. As the
attempted to
49
viewer looks around the room she fuels
feels followed by 1b"
the figures'
as the
are in
figwes' gaze
gmr-e a~
!he figures
fi~g Ill\!
the SIll'ftwe
surface of the
walls. The viewer gets t:rappffi
trapped in
seemingly coostant
constant movement on tile
a se<::mingly
!he wails.
this aile-surrounding
all-surrounding gnu
gaze tIuii
that ultimru:dy
ultimately disliolveslhe
dissolves the boundaries
visual
IXllmdaries between the v.lsual
space of the image and the real space of the visitor, and which results in an immersive
experience (Grau, 2000).
The fresco portrays Dionysiac
mysteries, which "ven
even tlm!.lgb
though not
officially
rmt of'ftciall,y
recognized by the state, were still practiced by
of the population in
a large jX>rUoo
portion of'too
n
1n Rome
Be, as an
between the
second and first
century .Be,
tire sooond
firE! CUltUry
expression
e,:pressioo of an religious belief that
Ihnt was deeply
rooted
in tile
the cOUlmumty,
community. 13
rooled In
,J The scenes
_ne~
Figure 13. Cosailrl

Casa dei Misteri,
Pompeii,
Figwe}),
MiIItvl, Pompcli.
60 B.C.
IiOB.C
present silent features of the mystery that are taking place around the divine couple,
v.=
Dionysus
and Ariadne, while women are drmcing
dancing aro!.lnd
around them as
they are seeking
DionyllUS ami
a~ tbey
in;itilitiOll to
10 the mylltic
tbe god. It is believed that the
tbe mistress of the Villa,
initiation
mystic wedlock with the
as one of the women who participate in the rituals depicted, specifically ordered an artist
to create this fresco so that she could use this room as a refuge from the "brawling
1953).
More specifically, [fUre
"[t]he pittore
picture is the gateway,
politics of city life" (Maiuri,
(Maiuri,. 1
<J53}. Mi:lre
otbcr direakm.
of the real, and, in the other
direction, tr1lIl3jlOrt
transport
which allows lire
the gods 1n
to enter the space ()f
their mortal assistant
into the picture" (Gnm,
(Grau, 2003, p. 29). Th!.lS,!he
Thus, the panoramic
a:;$st;mlmtu
paoonnnic
The Dionysiac
mysteries (lh;:IJomolw)
(Bachanalia) _were frenetic
celebrations, based
on the
worship of
Dionysus ""d
and
PkH'Ysliw ~""
'rellct!: ~
baAAl 00
dl Wt)f$!;lp
(lfUi4flyws
_
"""""'"
Be m
R<ml .. Italy.
Itilly. n~
indul!lOO= l}fw.
which
became J>I!Pllw
popular in !II<!
the 2nd """"''Y
century BC
in Roman
The indulgences
of the Bacclmnalm
Bacchanalia
became
increasingly ~>Wlml<',
extreme, includms:<><gie:;,
including orgies, '*""'.ina
nursing baby wild ""imah,
animals, """",,,*,"'g
consuming wine, hooey
honey """
and
~m ~ml!l}
milk, kill'*'l)
killing anlnub:mel
animals and ""'IDS
eating taw
raw WOOl.
meat. In
tragedy ~~"Bacchae" these
rituals are described
in
mdk
h' Euripides'
1l~'Jt&gftiy
- . nimh"'"
decribOO. ill
their
extremity. h
It was
because
of their extreme
the Roman
these
ilidr ~ty_
_ be<
..... "rtOOlr
~""""" nature
""""" that
lOOt tt...
Roo"", Senate
s.m.te prohibited
pMbiblle<:l If><,.;
celebrations ill
in 186
the 1st
however,
mysteries were
as
~PIl$
j Il6 BC. In
In.1m
I<t century
~"1Ufy AD, ho
_ _ , the
dl Dionysiac
UioI!yl;bc "'ysl<l:flM
"""" still popular,
,"",ul./, ""
evWonilll<l
repre&l!llil!iooJl o
f _ fuWld
G:reek oarooph:lgi.
evidenced by representations
of them
found OIl
on Greek
sarcophagi.
13
"Thq
ee.
so
50
perspective image, the most advanced technology at hand during that time, did not only
aim to include the observer througb

amuse her to
through its subjecl
subject but ,,100
also to emotiomdly
emotionally arouse
ecstatic participation that was as sensual as it was spiritual.
[[...}
..] Then were a thousand hands
lumd,,/aid
fr(Jl11 flu:
laid on the fir, and
andfrom
the ground they tare
tore it up,
tumbling to the ground with lamentations
and
while he
hr: from his seat aloft
alail came tumbUng
Iwwmtatiol1S. long
lang ami
e'en Pentheus;
for well
knew his hwr
hour was come.
first, a priestess
loud, ,,'en
PIWfht:us.'/(fI'
wd! he lrnew
tamil, His mother
I'IWthur firM,
prie$fes$
for flu<
the twn<:e,
nonce, began
the hMJdy
bloody dMd
deed and
andfell
upon him; whereon he
snood
Mgan dw
folll.<jYJh
Jw tore
ION the s!Wod
offhis
hair, that
spare him, {'tying
crying as hI!
he
from off
his hair.
Ihat hapless Agave might recognize and :pare
IfJlwhed
her
(Iheek.
Y)motlwr!
it
is
J,
thy
own
xun
Penrheus,
the
childfhtm
didsl
bcar ,
touched
cheek, "0 mother!
1,
son Pentheus,
child thou didst bear
Iuwe pity on me, mother dear! oh!
ok! do lUll/or
wtV sin of mine ~{ay
f/i} :
in Echion's halls,'
halls; have
not for any
slay thy
ownsofl.
own son."~
But
Bm SM,
she, the
ffw While,
while, wUIl
with jixlftUng
foaming mouth
IIwuth (ffId
and wildly rofling
rolling tyf'S,
eyes, b;:r"ft
bereft of
ofreason
N;(lSQf/ as
shu
rhe god possessed
pcssessd flu
JScaUered
she ltd';,
was, h,,(Hkd
heeded mm
him not; for the
her [m
[. ..}
Scattered lies his corpse,
part
beneath JIte
the TUgged
rugged rocks,
andpart
the deep dark woods, no eos)'
easy task to
pmt M/W:ath
rooks, and
part amid (Ire
ro
find:
[10(' head hath his mother made
madR her own, and
fixing it up<m
poim uf
find; but hl1;
his poor
andfiXing
upon the point
of
4a thyrsus, as if
moWl1in lion's.
mi(/;'l of
it hod
had bee>!
been a mountain
lion's, she ~r
bears.. illhrough
it through the midst
Cit!J&r01l,
Alaenods attimiyriles.
Andshe
Cithaeron, hasing
having laft
left Jwher sisters with 1M
the Maenads
at their rites. And
she is entering
these walls
in her Iwnting-jhwght
huntingfraught wJlh
with woe,
calling on
the Bacchic
tlwse
waIfs exulting In
woe. .:mUng
on/he
lJacehk god her
jdlow...Jwmer
fellow-hunter who had helped
helJX'fl her to triumph
rrmmph in
In (j
a ehose,
chase, where
whe~e her mily
only prize
priz.e was
tears [...}
feaTS
{" 1
(Second MeSWllgcr
Messenger in Euripides, 1994-2000)
(SQCOnd
t99+2(00)
The Scla
Sala delle PmSjJCfti.'e
Prospettive (15161518) (Figure 14) in Villa Farnesina in
Rome is another example of an immersive
space. Here, Peruzzi created a remarkable
~IW'>
sense
ofillusiou
of illusion by paintillg
painting the fresco in
exact perspective of a hall with columns.

"Between the
pillars cfthc
of the \;olOl:llladed
colonnaded
tfu: pllJaro
14 l'en.!vl,
Mile Prospettive,
l7o$pdt;ve.
Figure 14.
Peruzzi, Saia
Sala delle
1516-1518
portico, tfu:
the observer u"sees"
porrl~o,
bullding~, nestling
1l~ling in a realistic portrayal
sees" (Ia view of Rome's buildings,
51
Compagna" (Grall,
(Grau, 2003, p.38),
ofthe
of the Roman CompagnaH
p.JS), giving the sense of being at the top of
the
mountain and looking down on the rest (If
of the city. This can easily construct
consln.1ct a sense of
hierarchy,
control and
hierarehy, since being higher is easily identified with being in a place of
ofoontrol
power over the ones that
thaI are situated below. This sense of illusion is achieved through a8
hall, which gives an impression of
massiveness and proximity,
contrast with the dislant
distant
proximity. presenting a stark oontnlS\
awe-inspiring
landscape
land~ ...elicits
... eli(:its feelings
feeli ngs of awe
inspiring grandeur:
grandeur; the splendid
isolation, which one otherwise associates with being at
al the top
lOp of
ofaa
..., (the viewer feels like being in an) illusionistic
mountain .
illusionisti c temple on an
imaginary
virtual Rome. In this virtual
vi nual space, the
imagilllll)' Olympus high above vinual
idea of the image and its
of realization visualize a dream of
ilS method ofrealizatioo
ancient greatness. (Grnu.
(Grall, 2003, pAO)
aociCl1t
Later, during the sixteenth century,
ccnlUl)', the
decorations of the ceilings of the baroque church
dewrations
/'
".
architecture also CN81cd

created illusionistic
spaces. 11K:
The
architttlW"C
ill118;onislic sllKcs.
ceiling were
frescoes on the
lhe flat surface of the Hillg
wen: painted in
perfect
perfe<.:\ perspective,
~pective, which were assisted by the oval
iLLusion of a threeshape of the dome, creating the illusion
ch.m:h of Saint
dimensional space. On the ceiling of the church
Ignazio, Andrea Pozzo depicted heaven (Figure 15). As

the viewer turns the head towards the sky she loses
consciousness as the image gives the impression ora
of a
roofless cathedral that extends towards an infinite poin!.
point.
Fift"'"e 15. Andrea Pozzo

Poz:zo
Figure
TIle Nave
NIn'I!: of
s,v" 'Ignazio
Ignozio
The
ofSant
1688-1694
The painter employed techniques

tecbniques of illusion
iLLusion in order
ortler to
10 "merge the real with the painted
architecture and extend it upward into heaven"
heaven~ (Grau.
p.46).
(Grau, 2003.
2003, pA6).
[rlhe
l'oeil
[T]he trompe l'
oei! efTeo,:t
effect is so powerful that the space literally grips the
obsel"\lcr
pietures.
observer and incorporates him or her into the events in the pictures.
52
Through gazing at the painted figures on the ceiling, "the physical body"
body~
of the observer achieves "lightness" and is drawn up into heaven by an
observer is sieved
artistic portrayal of vertically hitherto unparalleled; the oOOcrver
of bliss, the end point
of which is the figure of.
poinl and goal ofwhlch
by a transport ofbJiss,
Christ (Gnm,
(Grau, 2003, p.49)
freocoes in the Italian villas and the frescoes in the baroque

Even though both the frescoes
churches created illusions oftmnsparency,
of transparency, which consequently led to immersive spaces,
different. While the perspective paintings in

one needs to
10 note that
thaI the two are also very differen!.
the Italian
Ital ian villas were constrocting
fn:sooes in the baroque
constructing an illusion of proximity, the frescoes
churches achieved the same immersion through an illusion of distance. Specifically, the
perspeetivc ofthe
of the dome's fresco
impossibility of identifying IIa specific focus point in the perspective
14
simultaneously presents the viewer with the impo$Sibi
impossibility
lily of ever reaching heaven.
heaven."
Panorama
PaDonma as Virtual Architecture
An:bitec:ture
The vast scaled neo-classical paintings and the
ilw: baroque ceilings of churches gave
tile invention of the new image-machine in

koowledge and skills for the
the foundational knowledge
England during the Industrial Revolution in 1787, the panorama. With the financial
$Uppon
reali;red an invention that would allow better
bellcr
Robert Baker realized
support of the Lord Elcho, Roben
control of the territory of occupied Scotland. "To prepare

prepan: for campaigns,
campaigns. the
tile
and more con\r(>1
miliuuy was immensely interested in taking down detailed panoramic views
viCW$ of the
military
geogmphy of the terrain,"
terrain, ~ since it would allow more efficient battle plans
topography and geography
(Grall, 2000, p. 367).

(Grau,
is
of images,
going to
io the
\he first
r..... indirect
ir>direct reference
rcfcra.:e that
tllol we have
t.a"., about the
\he political power
PO""'" ofirnag
... which is 1I"in&
\0 be
funlIer ...
lylCd in
inchapler
tV.
further
analyzed
chapter IV.
14
This
"Thi.
53
Specifically,
Spedfkally, panoramas
panotamlIs are
an: "a theatrical
theatrkal
scenes, offering
presentation of life
lire sized painted soones,
panoramic
of cities and historical events" {(,frau,
(Grau,
paooramic views
viC\>-'ll oJ
2003, p. 93) and its correct perspective was assisted
11
v.ili!
ofthc
The camera
the camera obscura. 15
with the use of
obscura worked under the same principles that the

camera works today and its conception is traced back
scholar and :scientist
scientist Alhazen
to the Islamic :scholar
Alhitt.en (Abu Ali
nl.Hnsanlbn
ai-Hasan Ibn al.HlIilham,
al-Haitham, %5,10J9)
965-1039) (Figure 16) and
Figure 16. C~Oh;"""o,
Camera Obscura,
Ji'igur&from the notebooks
nok:bo"kI; of Alhazen
Alba7.cn
later to Leonardo da Vinci (1490), who both

both gave
gavel!a
full nromnt
account of its principle. The latter says ~ndirlzly;
correspondingly: ''The
"The first drawing '\'\-'lIS
was a
simple line drawn around the

!be shadow of 11
ca::rt by the
!be sun of the ",all"
a man cast
wall" (da Vinci,
object behind a
2005, p.1
0), and later: "Perspective is nothing else lhan
than the seeing of an oqject
p.W).
IlansJXlkn!, on the ~
!he things may be
smooth and quite transparent,
surface of which all
ail the
sheet of glass, smoolh
p.92). This is exactly Imw

how
marked that are behind this glass (.ur
[... ]" (da Vinci, 2005, p.92).
r:amera
camera D1JScuro
obscura works; light CiISIt
casts III!
an image of something NI
on afI surface IIndlbe
and the artist is
tracing
almost perfect re-presentation.
treeing it achieving an ru!OOst
re-prescntation,
Camera nbsc!Ua
obscura iIDlIlds
stands as lhe
the perfect example that illustrates the ways in which
Came>'ll
art becomes
beoomes technology
toohnuWgy and vise versa, in 11a similar way that technologies
IltChnologies today create
crear?
three-dimensional immeTSive
immersive spaces. It was also "a pioneering achievement in the
tJnec..dimemional
hb1o.fy
history vf
of cinemat.ogrophic
cinematographic modes of perception becauw
because it introduoOO
introduced afI restructuring of
The camera
obscura is an optical
device that Iod
led to the ~"'"
invention of
photography. IIts
principles """
can be
,< n.:.
"__'" ~;$
<'fI\klIl <It.;"",
of~.
.. rrin<:;Pw.
demonstrated "i!b
with a I''''h<>k
pinhole ~
camera, that is a "".
box willt
with """
one tiny
hole in """
one onts
of its ""rf&la.
surfaces. Light 0010"
comes
<km<a1raood
\ifty II<Ik
through that
hole and
on the opposite
inside wall/surface
ofthe
box the
outside scene. Si"""
Since the
t!>foogh
tl\I\I hoI<>
lIld reflects
fIlfIect. ""
""pOO~ ,wMo
",-alIJ!<Ir1i!O of
the b<:m
tIIo """,w....".,.,
tbe
projection
would be upsido..J<:mn,
upside-down, tOOy
they "..
use miml
mirrors
to fijI'
flip tile
the image. The iIfIW
artists woold
would drnw
draw 00
on I<lp
top ,,[!ho
of the
prtljOCli<m W<llIld
.. W
projection ochk"mg!lll
achieving an image
correct ~'"
perspective and
the war"""
realism of
the lmaga
image.
proj.OIIDn
imago in """",,\
""" increasing !h.
Qflhe
15
"""*,
''''''''''''Jng
54
possibilities for visual experience through optical techniques" (Grau, 2003, p.54). As a
result of the
obscura, an image tould
could be
too technology
tecl:m.o!ogy of the camera ,,"scum,
b adjusted instead
insread of a
flat surface, onto a curved space in corrcc1
correct pernpective
perspective creating a virtual architecture that
Unit
surrounded the
was the panorama. Thus lhe
the Jl'lIlf>rama
panorama became an allIhe viewer; this "''liS
surrounding, embracing experience that completely deceived the observer (Grau, 2003).
The viev.er
viewer ""lIS
was no longer
window through IIa fixed fWIne,
frame, us
as in the
fouger looking at a \'\-indow
Ibe case of
the perspective
painting, but for
first time she could find
frame.
~tive painting.
till the firs!
fmd herself inside the
!he frnme.
This '\\1l$
thai virtuality, as a space that alto.v.'>
of images that
allows the
was the first time in the history ofiU1l\gcs
immersion, was not only mental as in the casc

case of reading a book or looking
possibility
poosibilily of itnmersron,
at aII sculpture, (If

caw ofthe
or perceptual as in the case
of the perspective painting, but it ,'laS
was also
physical for the viewer could actually locate her body inside the space that the panorama
creates.
crealCS.
Abelardo
Abelard<> Morell creates
cmalCs photographs
pbotogrophs of the
photographic process.
photflg1phie
proceSlt Specifically he uses
camera
taowra obscura
QQscura with which
whlcll he projem
projects
images of cities on the interior walls of
be then photographs (Figoo:
! 7).
rooms that he
(Figure 17).
unscttiillg for
fur
The res,lIt
result is a little eerie and unsettling
"he had taken his camera inkl
into the
it is as if
If''he
",ilai
dream state and emerged ",ith
with pro<:If
proof of what
>IlWthere"
(Sante., L. in Morell, 2004,
he saw
there" (Sante,
p.8). Morell brings the
outside in the
1'.11),
Ih" oulsice
inside,
inside. intimately
imimately enclosing it in a room.
room..
His
work
is
an
elegy
to
the
inner
world.
Hls
l\Il
ro
lnner v.w!d. It
is as if the room suddenly becomes
fl,(IIl:ltS our
oUt"
just Out
our body's eyes
walls ju!lt
body and its Wllils
image of our
through whib
which we look at the
!l:lc \.mage
surrounding landscape; only inverted.
sutTourulillg
inverted..
Figure 17
17. Abelardo
Morell,
Fig"''''
Abelll!oo Marell,
Camera ObsclVt!
Obscura Image
ofSanta ,\Jilr",
Maria
C<lItW(I
j"'''Fft ofStmw
della Solule
Salute !"Para=>,
in Palazzo, 2006
deffa
2(l()6
55
Even though the panorama was triggered by a military need it was soon after its
inception and arriVal'lI

[Alrnkm popularized
fHJp.dariZ\ld by a SIlciel.y
arrival in London
society that "'us
was more inlerelrted
interested in
entertainment. 'lou.
Thus the parumuna
panorama became a llpCCtacJc:fur
spectacle for the taste ofthe middle cia1$,
class,
"ntcrtainrncnt
as it was the most successful construction of 3600 illusionary spaces. This success,
however, made it also a controversial medium.
Similarly to discussions that
take place today regarding the effects
of computer-generated threedimensional spaces, the prominent
dlli:l<msional
crilh:
Jobann August
panorama Johann
critic of the pannram<l
Eberhard suggested that the panorama
,
deceptive character. He
had a <ieteptive
suggested that it created a "ron:fusing
"confusing
sugge!>tcd
.... ..
:.."::.;~-
-~~
18 Burford's
Bwford-;; Panorama,
P(llWfama,
Figure 18.
Section Qf1hl:
of the Rumnda,
Rotunda,
Leicester
Ld"",,!
... Square,
SqWl.n\ 1801
!801
conflict between 'appearances' and
'troth'
thaI can even eaus.:
pIlyskalindlspooition"
'truth' that
cause physical
indisposition" (Grau, 2003, 1'.(3).
p.63). He also stated: '"J
"1
feel myself ItltJ:lPed
trapped in the
contradictory Jream..world,
dream-world, I[...]
not even comparison
fed
Ilk net of a OOIltrndiCt01Y
... J 00f
wmpwisoo
with the bodies that lIUlTOand
surround me
terrifying nightmare,
which 1I
"'ith
mo can awake
II'Wll.ke me from this
Ihi$ terrifyillg
Ilightmare, whicb
must go on
mU'l!
011 dreaming against my
Ill} will" (Grau, 2003, p. 64). According
Acoording to him,
him. the lack of
any oomparisotl$
comparisons between the realistically depicted Qbje<ots
objects on the image and object;;
objects of
the real world, as well as the effect of an all-surrounding frameless
framclcs~ image that embraced
viewer, made it virtually impossible for

the 'viewer,
fur him to
10 escape the complete deception.
Such arguments and occasi<mi

occasions as described aoove
above are :;ligblly
slightly am!lsing
amusing - witbin
within
of course the appropriate level of respect to their time and history- as they are significant.
56
they are amusing if we think oftbe
of the perfection ofllle
of the idea of the panorama
On one hand, !hey
\e<:hllOlogies and current arguments about its illusionary nature

nalUre
with computer-generated technologies
thaI still remain the same. lbey
fsci that
thai there is
that
They arc
are also amusing in consideration of the fact
never a moment when we can confuse appearance with reality since we are initially and
an:: observing is merely an image. On the other
of the fact that what we are
constantly aware ofthc
argwnenlS are significant in understanding the historieity

hand, such arguments
historicity of virtuality as the
human imagination and curiosity and oroue

of our affecllOward
affect toward fantasy. They arc
are also
result of
ofhwnan
significant because they provide an understanding of the historicity of ""polarized
polarized
discoW"Se~
discourse"
that seems 10
to always take place concerning virtual reality. There are those
oonsider virtuality as an entertaining space

space: for enacting fantasies
fan\.a.'iics and those who
who consider
consider it
il to be a danger to
10 human perception and consciousness for it can lead to
10
moments ofa
of a seemingly loss of control over life.
Modern Illusions
of All-isms
(Cubism,
The Modem
lIlu,io ns or
AU-ilI m. (Cohill
m, Dadaism,
Dad. iu n , Surrealism)
Sumalism)
Artists have continually and endlessly attempted to experiment with the idea of
illusion and fantasy either as a purpose to be achieved when a spectator was placed in
of an image (perspective paintings and panorama),
front ofan
pano.ama), or as a theme in their work
wort
(futurism,
(surrealism), or as IIa means of challenging life (futuri
(surn.:alism),
sm, dadaism, surrealism).
sum:alism). Cubism is
artistic movements of the twentieth century in which the creation
one of the most obvious anistic
ofan
of an illusionistic space was not an immediate attempt but rather aII symptomatic
consequence of the absolute lack of any perspective.
In the painting The Guitar (1913) (Figurt:

(Figure 19) by Juan Gris,
Oris, for instance, the
depth is not achieved through the painting of perspective but instead through
illusion of depth
57
the layering of the surface of the CIlI'IWS.

wof\;, it
il seems $.
canvas. On the left side of the work,
as if there
j~ a window that <IDly
parti~!ly allows you to look inside and at the image
imagewr
is
only partially
that is slightly
R>veat<:d
Image for a long time
revealed behind the verti<:ally
vertically painted strips,
strips. When one looks at 1M
the image
one's vision
gets lost in the vertical and horizontal planes that the layers create, chasing
vISion getS
the shadows that seem to
strips
10 rest in the vertical horizons
bmiwns of the painting. The painted ~trlps
inletWQvetl in the painted image in a way that the painting looks as if it is

are masterfully interwoven
a composition of different :realities
another,
realities juxtapOWd
juxtaposed on C!lch
each another.
By 1912 Picasso and Braque

B!lIq1.re had
experimented with different
diff:erent media
medla and
experimeatoo
Icclmiques and realized
rcali:;red that they had
bad reached
techniques
limit for
to invent II.
a fitW
new
a lilllit
fur cubism. They had 1'<)
would allow for
way of experimentation
eXpcr!mentation that WQuld
process to remain challenging.
their artistic proe<:SS
eha1!engilJg.
came 10
to
So, a new way
WilY of approaching
apflfoochlng art
an ~e
the forefront,
forefron4 that of paper collage
oollage and papier
colle. Piooes
Pieces of paper and objects
mile.
o~ would be
cwate II
imposed on each other, attempting 10
to create
a
Ihat was no
new "",nse
sense of depth and illusion that
longer relcvlllll
relevant to tmditional.
traditional :rep1'l:senurtiOI)S
representations
of perspective. Dl$t:ance
Distance WWJ
was now litemlly
literally
nfperspective.
of multiple layers
recreated by the
imposition <:>f
R1m:atoo
TOO inrp<:lsltion
onto the surface
surt.te.. of the initial painting.
Figure
Juan Oris,
Gris, T1w
The Guitar,
figure 19. Jrnm
('",uw, 1913
!911
Tbese
roalities fuse into one another,
liOOtller, creating an
l!lI iI!:usiOll
These realities
illusion of space that is lIlON
more like
Ilimulll!lleuusly happen and by doing 110
a dream, where things !llIn
can simultaneously
so they tend to merge
past, present and future into one single suspended moment. If one thinks of dreams, these
are narratives that seem to take an afternoon, a day, a month or even years, in order to
unfold in the mind (lfthe
of the sleeper,
sleeper. but in reality the dream
r.hewn only takes
\akCII a few seconds to
ooom, In a sense,
SCl:l:Se, time is
geis suspendoo
fhu:ru: of our reality's
occur.
in our dreams gets
suspended within the frame
few
seconds. This is lihl
like a cubist painting.
suddenly presented
lew !.OOOnds.
paiming. All points of view are suddeoly
presenred if
58
Iitn<' of the image within the limited timeframe of our
front of our eyes, suspending the time
beooming a crushed panorama

paoonuna that
thaI miraculously
reality. This is how 11a cubist painting is becoming
fits into one single uncanny glimpse.
Cubism and its techniques

te<.:hniqucs (especially
(espe<:i.ally that of paper collage) soon led to a new
movement
that in contrast to its predecessor was merely alternp!;ng
attempting to create meaningless
movemenlth.at
art. Dada, 11a name that literally means nolhing,
nothing, reflects the aim of the new artistic move
to
not follow the established rules and traditional artistic idioms. 16
10 create art that did 1101
>6
Dada was a rejection of every movement, of every established notion
llOlion and a harsh
llarsh. critique
of every structure. Ironically, its persistent attempt to
\0 create frivolous an
art slowly turned
OU110
Aller all, the
"no-structure." After
out to be dada's structure - dada was the structure of -no-structure."
!heir ironic fate rests on the fact that the Dadaists were
inevitability of escaping their
altempting to create "non-art"
'"non_an" using the linguistic and visual metaphors ofpre-existing
of pre-existing
attempting
The relationship between

structures, which
which. they were
wen: initially striving to evade. llIe
bc1ween
tYe1l though not immediately apparent, lies in the
!be reasons for
virtuality and Dadaism, even
which dada was created and in the reasons it failed to actua.lize

actualize what it initially attempted
to achieve: art created a space that was full of potential and ultimately irrelevant to the
occlJl"T-ed .
initial intentions based on whieh
which art occurred.
16 Dada as a name that

nothing ';gnif
signifies
of the movement
..
IhaI means absolutely
absohllely 1IQChing
... the intention
..,enti(Jn oflbe
rn<>YemttIt to
10 escape
0$C&pc
..,'s lotSlhcticiwion
ond comment
""",men! on the nature of..,
preconditioned classif_ions
classifications of art's
aestheticization and
of art as being nothing
of what
the museum
or the institution
acclaims it
to be.
of
whallbe
mustum ""
instilulion ..,.,Iaim.
illO
be..
"
59
Philosophy is the
lhe queslion:
shaff we look at
01 'ife,
God. the
Ihe idea or
question: from which side shall
life, God,
Olher
E<>erylhing one looks at
01 is false.
fulse . I do not
nOI consider the
lhe relalive
other phenomena. Everything
relative
Ihe choice between cake and cherries after dinner. The
resull
result more importo",
important lhon
than the
syslem
lhe olher
Ihing in order to
10 impose your
of quickly looking 01
at the
other side 0/
of a thing
system 0/
indirectly is called dialectics,
other words,
spirit 0/
of
opinion indireClly
dia/eClics, in Olher
words. haggling over the
Ihe spiril
fried potatoes
polaloes while dancing method
melhod around it. If I cry out:
oul:
Ideal,
ideal, ideal,
Ideal. ideal.
Knowledge,
KnQwledge. knowledge, knowledge,
bIowledge.
Boomboom,
8oomboam, boomboom,
boamboom. boomboom ...
Twa.
Tzara, 1916-20, p. 79
June 12,
l2. 1916 - Whol
Dodo is a har/equinade
What we call Dada
harlequinade O/nQlhingness
ofnothingness in which all
question are involved,
gladiator's
gesture, a play with shabby debris, an
higher queslion
invol<>ed, a gladialor
's geslure,
ofpostured morality and
andplenitude
execution o/poslured
plenitude ...
execulion
Dadaisl/oves
ahsurd, even. He knows tiuu
that life
The Dadaist
loves lhe
the extraordinary.
extraordinary, the absurd,
asserts itselfin
itsel/in contradictions and that
lhal his age, more than
lhan any preceding it,
ii, aims at
a/
.es_ Every
EW!ry iind
lhere/ore welcome to
10
lhe des/ruction
the
destruction a/al/
ofall generous impul
impulses.
kind a/mmk
ofmask iis. therefore
ewry play
playa/
lhere is an inherent power a/deceplion
.
at hide and seek in which there
ofdeception ...
him, every
Ball, 1916-17,
1916-17. p.51
Furthermore. Dada's act of rejecting pre-established artistic idioms was reflective

Furthermore,
of its rejection oftbe

of the ultimate societal structure,
SU\lCture, a utopian vision of an ideal world in
ofilS
Art at this period of time
which relations of power do not
ll<)t exist. An
lime represents the idea of
vinuality at its best. It becomes an immersive space e:uctly
a11oW1i for its
virtuality
exactly because it allows
participants to question with playfulness the life they find themselves in after the
grotesque consequences of World War I in Europe.
llIcn,
Then, after the Great War, came the Great Shock - Iia profound organic
reaction that convulsed the entire system with vomiting, manic attacks,
and sc.mioollapse.
semicollapse. The
lbe situation was so serious
sc.rious that
th.at the powerful serum of
prosperity had to be administered to revive the patient. In such eases
cases one
p. l l)
does not talk
talk about cure. (Shattuck, 1965, p.11)
60
The works of art become
Tile
boo::lmc once again the space where the viewer is allowed to escape
since they are driven and inspired by the desire for change. Dadaism as a movement
becomes the site where utopia metamorphosizes itself into a possibility and in this sense
Dadaism is hwrotcpiIJ,
heterotopia. n
17
Marcel Duchamp'
l\1aree1
Ducnamp' s Fountain (1917) (Figure
20) serves as an example for commenting on art's
possibility to create a virtual space that is immersive in
the way in ,,,!tiel!
which it allows questioning. The s!,ific
specific
work is important not because the urinal is a neutral
objw;,
Duchrunp initially asked the
object. On the contrary, Duchamp
question "Who would care about II
a milllll?"
urinal?" driven by
the impulse to stand llgaimt
against the old myths of art that
positioned
sacred plaec
place (Suffet-Picabla,
(Buffet-Picabia,
ptJ$hioned art in 1Ia s~
F(ftJl!'f' 20.
}(). Marcel
M""",I Duchamp,
Ouclmmp,
Figure
Fountain,
Fo""",;", 1917
1949/1980).
asking thcqoosti<Jn
the question "Who would
care?" because
1(4911980). Duchamp was lISkiog
wuuld care?"
~ he
be was
looking 10
creare art with an objectthai would
W{Juld stimulate 110
acslhclic responses
resp<:lru;es to
10 its
to create
object that
no aesthetic
viewers, simultaneously proving Vlmllg
wrong the doctrine that called for a sublime art or for art
that derives from the absolute beauty of nature. Hence, the urinal is far from being a
neutral object because the questions posed by Duchamp assigned the object with the
purpose of redefllling
imellectual production of artworks
redefining both the artistic and the intellectual
(Judovitz, 1995).
(Judovltz,
Specifically, in his ''ready-mades''
"ready-mades" Duchamp aimed to take 1\a commonplace object,
Spedikally,
eMily
into
easily available in any hardware store, our
out of its utilitarian function and transform it inw
charged with. In
art based
ba'led merely on the individual intentions that the object was
wa:s cl\argcd
Tn doing
17
For more details about the relationship between utopia, heterotopia and virtuality refer back to Chapter I.
61
so he ultimately chal
lenged predetermined notions of the aesthetic. The aesthetic
lICsthetic was
challenged
viewed asjusl
as just another classification of the arts, as something ooutside
utside real
mal life, where the
\0 look at the aesthetic as beauty placed the artist
anist in a separate sphere where the
tendency to
task was to
\0 make the impossible; that is to make beauty (Danto,
(Danlo, 2005). 18
" "Better than by
any rational method, they [the modernists]

Ill()demistsl thus pursued the disintcgrntion
disintegration of the wncept
concept
of art, substituting a personal dynamism, individual forces of suggestion and projection,
for the <.:Odified
fonnal Beauty"
Beauty~ (Buffet-Picabia,
(BufTet-Picabia, 1949/1980,
1949119&0, p.257).
p.2S7).
codified values of formal
In
Duchamp did not
[n his "ready-mades" Marcel Ouchamp
nOI make art. He simply declared his
ready-made objects as such and by doing so he marked the first crisis of the object and
problemati:red the positioning ofart
of art outside the realm of everyday life, disguised until
problematized
ofJudgmem Immanuel Kant

The Critique ofJudgment
then by the argument of disinterestedness. In 11w
((1914/2005)
191412005) argues that
thaI aesthetic judgment,
j udgment, even though it happens
h.appcns in each person,
pcl'$(ln,
cannot be subjective but only universal.

univel'Slll. Kant
Kanl argues that the aesthetic satisfaction that
personalllOd
the viewer feels cannot be related to any personal
and private oollliitions
conditions that relate to her
subjectivity. Hence it must be something higher than that, something that all people
share in their core. As such, "taste"
'"taste~ - as
lIS Kant calls it - can only be universal
W1iversal and free
from any attachment to the object. Duchamp replaces disinterestedness with

wi th
illliifference, explaining that there shoul
d be no response at all, universal or personal. He
indifference,
should
explains:
,.
Pl""",jc times there "'as
<lassificatkln rests the power
pOwer of
or
18 Since Platonic
was an attempt to classify the .....
arts, for in classification
dominatkln.
f or instance,
i~. Plato <lassif>td
_ in sud!
pei.uing was the
!he most inferior to
III all
aU
domination. For
classified the arts
such a "'tty
way that painting
the om,
~ and to music,
mus~ since
,;..,. Plato aoo.umcd
""iming was
was..,....ty
die representation
.e",.scow;""
arts, inferior to poetry
assumed that painting
merely the
or~ions
_just
Therefore. arts
om as an illusion of life
tire were
-'"
of representations and ..
as ...,..,
such was
just an illusionoflire.
illusion of life. Therefore,
<OII$i<\<ftd ...
I;re. ",hich
ill very ,imilar
..... lity
considered
as a dange,
danger to lUI
real lUIity
reality life,
which is
similar to cutrenl
current argwnents"""t
arguments about virtual reality
ledmologi.,. (view Baudrillard's
Baud,illard '. arguments~
technologies
arguments).
62
~ecl, boc!lUSe,
It's very difficult to ehoosean
choose an object,
because, at the erul
end (lIthe
of the ten or
to like
it or hate
fifteen days, you begin 1u
IlJre It
hlrte it. You
YOJj have to approach
something v.~th
with an iruiifferen"",
indifference, &$
as if you had no aesthetic emotion,
emotion. The
choice of the rewiy-made!>
indifthence and, at
ready-mades is nlways
always based on visual indifference
abwnoo of good or had
tMt, (Judovltz,
the same time.
time, <.m
on thctotaJ
the total absence
bad taste.
(Judovitz, 1995,
p,97)
p.97)
Mareci Duehamp'sSugar
(1921/64)
Marcel
Duchamp's Sugar Cage (1921164)
the
(Figure 21) illustrates the paradox
pmndOl' of
(lfthe
conflict between what IIa thing really is
ironic mOlct
reality 'thar
that WI
we assign to iL
it. In
and the realitY
tn this
work the cage presents the illusion of being
filled with !'1lg!IT
sugar Cllbes
cubes when in ruthty
reality these
are marble-made
maWl.,.lllll\k ~
thai make the
lhe box
cubes that
being heavier !fum
than what it initially appears to
be, He 001
be.
not only deleiCS
deletes the utilitarian narure
nature
of the cage, as oometlling
something that is usually used
(lethe
for captivating birds, but Ouchamp
Duchamp also
demystifies
the cage by alternating it into an
demystifie;; !he
abso!Ule!y
absolutely miS(:ellaneoos
miscellaneous object. 11
It ceases to
be abirdcage,
a birdcage, Of",fu.1I
or what we usually know as au
birdcage,
birdCllite. since there
thett was IIa violation
vioiatioo of its
"rogeness"
"cageness" by the arnst's
artist's inwnnons
intentions that left
the object with no real identity.
identity,
Figure
21.
Marcel Duchamp.
HfJ'!reJ
I Marcd
lNchamp,
Why
Sneeze Rrose
Wi" Not
S"IS,,"e;e
NroM Selavy?
,);::"Vy:1921/64.
''nJlM.
Nonetheless,
seemingly neutral
object
:fouethci~ even though Duchamp attempted to take a seemingLy
llL"Utrul ob#\
process,
and transform it into art by mere declaration, as the result
lind
n:su}! of a certain intellectual
int.:llernIal ~
neutral object fOT
for another rca:ron
reason - not
the urinal
urina! is far from being a neutml
nol just because of its
predispositions that derive from Duchamp's initial question "Who could care about an
urinal?"
an Qbject
object it
with cultural wuliti<;s
realities that \Ire
are immediately relevant 10
to
urlna1'r' As tlll
h: is charged v.ith
privacy and dirt as!llll<:h

Duclmmp's Fountain
FQW'ltain
as much as to gender. Acoordingto
According to Danro
Danto (2005), Duchamp's
is far
is a highly
higWy sexualized
considering the
fur from being a neutral object because it il;
~ object
obje cunsi&ring
"women are anatomically barred from employllig
employing them in 1hcir
their primary
fact that "wQmen
jll'in:utry function
[[...]
... j they show their l\I'lUga!lt
arrogant exclusivity through their {{JIm"
form" (p. 16). So, again the
importance
i~e
of Duchamp's work is
not necessarily foulld
found in its neutrality,
ofDtu:hamp's
isnotnccessarlty
neut.r<!lity. but instead
inswad in
63
thaI it raises. In
[n this case the question is fonned
formed as "Why
~Why is this urinal an
the questions that
just another pioce
piece of industrial plumbing?"
our
art
an object and not
IlOljust
plumbingT' (like the ones we use
usc in Ollr
everyday functions).
specific challenge that
furn;tions) . The specifi(:
thai was put forward from artists like
Duchamp would ultimately make full circle and the del\a\unng
denaturing of the object from its
raison d'elre
d'etre would reach its full scope in Surrealism.
During the same time as Duchamp, Jean Hans
~lallll Arp was
WlIlI also rejecting
rejccting
representational an
art as merely 11a spurious reproduction of
reality but in COlltrnst
contrast to
ofreaJity
infonned by Dada's
Duchamp he was also rejecting intellectual art. Nevertheless, still informed
reaction toward establislled

established rationality he employed the idea of chance and irrational
language 10
to create his work, those being either visual or literary. Duchamp had
quite being a painter, now I'm
previously written,
written. ""You
You see I haven't
haven' , quile
I' m sketching on
011
(Joselit, 1998,
08). In an analogous way to the Dadaists,
create
chance" (Jose!i!..
1998. p.1
p.IOS).
Dadaist&. Arp wanted to ..reate
a new world, a new reality, thai

that was closer to the reality of nature, which was believed 10
to
be a reality randomized and often unexplained.
barriers
WlCltplained. So, attempting to overcome the baniers
of the structures of already spoken and written language, Alp

Arp used words in randomized
ways to create poetry that was irrational, hoping that he would atlasl
at last find nature
nalure
(Rimbach. 1963). lean

Alp was reviving neo-platonic
r>e<>-plalonie and Aristotelian
Aristntelian ideals that wanted
(Rimbach,
Jean Arp
"ith spirit.
matler is dynamis,
dynamis,thal
mailer 10
matter
to be merged with
spirit, where matter
that which has the possibility of
argue:!lthat,
~l mJatter, is defined
actualizing the ideas, energeia. Adorno (2001) argues
that, "[m]atter,
defmed as mere
il must always have within it the possibility of attaining
IUtaining
possibility or potentiality because it
su<;h
attaining its form, IMrph,"'
morphi" (p.65).
such reality, of altaining
desln".>y the reasonable
rea.'l(lnable frauds ofmcn
of men and recover the
Dada wished to destroy
In replace the logicaloonsense
natural, unreasonable order. Dada wished to
logical nonsense
of the men of today with an illogical nonsense. That is why we beat the
Dadaist bass drum with all our might and trumpeted the praises of
64
... Dada like nature is without meaning. Dada is fur

for infinite
unreason
meaning
means. (Buffet-Picabia,
1949/1980, p.266; Hancock,
mtru:llng and fInite
fimle mean~.
(Bnfferrwab.in, 1949!l9SO,
Hancuck,
1983,
1933, p.129)
lover my eggboard tOlia}

today presides n
a single
voice-vote of praise
VOJ.Cc-vo1e
prui:;c
of
really
a
four-voiced
ofrcally l! f<JUT-voiced votary
fIrst a voice-vote
first
lioic.;-Y{lw voice
second 11a falsetto
seoon4
fulsctto voice vote
vme
j5 third a bass votary voice
and fourth a stentorian voice vote
llfld
arp's patented
eggboard is:;o!o
is so to
a'P'~
palented ;:ggboard
speak the prux:nix
phoenix of tennis
~peilk
and hli*ctlnqut:ted
has conquered the
hearts of
theberuts
all sports - and egg-lovers
whereas before
bef<:m: in
III the booklet
booklct of
hierarchies
10 i \VI'IiI
was ranked
cotton candy in
runked with ootton
hot ""aler
water
or with showman in the fIery
ti;:ry furnace
rw"
Figure 11.
22. JMII
Jean Arp, QI.'IlfftJrntd
Overturned with
Fiftldb
lVill! Two
Huh
Blade 'Vawl,
Heels (jildera
Under a Black
Vault, 1925
[... ]
C1
(Arp, J. as cited in Hancock,

(Alp,
HMooek:, 1983,
p.1J2)
p.132)
Dada became a means of escaping from rational thought, its confInements, and
the rational expression of signs. It attempted to reach an unreasonable realization of life
,,,in
boocatlSe it assumed fuat

reason that ,",'C
we can reach purity and
because
that it is in the aba:ndon:ment
abandonment of rrooon
19
absolnto
IrUIb.l~
I)"da became
be<::1nne the
t})tl manifestation
manifestari<m of
ohirtuality,
llfl
Again, Dada
virtuality, as it provided an
absolute truth.
alternative space for audiences and for artists to contemplate, comment and challenge the
tl!nesthatV'-t:re
the Worid
Wnf. Thus,
ofthe
World War.
times
that were fused ",i,h
with the pollt:icDl
political and social turbulences of
!'Wility was aIxmd<:med
iu the horiz<:m
Dada was the space where ,00
the realm (If
of reality
abandoned in
horizon of the
illlllll1lSe
immense possibilities that the irrnumllil
irrational and the nonsensical presetIled,
presented, and in that
specifIc act one could even say that artists and intellectuals found their way to reconnect
19
Dadaists believed that purity lies in nature and that nature contains the irrational thought.
65
with a reality
that otherwise seemed discournging.
discouraging. Hancock
writing
real ity thaI
Hancoc k (1983), wri
ting about Arp
and his work says respectively:
While establishing links between art and the real world, poetry would also
accommodate the
me multiple meanings of his relief ..
!he poem
's illogical
.... the
poem's
combinations and layering ooff allusions oonlinned
confIrmed that the relief
was not
n:liefwas
nol
limited to a single meaning, but simultanc<Jusly
simultaneously represented a game, a type
of person, and a social order. As a poet Arp learned to
\0 consider his art as
interpn::talion through words, yd
he might his dn:ams:
dreams: it yielded to interpretation
yet
remained open to
(Hancock, 1983,
\0 a variety ofpossible
of possible readings. (Hancock.
1983. p. 136)
Rene Magritte's
Magriue's Surrealistic painting titled
Ceci nhl
n 'est pas une pipe (1
(1928-9)
928-9) (Figure 23) is the
ultimate example ooff the above argument and it
illustrates the rebellious attack against traditional
forms
fonns ooff representation in art. Moving from Dada
to Surrealism the line between what the oobject
bject is
and what
whllt the object represents,
repn:sents. and the line
Figure
is not a
Figwe 23. Rene Magritte,
Magine. This
11ti.f"
pipe Or The Treachery
rr~ochery OfImages,
Imagu.
1928-1929
n the object and its

between reality and illusion.
illusion, are blurred in an ultimate attack oon
rcpresentation. Surrealism also stands against the restrictions of
traditional means of representation.
Soearches for
fOT those
toose images that
reason and concrete logic, against habit and custom, and it searches
art' beyond the ordilUU)'
ll present us with aspects of life that we do not
oot usually
are
ordinary but can sti
still
pennit the
find ourse
lves dealing with (Waldberg, 1965). The artworks of this period permit
fInd
ourselves
bject's known li
fc ([...]
... ]
viewer to "go beyond the usually limiting consideration of the oobject's
life
unintem.Jpted succession of latencies
the object, no matter how complete, returns to an uninterrupted
nol peculiar
pecul iar to it and which involve its transformation" (Waldberg,
(Wal dberg. 1965,
which are not
p.86).
p.86).
66
In Magritte'
pen:eptual realm where
Magritte 'ss work the whole of the painting develops in a perceptual
lbe relationship between the words and the image has no representational attempt other
the
of the work when
wilen the viewer approacbes
il. The
than creating an obscure understanding ofthe
approaches it.
seemingly contradictory relationship between
belween language and image dissolves as one
about the work. Indeed, this is not
spends more time
lime thinking
Ihinking aboulthe
nOl an actual pipe, it
;1 is only a
representation ofa
of a pipe and as such;1
such it cannol
cannot be filled with tobacco, picked up and
smoked. Also, as Foucault argues (1
983). the sentence "Ceci
'"Ceci n'est pas une pipe" or the
(1983),
mixed element
elemenl of discourse and image are not a pipe either. However, it is within this
conttadiction
of the pipe as an object. lbe
The ambiguity
contradiction that the work captures the csscnce
essence ofthc
oftbe
ofthe work and the questioning of the object's immediate known quantity allow the
viewer to
of the box.
10 think of the object
objecl outside ofme
Illusion is no longer an effect that the artists attempted to recreate through realism
of perspective in the
and absolute proximity, which was achieved through the technique ofperspeclive
frescoes found in Italian villas or churches and in the baroque panoramas. Illusion was
instead the theme of surrealism.
sum:alism. Artists were no longer striving 10
imitalc the
to accurately imitate
way life looked,
looked. as it was previously exploited by the use of accurate perspective,
perspeclive, but we
are instead witnessing a shift of interest
inlerest on the way life is perceived. So, surrealism is
aclivities oftlle
uncollS(:ious, fascinated
fascinaled by those mysteries of
given to dreams and the activities
of the unconscious,
thai always remain unexplained,
unexplained. like dreams (or illusions), and it is examining them
life that
irnltionality of art'
representalions.
through the irrationality
art'ss representations.
Specifically, similar to the poems by Jean Arp, where
wbere he randomized the way
fonn of
ofaa poem, surrealistic paintings
pai ntings put
pul together objects
ohjects that one
words appear in the form
would never possibly expect to experience in the a setting of real life. Clocks and bones
67
61
are found together in the same landscape, a man being born from an egg, a train that is
rushing
breasts in the place
rtlfhing its way through IIa building, IIa woman who has b=sl~
plac:e of her eyes, a
fish aud
offish
and fruits instead of 1Ia head, or a door inside a ooor
door iMide
inside
man who has 1Ia stilllife
still-life of
dessert, are all examples
a door that leads to IIa de&s?d,
=pIes that could potentially appear in na
surrealistic painting. In conlrllSl
contrast to cubiot
cubist paintings that presented time
surrealist!;;
tinw as an organic
unified moment, the sum:alilll:!
surrealists presented a fragment
of time, aII memory of a dream.
fu.!gmenl nflimc,
Where cubism presented the idctI
idea and the character of a dream, the
Wh&e
!he surrealists
surro!llists captured aII
moment of it while it was

waslilkitJg
plflCe in our minds and made an image of thm
rt:IOOl1'lt.
taking place
that moment.
Figure
24. Meret
Oppenheim,
Figwe U.
Mere! Oppet\lleim.
Object i"
in Fur,
Objffl
Fw, 1936
Meret
Oppenheim's "{(Irk
work has become
!Y1etet OppcnheJro'$
beeomc an
icon
the surrealism movement
loon of tho
movemroT for it
distinguishably prov<::>kes
provokes 111<'
the question of
the
essence of the <'UP,
cup, as an obj;:.:!
object that
tile esse!ltXl
intimately know in our everyday life,
we intifl1l>fely
!he object that looks like IIa
in contrast 10
to the
cup but in
we call1lOI
cannot
WI'
ill reality is not
nut (since """
really drink in this "vet'$il;n"'
of
the
Clip)
"version"
cup)
(Figure 24). The "cupness"
ofthe
"(:UjlIlCQl" of
th" cup is
h
immediately
demolished
as
the
artist
il!lll'>lXliately demollslwd
elements that define
interferes with
\vilh the
tile ciemetl!s
defme
its "eupness'"
"cupness." Instead
this object is aII
Ifl!ttCad tbls
miscltieHRlS ol;ljeCllhm
mischievous
object that mmptS
tempts the
viewer
and take a1'1 closer
vi.,wcr: to
10 approach it
il!lud
<;loser
look ""nile
while at the same time she desires 111
to
touch
The object becomes
tom:h it. The
beoomcs charged
with sexual energy
it is no longer a
e:ncrgy as
lIS ilis
but raTher
rather an i)mcet
object of
cup hut
of~;
desire;
SOIIIething
thai the spectator 'wants
something that
wants to
touch
IDUCIl and imagines how it would feel
feci as
the
surface.
tho hand moves along its
i15 surfuee.
Influenced by psychoanalysis the surrealists believed that in our dreams we

reality that is truer
we experience
experience a .eality
IJ;tler than what wo
expfficrroe in our everyday life, for it
includes all the things that remain silent in our everydayness. Dali says
68
moment 1
I paint, 00
do not understand the
The fact that 1I myself, at the monwnt
paintings, does not mean thnt
that these paintings
no
meaning of my paintillgs,
pailltingS have 00
meaning; on
the
contrary,
their
meaning
is
so
profound,
complex,
(til
c'mtmJy, thcir
00
wmplex,
coherent, involuntary,
escapes the
simple analysis of logical
ooh\:r?llt,
involulIllIry, that it oscapes
!he simpk
intuition. (1935, p.308)
"There is among the surrealist artists a desire to find, over and beyond appearances, a
truer reality, IIa kind of synthesis IIf
of the exterior WlJrlds
worlds and of
the interior model"
Iruer
of!hc
p.8). The :mrrealhls
surrealists were driven by inquisitiveness aoo
and chnlleHgeil
challenges and
(Waldberg, 1965, p.1i).
they affirmed randomness and chance as the only true expression ofthe randomness that
occurs in life in general (Shattuck, 1965). In a oonse,
sense, they fused
what seems
GOOUfIl
fuood wltat
somns unreal with
the experienced real realily
reality in IIa way that is best presented
presenled in Breton's "simulations,"
"simulations." in
the early works of Giorgio de Chirico, and in paintings by Salvador Dalf and Max Ernst
1936).
(Frey, 1936),
Chirico's early work

of enigtnllS.
enigmas,
De Chlv.ro's
W<Jtk is full
Millf
metaphysical narratives and tracings from dreatm
dreams
25). He ~
presented his
often-deserted
(Figure 15).
hi" <>fkIl-OOacrtoo
landscapes.
ttr",'en4 and
und exaggerated
landscapes, fiTlUl.Ie$,
statues, millIS,
trains, towers,
jltspfX'tive,
uiwnoo from their rationat
lhe
perspective, diverted
rational end. The
of objects and !heir
their irrational
combination IIf
bizarre wmbinatioll
prn;iuolling
fucling of
positioning leaves lhe
the viewer with a feeling
astonishment. There is certain impossibility in
explaining the purposeless e:xist:::nce
existence of De
Chirico'1I
titlCfi that he giv~
Chirico's J<:picted
depicted obj(l<;'/s.
objects. 11l<;
The titles
gives
to hi~
nfpootry
poetry that is always
his WlJfks
works oove
have a SWI'iC
sense of
me!atu:bolh;
melancholic and ~
eerie. Levy (l9J6Il995)
(1936/1995) deiJCrlbes
describes
Chirico's early paintings as higWy
De Chiriro's
bighly suggestive
and ili8turbillg,
disturbing, giving the impression thllt
that at each
corner
comer of the presented buildillgs
buildings a phantom is
'waiting
waiting to appear.
Figm-e 2).
Figure
25. Ginrg>o
Giorgio dt;
de Chirico,
Mdandw!y and
tmd Mystery
My<I"lJ' of
f1 Sm;el,
Melancholy
ofa
Street,
]9H
1913
69
Salvado Dali
I &!Ivado
DaJi presents an ambiguous
can only
exist in dreams
i landscape that Ill
(lilly el\!st
: (Figure 26). Within

WIthin the image's ambiguity
amhiguity
is the space for multiple
; there
there-is
interpretations. The repeatedly presented
~ interpretations_
ptt'Mlllted
clocks that melt isolated
iw1ated in the simplicity of
: the
thc landscape present an irrational situation
which the viewer flnd$
finds aeertain
a certain type of
: in whicb
oomfmt.
comfort. Irrationality
lrrntiona1ity is ac.:epvID!e
acceptable and as
, such it provides comfort.
cornfurt. The solidarity of
, the ilIDlge
image allows for a melancholic silence
Persistence of
whereas the title The Persistenq,
qf
sadness. Thc
The
i Memory accentuates
ilCCtt:uatl;$ that ~
i passing of time is melting
IIX)ltlng away
uway while
willic the
as IIa remembered image persists
i clock ati
persi3ls in
constantly apparent in the reality
isolation, ronstantly
the memory. Dali brings reality and
i of tIw
i unreality together in a constant dlillogoodialogue i as the one informs the other - assuming for
certain lype
type of relationship between the
a cel'lcin
two
that
establishes
it"'" e~tablishes both of their
of life.
significance in <)\U'
our understanding <)f
:sigr.ifKallw
Jiigwv. 26. Sat.'aJOf

Duli, The
rita
Figure
Salvador Dali,
Persistence o/.MwUJry.
ofMemory, 1931
I'NJislf!m:;e
193!
Furthermore, the surrealists as much as the Dadaists before them, were reaching
out
safe space where they could
with playfulness and humor the great :!hock
shock
(",1 for a safu
COuld face \vith
and the new life oonditions

jbat a wlIr
frt the juxiilpO$ition
conditions that
war inevitably often establishes. In
juxtaposition of
mtrdated
ill the
!be presentation of dreamy images
unrelated objecW..
objects, in chance and randomness, and in
surrealists were challenging their reality with humor
humor - and sometimes with an ironic
the surrealiru
hnnwr. Humor was becoming

Nx'illning a& discipline and it represented "a strategy
strotcgy that gencmles
humor.
generates
displacement through deoontexlllali211tion"
decontextualization" (Judovitz, 1995, p.118). Spe!:ifica!Jy,
Specifically, as in
disphecmenl
the surrealists' work
as a way, not necessarily
Duchamp's work,
W{lrk, thesurn",list~
worlt employed humor asa
~Iy for
fot
transgression or opposition towards conventional assumptions about art, but rather as a
"rejx;etidzl(lg~ reality
rettlity (Judoviu.
way for "repoeticizing"
(Judovitz, 1995).
70
As
defInition ofpoiesu
ofpoiesis suggests, the artists were striving to create and
ASthe Greek definition
transform in order to reconcile with their world. Like
l ike Duchamp's
Docllamp's "ready-mades,"
"ready_mades,"
IIl1I1CI
inscri ption and a ruthless act of
Dadaism and Sum:lism's
Surrelism's gesture "is both an
act of inscription
(Joselit, 1998,
decoding: the thing
thills loses its identity only to gain another ... and another" (.Ioselit,
p.109).
p. I(9). So, art
an was virtuality, because as aII poetic space, it inherited the possibility of
infInite
infini te questioning and transformation. In the Surrealist manifesto of 1924
]924 Andre
Breton says:
[[...]
... 1is enough to lift IIa little the terrible restriction; enough
C11(Iugh also for me to
of being mistaken ... From the
to imagination without
surrender 10
withQut fear ofbcing
moment when ..
..., we wi
willll s~
succeed in realizing the dmun
dream in its integrity ...
.. ,
we can hope that mysteries
are not
mystcries - which an:
001 really mysteries - will yield to
of those two stales,
states, so
the great Mystery. I believe in the future resolution oftbosc
appearance - dream and reality - into II
a kind ofabsoJutc
of absolute
contradictory in aw==ce
reality, of surreality, if one may call it so. (Waldberg, 1965, p.l6)
p. 16)
surrealists claimed
similar
one that Plato suggested in his
The &ImliIlislS
claim! an absolute
aboolute real simi
lar to the on",
character of The Matrix experienced as
allegory of the cave and similar to
10 the one that the eharacter
its reality. llIeyare
They are striving to achieve an absolute
soon as he wakes from the illusion of
ofits
mil, the slll'Ttal

surpassoes every aspect of their reality for it also encompasses all
real,
surreal that surpasses
those aspects of ]ife
life that were impossible to comprehend based on tmditional
traditional methods of
knowing.
The Greek poet Constantinos Cavaty

933) although no!
Cavafy (1863-1
(1863-1933)
not a surrealist.
surrealist, also
ofdrearns
dreams and
uses unreality in order to reach his reality. In his poems, Cavafy speaks of
illusions that assign a pervasive nature to
10 his poetry as much as to his life. "At
MAtias!
last let me
deceive myself with illusions f/ so as not to feel
fed my empty life I[...]"
... r (Cavafy, 1992,
p.I89). Cavafy is also searching
sean:hing for some ultimate truth
uuth that will fulflll
fulfill his life
li fe and he is
p.189).
th is will fInally
finally o<x:ur
doing so with the conviction that this
occur through illusions or dreams.
71
Cavaty,
repoetici7x
Cavafy, like the surrealists is not attempting to escape his reality, but rather to repoeticize
InOs that
it, to transform it in a way thaI
that he at last fits in the Alexandrian society of 1920s
condemned him for his sexual oorientation.
rientation. In his poem I've Brought
BrougmlO
to Art (1921) he
looks at art as the space where life can be CQmpletc,

complete, by blending the real and the unreal,
unreal ,
thai he would
woul d only interrupt with
the boring of his routine life as ajoumaiisl
a journalist and broker - that
to Athens, France, England and Italy - with the desires and wishes of his mind.
short trips 10
izes the full potential of his life.
life .
It is in this combination that he finally actual
actualizes
I sil
sit in a mood of reverie.
I brought to Art desires and sensations:
things half-glimpsed,
half-glimpsed
faces or lines, certain indistinct
illdislincl memories
of unfulfilled love affairs. Let me submit 10
to Art:
Art knows how to shape forms of Beauty,
almost imperceptibly completing life.
life,
blending impressions, blending day with day.
p.l16)
(Cavafy, 1992, p.116)
The American poet Charles Bukowski ((1920-1994)
1920- 1994) also uses language in a way
that
to mind
mirwJ are
arc often
thaI recalls a surrealistic
slIJ'reIltislic painting. The images that
thai his poems bring 10
disturbing, random, impossible and dreamy, and like the surrealists he also uses humor
and irony in an allempllO
wriles in a
attempt to "rcpoclieize"
"repoeticize" and understand his life. Bukowski writes
thai the reader is transported

transpOrted 10
W(lrlds of fantasy where anything is possible 10
way that
to worlds
to
happen.
you under the elm lree
tree
at a handpress
you busting ass al
withoUI a milking machine:
you milking a cow without
the trick is to
10
blackjack the parish priest and burn
bum his
wallet and perfumed candy and be asleep before
10 p.m.
[...]J
getting the bus
you gening
dreaming arias
72
hide from your wife

don'
don'tt go home
hide in that purple bar
count legs like diamonds
they'll
they' ll all soon be what? What? What's
What 's
that horrible word I[...]
.. , I
o my, buy a pound of meat and smell it
or buy 130 pounds of it
walking
wal king and mostly alive
in a dress like a burning flag:
drinking your whisky
take
lake her to a motel room
with aa red radio
drapes [[...]
rad io and yellow drapes
.. ,]
(Bukowski, 1968)
(Bukowski,I968)
Even though not necessarily interested in an absolute truth as the
!be surrealists or CavafY
Cavafy
living,
did, Bukowski brings
bri ngs together the life that he lives and the life
li fe that he dreams of
ofliving,
creating a surreality;
virtual
crealing
sum:ality; a "i
n usl space where anything is possible. This is,
is. of course,
co~, not to
10
assume that
thaI surreality, as conceived by the surrealists, is the same as virtuality,
vinualily, as it
il is
fIrst assumes an absolute
real that OC(:Uf'5
occurs in the space of
described in this study. The first
absol ute roal
surreality, as the combination of reality

real ity and unreality.
UllI'CaIity. The latter, however, only reflects a
space of potential thaI
necessari ly assume any absolutes.
absolute.. In
[n fact, virtuality as
that .:10<:8
does not necessarily
50 far,
far, only assumes different types of realities
reali ti es rather than an ultimate
has been presented so
resolution.
Furthermore, surreality
sum:ality and virtuality
virtual ity cannot be assumed to be the same only on
Furthennore,
ofmeir
contempontry framework oflhcories
the basis of
their potentiality, even within the contemporary
of theories
theori es, like surrealism, are derivative of
tedmologies. These theories,
regarding virtual reality technologies.
Freud, theories
theo~s of
ofpsyehoanalysis
Freud's
psychoanalysis and they are based on the oonviction
conviction that there is an
rear that is impossible to be signified
signifIed other than in dreams and
""ultimately
ultimately real"
llallucinations. Even though one could assume that in those similarities, surreality
sllJTeality and
hallucinations.
virtuality of computer technologies are one and the same, they still bear differences.
73
When it comes to
\0 computer technologies, virtuality is the dream and therefore
the",fore merely an
combination of dreams and

thaI is the rombinalion
IlIld reality. Also, when it
aspect of the surreal, as that
comes to virtuality generated by computer technologies,
teclmologies, contemporary theorists
\be(lrists assume
that our affection

afTe<.:tion towards those spaces derives from a desire to escape reality. Surreality
Surrealit)'
though was a means of
transforming and changing reality within its
oftransfonning
ilS own framework.
framewQrk.
10 virtuality,
";nualil),, as the
Thus, in its poetic references of potential, surreality comes closer to
latter
laller is described in this essay.
Futurist
FuluriU Painting and the Fourth Dimension
As we move along in the history of images, one realizes that
thaI the image-aspainting ceases to be an accurate description
des<:ription of the
tile image-as-immersive
image-as-immenive space. From
Vasari and Leonardo
L.eonardo da Vinci before, we know
k.now that
thaI painting aimed for duplicating
dupl~ling what
see in the actual world of objects. The success of the
the eye could sec:
me painting could be
measured by the degree in which the eye could mark the differcrn.;e
difference between
bctwe<:n reality and
obseura and of
afthe
panOr8ItUI
representation. Even though the technologies of tile
the camera obscura
the panorama
'"<'presentation of
ofperspcetivc,
surfacc were
perspective, paintings on a flat surface
achieved almost perfect representation
10 accurately represent the passing of time
tim<: as another dimension of
lacking the ability to
reality. So.lOtal
So, total immersion was never completely achieved because the viewer was
merely captured in a frozen moment that only instantly coincided with reality. Cubist
paintings were
wen: the first that attempted to
10 overcome this limitation by incorporating the
idea of
oftime
time in the simultaneous representation orall
of all aspects oran
of an object. Simultaneity
added a fourth dim<:nsion
dimension in the eubists'
cubists' work, but it wasn't until the futurists that the
idea of passing time was obsessively elaborated.
"
74
Additionally, new
concepts in mathematics and physics about
newooncepts
800Ui non-Euclidian
geometry and space, developed at the same time as most
goornctry
moSI of the movements of modernity,
modernity.
were instrumental
overturning previously held assumptions about space as being
inslrumental in ovenuming
limited to three dimensions. The new spatiotemporal
spatiotempoml geometries "inspired idealistic
philosophical interpretations that
thaI associated the fourth dimension with a higher, mystical
reality beyond three-dimensional visual perception" (Anlli
(Antliff,
ff, 2000, p. 720).
no). Based on
this idea,
idea. Futurism questioned the presentation
pm>enlation of exterior appearances, which was the
of art until that moment, since this was considered to be a merely :s<;:ientific
scientific measure
goal ofart
mcasure
of life and as such it failed to look at
of the formalistic
fonnalistic elements ofHre
11.1 the dynamism that
Ihat is
intemallo
lIS futurists questioned perspective
internal
to life's character. Artists identified as
illusionism
static, "correct"
illusio nism that positioned the viewer in II.a static.
"oorrcet~ positioning and wished instead
to
spectator at the center of the image by elevating the interaction with the
\0 position the spootalOr
work into
inlo one of intuitive participation.
Umberto Boccioni,
Ekxx:ioni. the Italian futurist painter and sculptor, in aR lecture that he
Ite
gave in Rome on May 29, 1910 stated:
imide, we do not limit

Painting SQmcone
someone on the balcony, seen from inside,
ourselves to what the window frame allows us to see; rather, we endeavor
wltole aggregate of plastic sellsations
paillier on
011
sensations felt by the painter
to convey the whole
the balcony [[...]
... ] Which means simultaneity of environment, and thus a
dislocation and dismemberment of objects and a scattering and fusion of
details freed
med from common logic and independent of one another.
To make the spectator live at the center of the painting, as we expressed it
in our manifesto, the painting must be a synthesis of what one remembers
and what one sees. (as cited in Rossi, 2004, p.36)
[n a sense, the futurists were attempting to capture and fuse
fusc the past (what one
In
remembers) with the present (what one sees) in the stillness
sti ll ness of their work,
wort., transcending
trlUlSCCTIding it
record of passing time. Thus, the previous restrictions of
oftwo-dimensionality
into a record
two-dimensionality were
75
"
broken by the
lhe attempt to
10 expand representation in space by suspending it in time.
lime.
Figure 27. Gian Lorenzo

l..oref1zo
Bernini,
(kmini, David,
1623-1624
Figun 28. Leonardo

l.coMrdoda
Vinc;,
Figure
da Vinci,
Rider
on a rearinghlw~~,
rearing horse,
Ride, on"
1482
1432
Figure
29. Umberto Boccioni,
Figurt }9.
Boccioni.
ofContinuity
Unique Forms
FMmJ ojCofl(jltuiry
in
Space, 1913
InSpoce,1913
For instance,
(1623-1624) (Figure 27) we
can see the
instance. in Bernini's David
David(162J-1624)
'"' a\Il
movement
the biblical hero at the moment he is getting ready 1
to
0 kill Goliath in the
movemem of
orthe
stretching of the
~l""I~hi"g
till.'
upper body's
clutches onlll
onto the floor
buUy '~ muscles,
"1US<.:1~ in the
tlK: masculine
I=ulillt: foot
fOOL that l:1ulch..:s
to withstand the force of the body whilst it twists in order to release the little
10
liu le rock.
rock .
Frozen in the moment of the artwork, even the face muscles seem 10
to be in such tension
il ~ntuates
AnothC'r example is
that it
accentuates the representation of the movement to come. Another
Vinci 's drowings

Ritkr on a rearing
drawings and paintings of horsemen, such as in Rider
Leonardo da Vinci's
horse (\482)
won; the movement is captured within the
(1482) (Figure 28). In the specific work
wilen the horse is rising its
ilS lean, yet strong legs in the air and its cllest
frozen moment when
chest
elevates in a posture that presents
ptl'5enlS the proud and beautiful nature of the horse.
Iiorse. The
l1Ic
movement is again captured not only in the representation of the body but also in the
effort shown on the vivid face of the horse while it is lifting itself in the air,
air. giving the
selnd the horse will be released from the page into the
impression that in any second
spatiotemporal reality of the viewer. What makes this impression stronger in Leonardo's
76
representation
the back legs as if the movement has already been
repn.:sentation is the multiplication of
ofme
happening
happeni ng and has left its mark
I7IW'k on the paper.
The futurists attempted to represent movement in the same way Leonardo da
Vinci did; in a continuous form in space. Umberto
0/
Umbeno Boccioni
BocciOl1i made his Unique Forms
Fwms of
Continuity in Space (1913)
Conlinuity
(\913) (Figure 29) based on the idea that the body morphs as it
moves in space. He tried to present the formations

fonnations that
thaI the body undergoes as it interacts
with space at
Technical Manifesto a/Futurist Sculpture
al the time it is in motion. In Technicol
(1912) Boccioni claims:

come to life by rendering their
Sculpture must therefore make objects corne
prolongation into
space
perceivable,
systematic,
and three-dimensional:
Into
No or>e
one can still doubt
douM that one object
objecl leaves off where another begins and
that there is nothing that surrounds our own body - bottle.
bottle, automobile.
automobile,
house, 11'00,
tree, street - that does not CUI
cut through it and slice it into crosssections with an arabesque of curves and straight lines ([...]
se<:tions
... J (as cited in
Coen, 1988, p.241)
p.24] )
This specific sculpture by Boccioni gives the impression ofa
of a body as this makes
an effort
10 move forward on a windy day. The viewer can feel the tension of the body
effon to
ofthe
hori zontally elongated features of
from the horizontally
the body, as if a force is attracting them from
fOT feet intensify
the opposite direction of the movement. The square blocks that stand for
fOl"Wafd and against the

tlte force that pulls it back.
the feeling of the body's effort in moving forward
The viewer can only imagine herself
hersclfwalking
walking down the street on a very windy day and
nst a force. She feels
freb
she immediately feels the body's agony as it struggles to move agai
against
"'-eight transferring to the feet as the body gravitates itself within the actual action of
her weight
effocts of the environment on the
the movement. Boccioni brings in his sculpture the effects
depicted body. He suggests: "Let's [...]
[.. Jproclaim the absolute and complete abolition of
spli t open our figures and place the
finite lines and the contained statile.
statue. Let's split
77
(Boccioni, as cited in Coell,
Coen, 1988, p.241
).
environment inside them"
Ihem (&ceioni,
p. 241).
H
The futurists' definition of reality, based

basoed on Bergsonian
Ekrgsonian terms,
lenns, drove them "into
~into
the object" of reality (Baldacchino,

(Balda.cchino, 1998). This obsessive movement
mowmcnt towards a constant
proximity
inlo something that was no longer an
prollimity to life transformed the depiction of reality into
acute imitation of what the eye sees or perceives as information, but rather as something
that the mind perceives as the result of the

tile totality
tolality of vision. The eye can only see an
object in motion but
bUI it is never able to distinguish the specific movement as it unfolds in
of modernity, the illusion
time and space. In futurism, similarly to other art movements ofmodcmity,
of the image is created not by an accurate imitation of the presented reality
real ity but by
transferring the image in a close proximity 10

to perception and imagination. With the
beginning of the twentieth century, the interest of art shifted from creating a space of
illusion to
creating a space that would challenge the illusions ofHre
of life instead (Dadaism.
(Dadaism,
10 cn::aling
futurism and sum:alism).
surrealism).
However, Futurism rejects other movements of modernism, soch
such as Cubism
OJbism or
DMla. According to the futurists, the previously
previol,lSly presented art movements were overly
Dada.
ties of objects and were hence incapable
iocapsble of e:<periencing
interested in the formal complexi
experiencing
complexities
the object in its action, or they were !SOlely

solely defective in criticizing the political
consciousness ofpeople.:IO
lirst and foremost, even before becoming an an
art
ofpeople.2o Futurism was first
i1.'l fascination with urbanism.
urbanism,
movement, social and political and it proclaimed its
The political value of their movement ultimately lay in its innovative
illlM)vative and
aggressive means
~ans of shaping public o
pinion, in the totalizing fabric of the
opinion,
... J Futurists retained the privileged position of fashioning an
spectacle.!
spectacle.[...]
;t<;clfwith
image and, through it, reality. Above all, Futurism concerned itself
with
fashioning the image of a new Italy, a goal that sealed the movement's
,.
FIJIUrism. ideolc>y
__ loathing the past,
pasc. especially political and
20 One oftbo
of the main com_IS
components <>f
of Futurism's
ideology was
artistic traditions.
challenged
anistic
tradition!.. Even
E~ ... though
thoosh Dada
o.da was
..... also a movement that chal
.... ged the notion of the aesthetic,
_otic.
Futurum _
_ politically charged
chwged and more
_
..... iti ty anuned
_w changes
_II'" of Fascist
F_iM Italy.
l.aIy.
Futurism
was_
more
sensitively
attuned 'to0 the social
not"'"
78
"
fate with that of Fascism. (Braun, 2004, p.16l
p.l6)
"The llfge
fur IIa reform
refmm [...
f. _. ,.ms)
fut:w:ism into aII nlCSSilltl1c
urge for
was] trumf{lnned
transformed by futurism
messianic vision
and histmy
history wero
were transcended
the advent of the machine
of IIa future where time lUld
In\!lilC<'nded by lhe
and progress" (Baldacchino,

fBaklacthlno, 1998, p.35).
Figure 30. Umberto Boccioni, The City Rises, 1910
In this work
Boccioni presented the city as a violent, vibrant, nrn:l
and crowed llltldscape
landscape
wt:lk Boocion;
such
speed
that
the
eye
cannot
even
grasp
its
separate
colors.
where lite
life !)CeUts
occurs in
i!l """II
thai
gmsp separuw coiool
can barely distinguish betwee!l
between figures and buildings,
Instead, one C!Ill
b-uildi.tlgs, between
betwe.;n buildings
and ~
f ....io"" spirit
"I'lrit of the urban
m ball l","d"Cl1f""
takL." m-e".
streets, for Illl
all melt t<'scth",
together as the furious
landscape takes
over.
Coon
~1I) deooribcd
Coen (1
(1988)
described this painting perfectly. She says:
A vioJeHf
b)' the red
violent pai-mirfg,
painting, if
it IS
is whipJM!d
whipped {mean
into an unbridled dynamic motiml
motion by
in 1M
the jiW1!J'mmd.
foreground. TIw
The glgaHlic
gigantic MCi!d,
steed, whose collar
metamorphoses infO
into
horse In
cwlm- meram&p/wNs
oa blue propeller blade slashing
s!(t~hing the tll',.,
Ihrl1W.~
the
fmlire
space
infO
furmoilln
air, throws
entire
into turmoil in
irresistible ifftr'Ufh.
onrush. Set before us
is lWIlUng
nothing less than 0
a
its
swift and irresiMibie
lis S1+!ft
liS i5
animo! fimro while ai
"iol'if!cation
glorification of
ofanimalforce
at the same lime
time the llU1R-<mMe
man-made industrial
baokgwurnl in
jn frenc/ic
cily
city rises !lJl
up in the background
frenetic acceleration
acceleration. ((>.97)
(p.97)
Futurism, as all of the other movements of the twentieth century, evolved as a
neeC'.lllW:)'
fCllult !If
nwn\C!lt It alw
necessary result
of the oonditinns
conditions of their historical moment.
also evolved out of a very
buman n.:ed
human
need to oonnect
connect with a cl\anging
changing lite.
life. This was a commonly shared attempt
rtl.Qtfemity, regardless ofille

sI.}Ustic or ideological diffcnmces
thal separate
repamte
of the stylistic
differences that
throughout modernity,
period.
as Ii
a
the artistic movements of this JlCI'
itxL Either in an
au attempt to reconstruct
rewn'Jtruct reality l!.'J
simultaneous gaze in Cubism, or as an attempt to re-theorize the object and its
79
representation
represenlation in Dadaism, or as an attempt to achieve an ultimate truth through the
the real "ilh
with the unreal in Surrealism, or as an attempt to
combination of
orthe
10 fuse into the
accepting its changes and progress in
depths of reality by obsessively and enthusiastically &CCeptil'\g
Futurism, they all unmistakably attempted 10
to approach their reality. Artists of modernity
all strived to master life and in the process of doing so

SQ they discovered and revived the
idea ofvinuality.
of virtuality. In the end, virtuality is the space of
art, which in the process of its
ofart,
making, masterfully digests the illusions of
oflife
creating the
poiesis, of
life CI'l:a1ing
tbe potential of
ofpoifJis,
infinitely transforming life again and again.
Summ_ry
Summary
In this chapler
chapter I have ai
aimed
med to
10 discuss virtuality as aII space of potential as it
i, is
actualized in the ;lI\I11CTlIive
immersive space of
of the image. Moving
Movins along IIa line of historical
lIistorical
interpretation the chapter touched upon specific periods and works orart
of art that
interprelalion
thai exemplify
exemplifY
the argwnent
argument that virutality
virutal,!y is not a new term but rather
miller a perennial condition that
villas. as well
_11 as in the panoramas
paru.>l"mas
describes our relationship with images. In the Italian villas,
later, virtuality was achieved in the
!he potential of proximity 10
!he immersive depicted
to the
scenes, maximized
maximi7.ed by the perfected perspective ofan
of an all-surrounding image. In the
ceiling of the baroque churches it was achieved in the perceptual distance that the fresco
was creating. Later on, virtuality as a potential space can be found in modernity's
modernity 's
~repoetieiring," in the possibility of
oftransfonning
interest in questioning and "repoeticizing,"
transforming and
suspending life, in the combination of the real and the

!he unreal. The following chapter will
focus specifically on a philosophical discussion concerning the relationship between art
and truth
ttu!h as this is negotiated by the argwnent
argument of a potential space. Byzantine
80
iconography, as it was viewed during the Iconoclastic dispute,
dispute. will be used as an
example.
"
81
Chapter III
OF T
THE
THE ARTISTIC TRUTH O~
ilE WORK
"'H
Trl<;~ UICO"IOt;
ELKOVOC; 'l'IUl
"tLIJ.'Y) flU
EXL m
"to :7tpOYtot'U:7tOV
bLUf3a.LVEL"
'''H TIJ
~1IDV 61.(l1kt~vta"
The honor rendered to
10 the image passes
passe$ to the prototype.
Pansclinou, 2000, p.l02

p.I02
- Saint Basilius in Ladner, 1953, p.3; Panselinou,
The relationship between art and truth is that of the relationship between 811
art and
art and knowledge (episteme).

philosophy or that of
nfart
(cpisteme). As Badiou (2003) claims,
c1ailml,
philosophy exists solely in unveiling
un~eiling the mysteries of truth and its relationship to art has
always been contemplated based on art's ability,
abilily, or inability, to present some truth,
trulh, or the
conditions under which this truth can occur. On the other hand, truth
troth has been related to
a form
fonn of
or knowledge - an epi$leme
fonnal understanding of the world established
establish<.:d
episteme - a formal
philosophicallhought
through philosophical
thought and reason. Sin<.:e
Since Plato these relationships have been
negotiated oYer
over and over agJIin
again and they most often reflect a certain way of thinking
about art.
philosophy. art is identified with the shadows that objects create on the
In Plato's philosophy,
vieWlas
' Cpt escntation of representations and as
walls of the cave, and thus art is viewed
as the representation
!Tom the
tbe absolute truth, that is the sun outside of the cave. Aristotle,
such far removed from
\ruth extemallO
even though he agrees with Plato that there is a truth
external to art, frees art from the
Platonic suspicions by defining art as something distinguishable from knowledge and
\nIIh. Aristotle claims that art does not aim to be truth and therefore is "innocent
hence truth.
82
(Badiou, 2005). Art is only semblance,

true and its
of all truth"
tnIth" (Badio""
semblan, ... , a ""liking"
'iking" to the In:
sense,
semblance is only required as far as it engages
cngagC$ the spectator in this "liking."
~liking." In a sellSe,
art's
an's relationship to
10 truth is the degree in which "a
~a truth constrains within the imaginary"
contrary to Plato and Aristotle, attempted to establish a
(Badiou, 2005, p. 4). Hegel,
Ilegel , oontnlry
closer relationship between art and truth
uuth by assuming that art is like philosophy. Hence,
such it
il is able to
\0 present the absolute truth.
uuIII.
art is knowledge like philosophy
phi losophy and as soch
Hegel establishes art as capable of truth and the latter appears to
10 be internal to art.
In this chapter.
chapter, I will attempt to
10 present the above relationships between art and
detail,, always keeping in mind the question of"pre$ence"
of "presence" in the work of
truth in further detail
art is capable of truth,
art. This is the most essential philosophical question. Not
NOI whether an
l ' Hence, the question about truth

but how truth appears to
10 be in the work. 21
IrUth concerns the
truth's borcoming(Badioll,
becoming (Badiou, 2005). Byzantine
problem of
ofuu!h's
Byzanlilll: iconography
iCQTIOgraphy as
U presented
pl'l:iCnlCd during
the Iconoclastic dispute in the Byzantine Empire in the seventh and eight centuries A.D.
of the
will be used as an ellample.
example. The dispute serves in presenting the question ofthe
'presence' of
ofan
shing a new understanding of
an absolute truth in the image, and in establi
establishing
"presence"
the relationship between art and truth. nus
This will also introduce the idea of art as being
pedagogical. Driven by Alain Badiou's philosophy and initial thoughts on the issue, I
will altCmptto
relationsh ip between art and truth into one that is established not
attempt to shift the relationship
by philosophy but rather by educatioD.
education.
"
21
_wet:
Ccnainly,
noI attempting
onemplin& to answer the
Il1o impossible
impos<ibk question of"
... truth is.
Certainly, I1 ...,
am not
of what
is, as this _seems irre"'"",,,
irrelevant
rcdWldanc. Also,
Also. as it
~ will appear
appearlm:r
myorgwnenu
noI,necessarily
.. : wi ly believe
to<lie-ve in an absolute
ab$olule
and redundant.
later in my
arguments II do not
rather in the
possibility for multiple
and ,single
inS'" truth
IruItI but
bul raIhtr
tile pos<ibility
mul.iple truths.
""""
83
The
Th~
Truth
of Art and
Truth
Trut h of
an d the
tbe Art of T
ruth
[n the dialogues between Socrates and Phaedrus in Plato's work Phaedrus (360
In
B.C.) Plato expresses his conviction that images are inadequate of beholding truth. Plato
at truth as an absolute knowledge thai
that derives from higher
higker ideas. Images, as copies
looks altrum
of the reallhing,
b.ardly behold those realities or
real thing, have no internal knowledge and they can hardly
knowledge. images can only
of true knowledge,
the absolute truth oorr knowledge. Thus, in the lack oftrue
imitate those higher ideas of which they are

an: copies. Images are for Plato "an imperfect
imperfcd
phellOlTH.:na1 worlds, which for him are

an: themselves but IIa
of the fonns
forms oftbe
of the phenomenal
imitation orthe
distorted imitation of the ideal rational Forms

Fonns that constitute true reality" (Shus\cnnan,
(Shusterman,
2006, p.237).
ofjustice or temperance
For
FQr there is no light ofjusriee
temperonce or any of the higher ideas
\0 souls in the earthly copies of them: they are seen
pnx:ious to
which are precious
through a glass dimly; and !here
there an:
are few who, going to the images, behold
in them the realities, and these only with difficulty [...
[ ... ]) (Plato, 1994-2000)
Funhennore, due to
\0 the inability
inabi lity of images to speak of truth, Plato positions the
Furthermore,
arts (and espco;:iaJly
especially the visual arts [painting]) in an inferior status suggesting that truth
ofan
can only be external to images. So, when one asks S()mething
something of
an image, the latter can
only remain silent. After all, there is nothing that the image can say or reveal to its
viewer.
compared to an internal
viev."t:T. In a sense, truth
troth is oompared
intemal and objective knowledge, which can
never be found in images, writing or speech.
I cannot help feeling, Phaedrus,
Pltaedrus, that writing is unfortunately
unfortwllltely like painting;
if you ask.
for the ereations
creations of the painter have the anitude
attitude of life, and yet ifyou
ask
them a question they preserve a solemn silence. And the same
same: may be
said ofspeeches.
of speeches. You would imagine that they had intelligence, but if you
want to know anything and put a question to one of them, the speaker
always gives one unvarying answer. And when they have been once
lhey are tumbled about anywhere among those who
woo mayor
written down they
may not understand them, and know not
oot to whom
woom they should reply, to
parcntlO
to
whom not: and, if they are maltreated or abused, they have no parent
84
protect them; and they cannot protect
prolci:\ or defend themselves [...
[... ] (Plato,
1982, p.158)
p. IS!)
In addition, if one considers Plato as the point of departure for the argument
concerning art and truth,

,roth, one can sec
r>egotiated through the
see that this relationship is negotiated
ambiguous relationship of
ofaft
tn philosophical thought. The attempt to explain the first
art to
ofthe latter
art'ss nature
by means
meansofthc
lalter establishes philosophy as the ultimate interpretation of an'
and enhances the belief that art is mere imitation. Specifically, the assumption that
phi losophy is true in its
ilS knowledge
koowledge establishes that any argument philosophy makes
philosophy
about art must also be true. Hence, philosophy becomes not

00\ only an explanation and a
means of understanding an,
art, but also philosophy simply categorizes art in a process of
naming. Having this capacity, philosophy earns a certain power over legitimizing art,
an,
and an a priori relationship is established between the two, where

wh~ art seems to
In always be
the
lhe subject of philosophy.
art is never capable of
truth and truth
Based on Plato's
Plalo's arguments an
oflrulli
uuth can only be
external 10
schemo. "The
The truth or any guise oflhe
of the
to an.
art. Badiou (2005) calls this a didactic schema.
truth that the work
wort manages to
10 present is,
is. therefore,
therefore. merely an "unfounded or non!\On-
diS<:UJSive
'"the heart of the Platonic
PlalOnic polemic about mimesis
mimcsis
discursive truth." Ultimately.
Ultimately, "the
designates art
an not
nol so much as an imitation of things,
things. but as the imitation of the effect of
s<:bcma, we always need to denounce the

truth" (Badiou, 2005, p.2). According to this schema,
truth ofan
_ would be deceived and ultimately removed from the
of art as fake for otherwise we
p<:>$Sibilily ofan
lienee, art
an needs 10
of an absolute truth. Hence,
to always be under the surveillance of
possibility
philosophy, where the task
task. of the philosopher is the didactics
didacti ..s of the sense, making sure
that we are not
1101 abandoned to
\0 trickery
trick.ery or the ..charm
harm of semblance (Badiou,
(Badiau. 2005).
85
The didactic
TlIe
di<klcfic schema reminds us of the Greek
of Narcissus, a young man who
myth ofNan;:issus,
woo was so beautiful
beautiful
that
thaI everyone loved and desired him, but who was too
proud to love anyone in return.
Narcissus
Nan;:;ssus now had reached his sixteenth year
And ~med
seemed both man and boy; and many a
youth
And many a girl desired him,
hi m, but hard pride
pridc
Ruled in that delicate frame, and never a youth
And never a girl could touch his haughty heart.
[...]
III. 326-356, p.61)
[ ... j (Ovid, 1986, 111.
p.6 1)
Echo, a nymph deeply in love with
Nan;:issus but
wi th Narcissus
Figure
Caravaggio,
Figun 31.
J/. C8J1Ivaggio,
lVarc~sus,
NQl'CUstJ.J, 1598-99
of her affection towards him, she withered until all that

devastated by the hopelessness
hopclessnessofher
was left from her was her voice.
Shamed and rejected in the woods she hides

And has her dwell
dwelling
caves;
ing in the lonely eaves;
Yet still her love endures and grows oonn grief,
And weeping vigils waste her frame away;
Her body shrivels, all its moisture dries;
Only her voice and bones are left; at last
bor>es are
an;: turned to stone.
Only her voice, her bones
So in the woods she hides and hills around,
around.
al l to hear,
hear. alive, but just a sound. I[...]
... J
For all
(Ovid, 1986,
]986, III.
111. 391-429,
39 1-429, p.63)
p.6J)
Nemesis. the god of vengeance, after the request of one of the victims ofNarcissus'
ofNan;:issus'
But, Nemesis,
indifference and arrogance, de<:ided

decided that it was an appropriate punishment to lend him
into a hopeless love, a love that could never have a response. So, one hot day when
Nan;:i!lSUll bent down to ddrink
rink from a clear pool
pOOl ofWDter
Narcissus
of water he saw the most beautiful young
He. for the first
fiTSltime,
renl!'Ction and not realizing that what he was looking
man. He,
time, saw his reflection
was just an image,

image. he fell in love. He reached out to embrace and kiss the beautiful
at wasjust
le ft with the devastation of no response. As
boy again and again, but he was only left
86
Narcissus reached out to touch his love, the reflected image on the
tm. surface of the water
givi ng him hope only to disappoint him
mirrored his action, reaching out back to him, giving
again as soon as his lips touched the water. Narcissus, like the men in Plato's allegory of
the cave, was similarly tricked
the real thing.
lricked by the semblance of
ofttle
too late
"Ah wretched me! I now begin 100
To find oUl
out all the long-perplex'd deceit;
It is my self!
self I love, my self!
self I see;
The gay delusion is a part of
me.
ofme.
I kindle
kirldle up the fires by which IJ burn,
And my own beauties from the well return.
Whom should I[oouA1
court? how utter my oomplainl?
complaint?
Enjoyment bul
but produces
restraint,
prod= my restntint,
And too much plenty makes me die for want.
How gladly would I[from
from my selfn:move!
selfremove!
And al
at a distance set
love [...]
sel the thing I[love
[ ... 1
(Ovid, 1994-2000,
]994-2000. III,
111. para.43)
para43)
to realize that
Similarly to Plato's
Plato's man who leaves the cave only 10
thaI what he
previously knew was simply fake, Narcissus also realized his horrible fate.
fale. In
[n this
realization he decided 10
(ove. In
In Alain
to kill himself for he knew the impossibility of his love.
Badiou'~ didactic
dldtlclic schema.
af art is like Narcissus'
Narciss~' reflection.
rcf1o;elion. It
11 holds nothing
schema, the work of
Badiou's
ofille
thai which it
il is a reflection
ref1cc1ion of.
il can never respond to
\0
of the essence of that
of, and as such it
Narcissus with anything else but silCflC(:.
Ihis realization
realizalion that gives Narcissus the
silence. It is this
puIS an end to the charm of
of
knowledge of the truth and in his act of death Narcissus puts
NlICCissU$ becomes his own philosopher who makes sure to keep
semblance. In a way Narcissus
troth.
himself in truth.
In response to the above:

above conception of art, Aristotle, even though he agreed with
impossibi lity for absolute truth, introduced an alternative idea. Aristotle
Plato on art's impossibility
ilS relationship to truth. If art
freed art from being knowledge and therefore freed it from its
is freed from knowledge and the latter is the result ofltUth,

of truth, then art is never aiming 10
to be
87
this truth. Instead, in his Metaphysics
(350 B.C.), Aristotle gave eXPft'SSion
expression to
Melaphysics(J50
\0 an
I\l1 inside
through the idea of potentiality as the only infinite mediation of the form. The artwork
becomes for Aristotle simply the mediator of the truth, that
between truth and
bewmes
thaI which is betW<.:Cn
the spoclalor.
spectator. More specifkally,
specifically, for Aristotle,
Aristotle. as in Plato, ideal form was considered as
the true, the
energeia or
entelecheia, the energy that is ooutside
of art. But
tile reality, CIIUgein
Or entdecheia,
utside orart.
BUI in
contrast to Plato, Aristotle thought that the form is reality only in so far as it is formed
reality in something. "Whatever
agency (I
~Whalever is produced, is produced not
TlQI only by some agcocy
mean, that
out ofsomctbing
of something (not out of
its
thaI by which the
!he production is begun) but also
abo oul
ofils
]" (Aristotle, 2003,
privation, but
bUI out
OUI of a material {[...
.. J"
2003. p.145).
p.14S).
So, for Aristotle (2003) "an intrinsic

inlrills;e nature comes to be in something else made
by an
art or by nature or by some power" (p.145). According 10
to him, matter,
maUer, or the object of
often
art, cannot be an imperfect
imperfoct imitation because
t-ause it is simply the intervention
intOl'Vt'lltion that
thai is often
required for the higher idea to be signified. This is a schema that Badiou (2005) calls
c/QSJica/.
classical. Furthermore, the ideas, as the abstract concepts to which Aristotelian
'"the forms
(anns
philosophy ascribes a higher order of reality, are as Adorno (2001) explains ''the
ofsomcthing"
lbat, "they are not,
oot. as in Plato,
and properties of
something" (p.62). Adorno argues that,
thaI of which they are forms"
fonns"
simply being-in-itself,
being.in.itself, but are
arc always mediated by that
[T]he
lie outside the things whose
essence it
[T[1Ie essence [[...
... ]J the Idea, does not
nollic
whoseesscnce
themlscvcs [...]
[ ... J if I separatc
is, but is only in so far as it is in things themlseves
separate the
absolulely
Ideas completely from everything existent and make them absolutely
autonomous, IIlwn
tum them into an existent of
ofaa second power [...]
[ ... ] I objectify
or reify the Ideas. (Adorno, 2001, p. 26)
vi rtuality previously
AriSlotelian philosophy begins 10
Aristotelian
to describe the concept of virtuality
clasSical schema, art is what has the
presented as a space of potential. Based on the classical
Hc speaks of the potential
potcntial
"seed' for productivity as Aristotle claims in his Metaphysics. He
"seed"
88
seeded in art. Psychoanalysis took this idea further when talking about art. For
psychoanalysis the "seed" in art is the spectator's
SptttalOr's desire and the truth that
thai is produced in
desire, which is beyond symbolization - what
art is the object of desire.
wllal Lacan named as the
Real. So, in a sense.
sense, psychoanalysis explains !hat
that according 10
to the classiw/
classical schema truth
of art is always imaginary, for it is always in the desire ofme
of the
as the ultimate effect ofart
"The work
exhibits, in a singular
spectator. '1lIe
won: of art links
link s up to a transference because it exhibilS,
and contorted configuration,
"extrimacy" of
configuration. the blockage of the symbolic by the Real, the "Clltrimacy"
the Qbje/
objet petit
symbolic)" (Badiou,
pelil Qa (the cause of desire) to the Other (the treasure of the symboli<T
2005, p.?).
p.7).
In Miguel de Cervantes' book The Adventures ofDon
a/Don Quixote (1605/1952)
(1605/ 1952)
chivalry, is
Alonso Quixano, aII. retired
rctim:! gentleman who is deeply immersed into stories of
orchivalry,
the
of the classical schema. Alonso Quixano believes that every word of
lite exemplification ofthc
stories he reads is troe.
true. So,
the $l()rics
SQ, with an old suit of armor and his skinny horse, renames
himself as Don
DQn Quixote of la Mancha, designates a neighboring girl as his ladylove,
ladylove. and
embarks 011
ill a way the sign,
on ajoumcy
a journey of adventure as a noble knight. Don Quixote is in
ofart,
lhe power,
PO"'''' , that is often necessary for the truth to
the work of
art, or what Aristotle named the
be presented.
pre!lented. In the character's mind the truth is in the narratives ofthe
of the books he had
Hcnce. truth is
read and it is the desire to bring this truth into reality that drives him. Hence,
always in Don Quixote's
imagirnuy. Don Quixote's imagination and deep desire to
Quixote'S imaginary.
fonn (the truth) transforms his adventures into
decipher the mundane reality in the ideal form
the place where this actualization happens.
imagirnuy, and the

For Cervantes the distinction between the real and the imaginary,
betW"'n truth and its semblance, are both eenlI3lto
relationship between
central to the plot of the stOl)l.
story.
89
Real and imaginary, truth
Ir\lth and semblance,
semblance; blend together as
lIS one shifts from the position
to the position of
ofthe
or as the reader shifts from
of the reader 10
the story's character
charocteror
identifying on the one hand
to Don Quixote on the other. In the
!land with
wilh Alonso Quixano 10
a real (:hanu;:tcr
character and an imaginary
end, Don Quixote is in the content of the novel, at once
end.
on~e 11
imagil1l1J)1
distinction between the
one. This impossible disliru;tion
Ihe real and the imaginary or between truth and
its semblance only exists in an
lin act of deliberate
del iberate linguistic signification; Don Quixote
declares himself as who he is. So, truth in Cervantes's
as in Aristotle, always
Cervantcs's novel, lIS
comes to be
/)f: in SQmething
[n Cerv!lIltes.
something else:.
else. In
Cervantes, truth comes 10
to be in the signs of language,
in the a<;:\
act of spe:h.
speech.
second part of Cervantes's book. Here
The above becomes transparent
lbe
tmnspatcllt in the
!hI,! se<.:ond
Here the
characters that Don Quixote meets throughout his adventures recognize him as the hero
of the first
(1966/1994)
aflhe
Ii", part of the novel, which apparently they have read. Foucault (\9661
1994)
claims
dai
ms that, "Cervantes's text turns back upon itself, thrusts itself back into its own
destiny.
[ ... ) Don Quixote has achieved his
destiny, and becomes the objet!
object of its own narrative [...]
reality - a reality he owes to language alone, and which resides entirely inside the words"
(p.48).
onempling to reach
(pA8). The impossibility of signifying the truth that Don Quixote is attempting
finally signified in the reader's identification of him as the
-_ the desire of chivalry - is fmally
of that desire. However, even though Don Quixote as a ellaracter
oobject
bject ofthat
character of a story
bt:comcsaa linguistic sign and thus the means of presenting the truth
Iroth - that SlOries
becomes
stories of
chivalry are true - this truth never escapes the desire that initially presented it. It always
remains in Don Quixote's imaginary.

Finally. truth is always external to Don Quixote. Don Quixote as aII sign that has
Finally,
li ke art as it is described in Aristotelian
AriSl()(e]ian philosophy.
the potential of presenting truth is like
90
Don Qui~ote,
Quixote, like art, never aims to be the truth but only the mediator ofit.
of it. Thus, Plato's
Plato' s
didactic and Aristotle's classical
clas.Jical schema, despite their differences in approaching art,
both establish truth as e~temal

external to art.
schemata, theorists
an. In a response to these scltemata,
tllcorists such as
Stirner,
attempt to
Stimer, Heidegger
11eidegger and Hegel
Ilegel atlcmpt
10 provide autonomy to art
an by describing a closer
relationship between art and truth. Such theories
thoories form what Badiou (2005) describes as a
schema. According to this schema art

of presenting truth and this
romantic sclw:ma.
an is capable ofpreseming
truth is internal to art.
an.
Stirner
actualizing the essence of
oftruth,
Stimer (1842) talks about art
1111 as the means of aetuali"jng
truth,
a-lithia was
sustaining the possibility (dynamis) of bringing that truth forward. Truth as a-li/hia
of as something un-hidden, that which is no longer concealed, something that
thought oras
does not belong to [ilhj
lithi (oblivion).
(oblivion), but rather appears in consciousness. As Heidegger
argues, ali/hia
alithia is a word that stands for what human
(2002) argues.
hW1tlUl beings want and seek in the
of their essence.
essence, ~a
"a word for something ultimate and primary" (p.S).
(p.8). Therefore,
grounds oftheir
Therefore.
truth qua alilhia
(wthiddenncss) is 'dewocealment'.
oftruth
alithia (unhiddenness)
'deconcealment', and in that sense, an
the essence of
act that
lhat is located in man himself
himself(Heidcgger,
2002).22
(Heidegger, 2002).21
The above consideralions
10 the Aristotelian truth since in both
considerations of truth are similar to
comes to consciousness. However,

cases truth come!!
However. even though Aristotle freed
froe<! art from
knowledge. Heidegger
Heidcggcr brings this knowledge
knowledg<: back in defining art's relationship to truth.
knowledge,
H<: refers to truth in art
an as the end of oblivion. Man is no longer naive
n.al"ve but conscious of
He
this ultimate essenlial
unaware, Also, even
essential knowledge of which he was previously unaware.
.,
II abo
~ to make a di/f...,."w;"n
bcoWll truth
<ruth and true,
truO. because
bec:auK in the allog"",
22 It
also seem.
seems necessary here
differentiation between
allegory of
sIIoocIows that
!hal men look ac
mig!lt not be oflrUlh,
....,.. ......
inly
the ea"e\he
Cave the shadows
at on \he
the wall might
of truth, alit~i_
alithinon, 1M
but ...,
are most
certainly
whidl d><y
d><y ...
alithi_. what
whal Heidegger
true. The shadows...,
shadows are true in the degJ<oo
degree to which
they exist but they
are not a/ithinon,
... f.... to '"
\he unbidden,
utthidden. that
thai which
whieh."...;m
~. Rather,
RaIber. the shadows
(2002) refers
as the
consists of"un.,!ultenlc:d
of unadulterated .......
unbiddenness.
as !rut
true ore
are the matter,
can identify
identifY as
and which we can immediately
..
mat1et", that
tit .. which
whidl we """
.. visible
visible.oo
irnmc:dial.ty and directly
",\aIo
fJl1ysical, spatiotemporat
<rue """
relate to OW"
our bodies .oo
and physical,
spatiotemporal existence. In IhII
that senK.
sense, \he
the true
can be viewed ..
as
.....
liIy. which
whidl we can
"""e~
i.everyday
ODd truth is the real,
....... which resists
.... istI.;,nif.:ation
everyday Hr.
life and
signification and
reality,
experience in
..
a;13 10
de-concealed.
waits
to be do-cuIoeoled.
9
911
to
though
tl10ugb in both cases, in the classical schema and in the romantic
romnnlic schema, truth seems 10
art, there is a fundamental difference between the two. In Aristotelian
be presented in an,
philosophy art merely presents or :;ignifies

signifies truth, so in a:K:1lSe
a sense art always remains of
to truth, but
"liking" 10
bul in the romantic considerations of the relationship between art and
truth, art
an always actualizes truth. In order for art to be able to actualize truth one cannot
actuali zes. Otherwise,
but only assume that art has the same essence as the truth that it actualizes.
art would fail to bring this truth forward. The romantics assume that truth is internal to
art and that art is of the same essence
essen as the truth that it represents, and that man is within
this truth that first occurs in the work.

worlr::.
[ .. J is wmpelled
compelled to draw forth from its
Stirner (1842) makes the point that, "Art [...]
seclusion within the concealing darlmess

darkness of the subject the proper and best form of the
se<:lusion
spirit, the most completely idealized expression orthe
itse!fand
of the spiri
spiritt itself
and to develop it and
realize it as an Object" (p.3). Bachelard

Ba(:helard (1964) writes: "In
MIn certain almost supernatural
slXX'tac1e, however ordinary
inner states, the depth of life is entirely revealed in the spectacle,
ordinary,, that
we have before our eye, and which becomes the symbol of it" (p.
(p.192).
L92). All the above are
Hegelian understandings of the relationship between art and truth. Truth is viewed as the
reveaL (in a
absolute spirit (that which we CIIIlIIOt
cannot grasp) and art has the potential power to reveal
process of de-concealment) this truth, the higher ideals.

ideaLs. Specifically,
SlXX'ifically, art "constitutes
~cOTl$\i !ules the
concrete intuition
inluilion (Anschauung]
ofimplicilly
[Anschauung] and representation of
implicitly absolute spirit as the
ideal. [This is] the concrete shape, born of subjective spi

spirit,
rit, in which its natural
idea" (Hegel, 1997,
L997, p.139).
immediacy [is1
[is] only a sign oonn the idea"
92
In Mark Rothko's
Rothko' s mllnuscriptfitled
manuscript titled The
Artist's Reality, ,",moh
which is believedlo
believed to have
Arlist's
haw been
written
describes his art
writteu in
iu 1940-41, Rothko
RlJthko tkscribes
the framework of art's poIentw
potential power of
within tlte
revealing
Throughout his
fe\"-eidiog the
lire ultimate truth. ThwugOOut
life, Rothko
abandoned ~b!c
recognizable
RlJiliku gradually ~
objects in his work anrl
and simply used colors anrl
and
obj<;ctJ
shapes. Especially in
shapc3,
io his late work of the
1950's he even shifted from the use of bright
Figure
Mark lWthko,
Rothko,
Ffgw" 32.
31. Mad;
Red on Maroon, 1959
ih!d
use of darker ones because

more immersive. Kuspit
colors to the uoo
b.x;ause he thought of them as ll:lOIe
(1971) ilfgue:l
argues tbaf.
that"[t]he
destruction of reciprocity belW<:eu
between sensibility
(1971}
"[t}he de:>lructiuuufreciproeily
SCIIIIihilily and understanding
[in modem art] destroys the world of experience, which is replaced by a realm of formal
absolutes, i.e., lines and colors ordered in a composition spiritually satisfying" (p.26). In
a similar manner, Rothko's work presents a lack of an identifiable experience in the
pre$CulCd subject of art, which V>Wl

ofimages?'
presented
was previGIISly
previously !lChieved
achieved in the histwy
history of
images.23
rnsle!!d, the viewer
vicwer is left with an
un absence
ubsenoo or un
RolhIm thought oould
Instead,
an emptiness that Rothko
could only
with the spirit.
be filled "'illl
In the Tate Modem

Modern Oallety
Gallery in London au room is cxplicitiy
explicitly dedkaled
dedicated to MIhIm'$
Rothko's
"I%(H"k.
oineofhis
work. The Tate f'l"tlSCl"lt'!
presents nine
of his painting&.
paintings, indudingRed
including Red 011
on Maroon (1959) (F1Sure
(Figure
32), which the artist inilial!}
!950s fOf
initially ereated
created in the late 1950s
for lhe
the fashionahle
fashionable rest!iUUml
restaurant Four
SetlSl!>l.1l on Park Avenue in New

Ne\>< Y
url. However, as the work
W\lrl( progressed Rothko
R<:>thJw
York.
Seasons
eoositl.en;d
bad little to do with the humanly
hllmrmly nature
IllI1I!fC of the
!he
of his work had
considered that the lllItUfe
nature ofhh
23
View Chapter II, Sections: "The Modem Illusions ofAU -isms (Cubism, Dadaism, Surrealism)" and
"Futurist Painting and the Fourth Dimension" for more information.
93
restaurant.
work to be spiritual and sublime,
able 10
to transcend
the '\.icw-.:::r
viewer
restaumnt. He believed his \.\'Ork
subli:me. ,gblo
lr1mM:end 1he
to the sphere ofthe
divine. So, the Tate
installed Uw
the paintings in a slogle
single <:ompac!
compact space
<}f~ diviM,
T;rtc lI:mta!led
sp&:e
with reduced light, an atmosphere that enhances the work's meditative nature. As the
spectator enters
suddenly feels that she enters
an aUmlirtive
alternative space of
spc.."talOI
mters the room she indeed
iodeed suddeoly
enteffllll>
reflection
for it disturbs the <:on!(lmpl;:itive
contemplative nature
space
reflectitm and no sound is
i~ allowed ro,
rurture of the spa~
that art creates. As Rothko explains about his work: "in the conscience of the artist, the
Truth of Art is foremost [...] This artistic conscience, which is composed of present
reason and memory, this morality intrinsic to the generic logic of art itself, is
inescapable" (Rothko, 2004, pA). For Rothko, as for other abstract painters such as
or Piel
Piet Mondrian, art !lOOl'lled
seemed to
award "a
experienceWassily Kandinsky {lr
ro lIwanl
'"a prior-to expe~
being I[...]
forms; it gives them
ultimate realm of
existence to
!O pure fmJH.S;
!hem membership
memhexship in an ultimale
ofbelng
... j
(Kuspit, 1971,
p.29).
(KllRPit.
191\, p.l')).
....
.
........
...
::
A
:.
III
.
.. :- . ,. ..:.. JIll. ...

.:.:.: C;.~ :-: . ~ -,...
..., . ... :.... ...
.....

::.....
1:1
~.C

~
;11
';II ,
n. Wassily
W-,ly Kandinsky,
Kandln;ky,
Figure 33.
and Vblct.
Violet, 1924
Black
m""hmd
1914
Ii-. ."
II
.~
:-.:
:--:
"
.........
.
...

. ..........
""'... ,.. ...
~
-:

.":
,,:
" ..
-...
...
Figure 54
34. Pic!
Piet M<m.frfun,
Mondrian,
1942-43
Broadway Boogie-Woogie,
~
!k;cgk-Wm>g>'e.
In general, the historic avant-gardes of the twentieth century were searching to

establish
truth within the I'OOOfIngumtioo
reconfiguration "f
csmbUsh umh
of art, within simplicity lind
and pure forms.
fcnm.
Influenced by the "primitive" art of Africa and the West Indies, the modernists-
94
especially the Cubists and the Dadaists - attempted to find truth in the lack of visual
prototypes. In a sense the artistic movements
movemenlS of the twentieth century were
wen:
simultaneously didactic and romantic. On the one hand, the modernists pitted against the
established art forms or often against established
establisl>cd
eS\.QbJished societal ideologies, considering them
24
like Plato 10
to be lacking absolute truth. 24 On the other hand, they
\bey were searching for truth
in their work through randomness and chance, characteristics of nature, which they
avant-gardes were didactic in their desire to
10 put an
considered as the pure form.
form. "The avant-ganies
end to art, in their
condemnation of its alienated and inauthentic character. But
thcircondcmnation
BUI they were
wen:
also romantic
romanlic in their conviction that art must be reborn immediately as aboolute"
absolute"
(Badiou, 2005, p.8).
(Badiou.
p.S). Regardless
Ro.:gardless of the degree 1to0 which
..mich they supported the idea that
!hat art is
like philosophy, the modernists never ceased to search
seaJ'l.'h for an absolute based on the
conviction that truth is internal
wnviction
;nlermal to art.
arI.
easily
Certainly, such arguments
argwnenlS are idealistic and easi
ly put art on a pedestal, where
wben:
art's relationship
n:lationship to truth is established in the assumption that art is like philosophy. In
Hegel 's attempt to position art in an equal function 1to0 philosophy, he refused to reduce
Hegel's
lIS Kant did,
disinterested taste, as
did.
aesthetics (the philosophy of art) to the level of mere disintert$led
This would simply eslablish

Jogical thought and
establish art asobje
as object to cognition and logical
consequently to philosophy too. As presented
pn:sented previously
previol,lSiy in OIapter
Chapter II, in his C,i/ique
Critique of
Judgmenl
191412005), Immanuel Kant suggested that
thai the beautiful is the obje
Judgment ((1914/2005),
object of art
an
entirely disinterested judgment of satisfaction. Kant attempted to provide aesthetie

aesthetic
auto1l<)my
10 art by searching for a way in which the judgment of an object is free from
autonomy to
arty
any personal or subjective interests, since any interest presupposes or generates a want
10 be logical.
that never allows judgment to
,.
24
R~ to
10 ChapIc<
u.
Refer
Chapter II.
95
thai in saying it is beoulfjul
IaSle,
We easily see that
beautiful and in showing that I have taste,
IJ am concerned, not with
wi th that
thai in which I depend on the existence of the
object, but
bUI with that
thaI which I make out of this representation in myself.
Everyone must
rnust admit that
thai a judgment about beauty,
beauty. in which the least
00\ about pure judgment of tasle.
taste.
interest mingles.
mingles, is very partial and is not
(Kant, 1914/2005,
(Kant.
191412005. p.28)
Based
a judgment is
&sed on this first argument, Kant
Kanl also suggested that if
ifajudgrnent
disinterested then it
judgment that
il is aajudgmcnl
thaI can simply never be grounded in one single
person, hence, it becomes objective. Thus, one "must believe that he has reason for
attributing a similar satisfaction to everyorte

1914f200S. p.34). In aII. sense, beauty
everyone"~ (Kant, 1914/2005,
be<:ornesaa characteristic
cham;teristic of the object,
objcct, rather than aII. characteristic
char.M::teristic that
thai one senses in the
becomes
consequence thejudgrncnt
the judgment of beauty becomes II.a universal and logical one
object and as II.a collSOqUCD(:C
- since it is based on the cognition of the object as beautiful rather than in the perception
pert:CpUon
of it as such. In II.
way, beauty-as-truth becomes a universal
univCJ"3iIl absolute that cannot be
away,
of art. Instead Hegel

renegotiated in the space ofart.
Hege l supported an infinite absolute negativity
~in which the Idea negates the
!he infinite and universal so as to become finite and particular,
"in
and then
!hen again negates finitude and particularity
partkuJarity in order to reestablish infinity and
particular~ (EgginKm,
1(44).
!he finite and particular"
universality in the
(Egginton, 2002, p. 1044).
fail - $Orne
Natwi!hSlanding, all the above theories or s(itemata
Notwithstanding,
schemata failsome more than others
- to present a possible true potential ofart
of art because they either achieve a mere theological
mistrust. art as
neulralization of the image, like Hegel and Heidegger, or because they mistrust
neutralization
Pl ato and Aristotle. What one notices
ootices
being an imitation or semblance of the truth, like Plato
here is that in all the above schemata there always seems to be an absolute that defines
Inrth. In Plato
Plalo this absolute is the Good or the higher
the relationship between art and truth.
ali/hia or unhiddenness,
unbiddenroess, in Hegel it is the morality
moral ity or the ddivine,
ivine,
il is alithia
forms, in Heidegger it
96
in Kant it
The degree to which art has the ability to present this absolute that is
il is Beauty. n.e
usually defined
dtfined by philosophy,
pltil<)$(1phy, is what establishes art's relationship to this truth.
troth.
The aspirations
aspimlions of Plato, Aristotle, Heidegger, Kant and Hegel, could be further
at the Iconoclastic
analyzed through Byzantine iconography. Specifically, I will look al
dispute that evolved around
aroWld the question of
of""presence"
prescnce" in the Byzantine icon and which
discusses the paradoxical relationship between
betwccn the finite nature
natu: of the work of art, that is
the icon altcmptlllO
attempts to represent.
the icon, and the infinite
infmitc nature of the divine that
thallhe
Negotiation
Question
of "Presence" in the Icon
Nqotiation of Infmity:
Infinity: The Qu
rstion o'''Presence''
Iw n
In Orthodox Christianity, the main

mai n religious
practice of Gree
Greece and most of Eastern Europe, the
Byzantine
the
inu:gral part
pan of
oflhe
ByzantiM icon is used as an integral
religious cult. Similar to
\0 the words of the scriptures, the
icon has always been an essential element of the
li turgical act and it becomes one of
ofllle
ill5!ruments that
the instruments
liturgical
hero
inform our knowledge or
of God. What is important here
thai in the practice of religion, the icon (even
to note is that
though a painting) is never considered to be an image or
Figure 35. Theotokos (Mother of

God), 14th C., Byzantine
~useU[O,l\thens,(}reece
an idol. Specifically, an image is an assumed visual representation

of appearances that is
represtrltation ofappearance!l
based on the selective process of the artist

anist and it does not tell us anything about the
nature that it represents. An idol is thought to be a three-dimensional representation of
something that does not exist. ""From
From biblical times,
times. true believers identified an object of
97
misplaced devotion as an idol (eidolon), using the Greek.
Greek word for 'fantasy image' to
10
describe the (mis) representation ofa
of a god"
(Wharton, 2003, pA).
god~ (Whanon,
p.4).
However, the icon is neither an image nor an idol in the way the two are defined
eoika of the Greek verb iim,

eiko,
by the church. Icon,
Icon., as the noun
noWl "off the past perfect tense eoiko
means 10
to be like.
Sahas (1986) argues, even the grammatical detail here is important
Ii~. As Sallas
[n aaway,
way. the icon does not
for il
it assumes that the likeness has already been established. In
exist apart from its prototype, that

thaI is God, and as such the icon is of a being and not of a
thing. 11Ie
The icon is what Aristotle described as the matter,
mauer, the signification of the form,
that
to that being. In a seIlS(:
sense
thai is the higher idea. Nevertheless, the icon is never identical 10
the icon, even though
tlK.>ugh an image in the eyes of the viewer, it is never considered to
10 be one
with an
in the eyes of the believer. Its differentiation rests in the relationship of the icon wilh
of this
absolute truth
lrulh and an absolute being - that is God. For a better
betler understanding
undCTStanding orthis
relationship one can look at
years
al the controversy that
thaI took place in Byzantium
By:zantium in the ye3J$
between 730 A.D.-843

A. D.-843 A.D and evolved around the question ofpresenu
ioon. l3s
ofpresence in the icon.2
This is also a question ofimmancnce
of immanence for it debates whether the truth of the absolute being
intcmal to the icon.
ioon.
is internal
Even though.
though, historical sources do not identify the exact time when such
arguments started taking place, it is most oommon

common to locate this dispute at the point when
111 claimed that he would take actions against the
the Emperor of Constantinople Leo III
,.
Byzami"" dispu
(7)(1
D. - 143
.... D.) is the controversy
(:(In!n)~ ...,.,..:1
wonhip of ..,ligicHa<
25 The Byzantine
dispute
(730 ....
A.D.
843 A.D.)
around the worship
religious imagery.
This started
an image
of .Jesus
from the
entrance of
11Iis
sta/Itd when
"ben the Byzantine
Byun1i"" emperor
cmpcrol" Leo III
II I removed
~""
i~ or
..... &om
the..",...,.
Of the
Gtat Palace ofComtan';nople
~ with
with.a CfOSf
Great
of Constantinople and 'cplaco:l
replaced it
cross ,"",vi""""
convinced thM
that God WOO>
was punis/ling
punishing
Byumium for
(or idolatry
idolltly - that
thM is the worship
wonhip or.....,.
Byzantium
of images of God insI...,;I
instead of
of God (seoood
(second ~).
commandment).
This separated
~ Byzantium
Byzam;um into iconoclasts
ioonoclW! (those
(!hose aplnsl
ond iconoduies
against icons) and
iconodules or iconophiles (!box
(those
supponirlg
supporting icons).
98
Church if the latter
continued using icons in their practices. 2Ii
26 1lte
The letters that the Pope of
lauer oontinued
lsaurian. in the period between 715-731,

715-73\, stand
Rome Gregol)'
Gregory II sent to Emperor Leo the Isaurian,
lIS possibly the earliest source
SOUTtc of information
infOl'Tllation that we have about Leo's altitude
attitude and
as
thinking in regards to
letter, On fhe
the Holy
10 the icons. In the fIrst
firslleuer,
HQly Icons Pope Gregory,
lctlcT that he received from Leo III, says:
referring to a previous letter
For ten years you have been, by the grace

of God, walking the right
gntc<: of(JQd,
path and you have made no mention of the holy icons. Now, however,
howevcr,
you
say
that
YOll
they
the place a/idols
ofidols
,hey are in lire
and that
those
venerate Ihem
them ore
are idolOlers
idolaters [...}
{hose who W:lIl:rale
f. .. }
You also wrote that
not venerate things
oflikeness
one should nbt
Ihings made with
wilh hands, as well
welf as any kind ofliuness
sky nor on
neither in lhe
the s.l:y
all earth,
earth. as God said ...
as well as,
Let
to venerate and how down to
u/ me know,
.blOw, who has taught
laught us
us/a
/0 things
Ihing$ made
legislated us not
to 00
do so? [.
with
wilh hands, while God legis/aled
00110
f. ....}]
cited in Sallas,
Sahas, 1986, p.27)
(as ciled
h.is faith but also made clear that he wished to
In these letters the Emperor Leo asserted his
terminate the tradition of the icons in the Christian Church. One can witrless
witness here the
possible Jewish and Islamic influences on Leo's convictions of defining
defIning icons as being
idols.
Specifically, in Judaism.
xodus, "You sliaU
Judaism, as described in the book oflhe
of the Bible Exodus,
shall
!l<)t make for yourself
yOllJ"!le lf a graven image, or
OJ any likeness of anything that is in heaven above,
above.
not
or that
tlutt is in the earth below, or that is
i$ in the water under the earth~
earth" (as cited in Sahas,
..
~ mainly because
t.oc.use oflht
perors. They thought
Ibou&lU it was
wM their
26 The Chrio!iaIJ
Christian on
art bad
had alwilyt
always been preserved
of the ....
emperors.
lempleo and to
10 ~
Ihtm with valuable liturgical
li!uriical objocl$.
Aft ... alllh<>se
responsi\>ility 10
responsibility
to build temples
decorate them
objects. After
all those
Millie
wm: also
abo political
potilical for d>ey
wm: ...
l1c<:tive oflht
ond the wealth
walth of the Palace.
PaIooce.
artistic endea>t<:ln
endeavors were
they were
reflective
of the art and
Dwi", Iht
ofConmntine
G<eat (first half of
oflhinl
ome;.!, ofthe
of the Church
Cburd>
During
the lime
time of
Constantine the Great
third =>1Ury
century A.D.) the officials
were
equalized with the
officials of the Slate.
State, '"
so that
Church's responsibility
to also
maintain
wm: ~I;zed
Iht o/fo:iaIs
111M it~ was
..... the
Iht Clwrcll',
responsibili1y 10
abo "",inlain
"'
.. ccultural
ultural lOnd..,islie
2000~ This ..
of the reasons
reatOI\J. the church was funded
this
and artistic tndilion
tradition (hnselinou,
(panselinou, 2000).
is """
one ofthe
willll-.ge
lmIlW>\OofflOYCf1\Jnmtl$l2lO
nioney. which
whH:h~lly
III< Church
Cbun:h.
kItofpowawith large amounts
of government/state money,
consequentially pve
gave the
a lot
of power in
other matters
rl\3Qel""Softhe_
.. well.
_II.
ofthe state as
99
1986, p.16). In Islamic traditions
tradi tions the Qur'an,
Qur'Wi, even though it does not
00\ prohibit icons,
ioons,
disagrees with
declaring such representations
disagrt:cs
wilh the representation of humans de<:laring
repn:sentations as idols. This
is merely due to the fact that in Islam an image is understood as "equivalent to

10 and
prototype" (Sahas,
Qur'an when
(Sahas. 1986, p.18). So, according
acwrding to the Our'an
consubstantial with the protOlypeM
artists attempt to represent life they compromise life's absolute unity, since an image can
never be al
alive.
ive. Many assume
assWDC that the Emperor Leo the III was influenced by those
thosc two
traditions.
tradi
tions. It is also believed he was convinced
oonyjr>Ced that the political conflicts between
betwn the
Byzantine Empire and the Arab Muslims, who at the time
ti me where attacking Christian
territories due to
10 religious fanaticism,
fanaticism. were God's punishment towards Byzantium
BF.antium for
venerating
venerati ng icons.
ioons.
Hence, the Byzantine dispute focused on whether
wllether the icon should be part
pan of the
religious cult or not, based on the question whether
whClher the icon
ioon as an image was true in the
degree to which
wruch it presents the truth of God. Gregory II the Bishop of Rome (715-731),
(715-131).
Session of
ofthe
in the Fourth
(268B-292B)
Founh Volume (2688
-2928 ) of
or the
lhe Sixth
Sixlh SeSSion
the Seventh Ecumenical
Council (787) talks about

aboul the status of the icon in the Bible and in the
lhe practice of the
Chur<:h.
10 Plato, Gregory II claims that
!hat the icon is only
on ly a painting !hat
Church. Similarly to
that is
wonhless in presenting the truth of God.
God _
worthless
On the oon\rary,
contrary, the ill name of
ofthe
the falsely called 'icon' neither has its
Fa\hers, nor
nof is
existence in the tradition of Chris\,
Christ, or the Apostles, or the Fathers,
fOf it to
10 transpose
tJanSpose it from the state of
there any prayer of consecration for
being common to the state
Slate of
of being sacred. Instead, it
il remains common
wonhless, as the painter made it.
il, (Gregory II as cited in Sahas,
Sahas. 1986,
and worthless,
p.97)
Ccnainly, a question of
oftruthfu.Lncss
raixd duri
ng the
Certainly,
truthfulness and proximity was also raised
during
Renaissanec. but it is important to note
""te the difference between
bet"'"ec:n the Byzantine dispute and
Renaissance,
!hat raised similar questions. In the Renaissance,
Renaissanec, the validity of
other artistic movements that
100
the image was eithcT
either calculated by the geometrical
glXlmctrical and mathematical accuracy in which
scientific
perspective was presented, or by the scienti
fic examination of the degree in which
UoweVeT, in the creation of the Byzantine icon,
anatomy was presented with accuracy. However,
such mathematical or scientific considerations were simply impossible since there was
not an initial image of
God in real life that would serve as an example 1to
orGod
0 imitate
(Barasch, 1992). In
[n religious imagery it was impossible to
10 ask the question of
truthfulness based on the
lite same framework of
o f accurate representation,
"'presentation, that was later used
in the Renaissance,
to asking whether
Rellllissancc, because such question would have been similar 10
God can be depicted. This is obviously aD. rhetorical question.
Therefore, the question of
o f the truthfulness in the icon revolves
re~olves around the
of presence; that is whether the icon shares the essence ofthal

ofthat which it
question ofp'f'Sf!nce;
represents, which is the absolute truth ooff the diviJM::.
divine. Particularly, one can see that
thai if we
define the truth of art or of the icon based on its truthful representation of the ideal forms
as Aristotle defined
defmed them, then we a priori condemn the icon as D.a fallacy, since there is no
representation of God in which we can base the creation of the icon. This takes
lBkes one back
phi losopliy that art is nothing
notliing but an imitation
imilBlion of imitations
imitatiOIl$ and as sucll
such it is
to Plato's philosophy
ifan
ilS own voice, this would never
ne ver
outside of truth. In such case, if
art speaks ofanylhing
of anything in its
ifnotliing
" S8ys~ is
be truthful. Applying this back to the icon we realize that if
nothing that art "says"
truthful then art immediately loses any validity in talking about God, for that would
11
merely present the existence of God as a false argument
argument?7
n27 Certainly.
thoo belieflbal
isIs, and we do $I)
thoo $ake
Certainly, we are adopIins
adopting here the
belief that God
exists,
so for the
sake "fthe
of the atgumalt
argument. A
specific
exists or noI
not is aalhcological
theological "...
one ond
and ~it is noI
not within
of this >tudy
study
specif.e question
queStion whether
wbeII!er God exist!
willlin the aims "fthis
lOe.urni
...
to
examine.
101
In OOfllnist
contrast to the classical
c!a'llkal tradition
trw.Iithm and the Renaissance,
Byzantine iconography
not aim
perfect
ByYaIlt:ine
ioonography did tIOl
rum for a petfuct
28
fnstead, the artist,
representation of physical appearnnces.l!I
appearances. Instead,
based on a deep and extensive knowledge of the techniques
ba.'\ed
the church,
of BFllDtine
ioooogrnpby and of the scriptures of
nfthe
transformed or ignored 5()Il)C
some of the natural
realistic
traIlsfurmed
mrtuml or rtalistic
elements of
the representation in order to give the
e!emmrts
Qi1hc
the impression
Figure 36
36. 0 Nymphios
Figwv
NYlIIP!ii""
{lftmqfS(JN'OW8j,
(Man o/Sorrows),
16
c., St. Loukas
Jt>"th C,
L<JIII<:w Church,
Cl1w:ct\,
C
_
Cyprus
of the dlssoilllioo
dissolution of matter. "Too
"The true
(lIthe
uue Byzantine
does J:iOI.
not pay attention to the
natural elements,
hagiographer d<:Jes
tim MlUral
eiemel1~
aims to make approachable the holy,
but aiJru;
hoi}. to transcend
t!'allS<.:Cnd the
earthly 10
to the immaterial
reality, and 10
to present
emhly
iffllllllICrW reall!y,
pfellCnJ that
thel which is
unexpressed in the logos" (Zamvakclli,
(Zamvakelli, 1991.
1991, p.24).:
p.24). 29 The
icons cnrnpkte
complete the liturgy and the 1>Crip\1lw.j
scriptures in the religious
l.OOOO
rdigiolJ$
cult liS
as they have
deep
spiritual
content.
For
that
reason
the
biw",
oontent for dtat
of iconography is full of challenges,
challenges.
practice af~by
prtICti1;
In IOOst
most of the icons
elements !hat
that
loons there are common dement;
ofthe figllJ'Ci!
figures depicted. For
accentuate the spirituality uftlm
accentuatethe
instance, tlteeyei
the eyes are proportiOllil!ely
proportionately large and most
often
instanc(\
mosto/1en
to mh:ror
mirror the rolll
soul of the saint,
wide open .0
nlnt, the noses
uuses are long
are full of wrinkles
and thin,
thin. the faces
fa.:es arc
wrinkh:s and the mouths are
small and always dOSctt,
closed. The hands aIld
and feet are
proportionately smaller than the rest of the body, ",hid,
which most
propurtiomrtely
moot
often loses
ofien
105CS its weight. All is an elegy to
10 the sacrifice of the
Ihe
presents the i:rmel:
inner divine content ef
of
body to the spiritual and prments
Ci\t:h
h1l$ withdra\\-l1
each SUt1.:ct
subject. "Ewrythlng
"Everything has
withdrawn from reality, but
with Slli:h
[ .. "1 whatever hal;
such a discretion that [...]
has been loot
lost from
!he
boon gained in a
the isolated material repre~tmtatkm,
representation, has been
ctmnge
sp,rilual,ly" (Zam"-nkell,,
strange overall charm and spirituality"
(Zamvakelli, 1991,
p.141).
p.t41).
28 'Ih<I
The d;~,*
divergence from
the ~_i<al
classical tradition
of perfect "'~ioo
representation c
of forms
was ~
presented ill
in ,,!:rl;);h
works in
'"
fmm!he
mldilioo cf~
f _ ""'"
Egypt,
Galatia, Syria <I'!Id
and Asia
Minor frfllll
from the
century A,C
A.C., and
influenced by W<lfI<.
works fuJru
from
rIDl>", ,AJM""
All .. Mi"",
ili< first
lim """!my
Md was
w"" iIlt1.....a>d
Mesopotamia.
of the RQm'lll
Roman Empire
migrate J(>
to Rome
because of"
of a
~"" Artists
ArtiiM from
fr<Jru these
me... outskirts
wl$kJrt.; offul:
empire would
wookl mi!lflll<\
l(00I<\ ~
new ~
tendency "r
of <fStipMla
astiphilia -~.a love
for the cily
city. As
they blu;;m
brought with them
the
now
kr>e furl'"
All these
u..,.., artists
artw ..moved,
.,wd,!twy
<hem fur
cl:
..mOlCl'klirecfliwi,:Ir'~
~ were
w= fu<,
=;lllI'lifuld form
fOOl! "ftho
m. aboii8l!mmt
characteristics
of their art. These
the oversimplified
of the figur<.,
figures, the
abolishment "r
of ""Y
any
bao\gw<md
~ioo;:'[
1I!s
_
~!id
of fta tingle
single ",,,,,,,,ofli,ghL
source of light. It
is iwliiwOO
believed !hat
that these
characteristics
background Md
and fur
the representation
were adopted
the ort
art ofthe
Church, later transmitted, 1>ocruJ""
because this
of art was
"""'"
~ by fu<,
<>frtw (]IW~b.Iater_"",icd,
tim type ofart
..1<$ easily
M>;ly accessed
~ by
b~
the
anonymous """
and <>fuln
often \l~
uneducated *
masses
(panselinou, 2000).
dw """",">o'lS
' - (l'IImclilu)\),
200<l)..
"",ned....
""thor'"
is
an immediate translation
from Greek. I tried to I'f\=lI
present as accurately
possible the
"' ill!
_Wioo frooJ~.
""""flIkl)< as JlOS'ibIe
tho author's
words
but fur
the reader
needs J(>
to \mr
bear m
in mind 11M
that """'"
some oftlw
of the ...
words
Greek (,.,.
(as in 'lily
any ol1l.r
other language)
"""do 001
mI<klf!l<l<!<4
<lf\lo in D.<m
""'~)
bear ",,!\fHJtI'Iti_
connotations t!w
that "'"
are ky<Ind
beyond translation,
especially "-"""
because those
infused widi
with religious
and
\mr
_1awJn, """""lally
th<lw are
"'" infmt<!
tcli!):i_ Mld
cu!rurnl"""",.
cultural meanings.
29 TIl;"
This
1'1
102
'02
Gregory the Bishop,
Bishop. in the Third Volume (245D-268A) of the Sixth Session ofthe
oflhe
Seventh Ecumenical Council (787) concerning the theology of the icon, again speaks
about the icon. This time he declares it
il as blaspheme towards God. As most of
of the
iconoclasts he considered the icon to be inadequate ofpresetlling

ofpresenting the truth or
of the being
that it presents. He says:
For he has made an icon which he has called Christ. But Christ is IIa name
of a God as well as man. Conseqllelllly,
Consequently, along with describing
[indicative1ora
[indicative)
uncireumscribable character
created flesh.
flesh, he has either cireurru;cribed
circumscribed the uncircumscribable
of
the Godhead,
ortlle
Godh.ead, according to
\0 what has seemed good to his own
worthlessness, or he has confused that unconfused
WICOn fused union,
union. falling into the
iniquity of confusion. ThllS,
Thus, in two ways, with the circumscription and the
confusion.
confusion, he has blasphemed the Godhead. The one who has venerated
them [the icons]
abo responsible for the same blasphemies. Both are
ioons) is also
equally to
\0 be condemned because they have fallen into error [[...]
... ] (as cited
in Sahas, 1986, p.83)
p.S)
such it can never
According to the iconoclasts the icon is an image,
image. a fmite
fmile object, and as such.
possibly
of God. Even in the union of!he
of the fmite
JIOS5ibly hold or represent the infinite truth
troth ofOod.
finite with
Christ, who was used in the defense of the icons
the infinite in the face of Christ.
ieons as an example
tho: two,
two. GT('gOry
thO$<' who "",ale
,com are
of the possible union between the
Gregory s.ays
says that those
create icons
confused aoout
claims that the human nature of Christ is
about the nature of this union. He elaims
OUT finite human nature, because His is infused with the
never to be confused with our
In.rth of God and as such it is infinite. One who assumes that the same can stand
infinite truth
for the icon,
ieon, that in its finite structure holds the infmite,
infinite. and therefore
then:fon: the icon
ieon is infinite,
men:ly confused and is blasphemous.

is merely
John of Damascus,
of the Byzantine defenders of the icon during the
D-.un.ascus, the
!he greatest of!he
fervor. In the first part

pan of his
Iconoclastic dispute responds to such arguments with fervor.
ImtJgt$ (1JO
Apologia against/hose
against those who decry holy images
(730 A.D.) he responds to the arguments
initiall y agreeing with them. 11Ie

made by the iconoclasts by initially
The Christian God is a triadic
103
IOJ
upostasin - union - Christ is

not human flesh but beeQmes
becomes the Logos of
God and in this uposlru;n
iS1l()1
to follow in his
God. However, St. John of Damascus prepares us here for what is 10
defense of the icons. He says that Christ is the visible actualization of the invisible God
that one attempts 10

to draw in the icon and not
and it is this visibility thai
IlQI the invisibility as
Gregory assumed earlier.
Human
Hwnan nature was not lost in the Godhead, but just as the Word made
flesh remained the Word, so flesh
Ilesh became
bet:ame the Word remaining flesh,
becoming,
rather,
one
with
the
Word
through Wlion
union (kaq upostasin).
bc.:oming, rather.
Therefore I venture to draw
dmw an image of the invisible God, not as invisible,
invisible.
Tllerefore
but as having
our sakes through
kaying become visible for
[orour
Ihrough flesh and blood. IJ do
ille immortal Godhead. I paint the visible flesh of
not draw an image of the
God, for it is impossible to represent [6] IIa spirit
spi rit [[...],
.. . ], how much more
mon: God
of Damascus, 1998, Part I, para.4)
who gives breath 10
to the spirit. (St. John ofDamaseus.
parn.4)
In addition, the Damascene defends the icons based on two principles. He defines
defInes
the icon
iwn as fIrst
first an image,
image. a likeness of the prototype that is at once different in essence
from its original - that
second that
it represents in
thaI is God - but sec(lM
thaI it
il can also show what
whal il
itself One needs 10
to examine closer those two seemingly incompatible principles.
priociples.
Ihis fIrst
first principle,
pri m:iple, the defInition
definilion or
Ihe image returns
relums back
bac k to
10 the Platonic
According to this
of the
belief of the imitation and by that John of Damascus is ascribing less reality 10
to the image
than that which the image portrays (Barasch.

Ilowevcr, in his se<.:OM
priociple, he
(Barasch, 1992). However,
second principle,
stales
wllat it represents in
In itself
Il5elf Throughout his Orations John of
states that the icon shows what
first principle that, in a sense,
sense. contradicts his second principle.
prim:iplc.
Damascus sticks with the fIrst
WKlerstand that his reasons for doing SO
We can understand
so are merely based on the fact that an
argumenl
argument that would blend the boundaries between icon and archetype would lead to
idolatry. It is asswned
fon:es him to contradict himself in
assumed that it is this awareness that forces
suggesting that oon
n one hand the image is an imitation (therefore truth is extemal
external and
104
outside of the icon) but on the other hand it reveals what it presents in itself(the
ilst/f(the truth is
internal to the
tile icon).
Regardless of the apparent argument
lII'gument that what the image presents is its own
argument lies on the underlying
representation, the uniqueness of John of Damascus's argwncnt
W1dcrlying
idea that it is the icon's function to show, and that
thaI the
(he showing
showi"g happens in the
lhe image itself
judi
(1955; 1898).
1898~ The above is a modem argument that
thai takes us back to Badiou's concern
with
wim truth's becoming or how truth occurs in art. In a sense the icon is an iconic sign of
of
sorts and "such a sign, one knows,
of what it designates"
sons
knows., has itself the properties ofwhal
(Barasch, 1992, p.]
p.197).
97). Hence, the icon is viewed as an incarnation of the in:fmite
infinite truth
(Barasch.
hypostasis (matter)
of God and it becomes something like Christ, the hyposlasis
(matler) that
thaI externalized the
ousia (essence) and ungraspable truth of God in the realm of the everyday.
ousio
of the relationship between an
art and
I.l.'I again to the question
qllC31ion oftbc
W'KI truth based
This brings us
on the idea of an
WI absolute. This relationship is negotiated in the degree of immanence ;s el<temal
troth that art
whether truth is
external or internal to art - and, singularity - whether the truth
presents is the
trulh-of-art. On the
\he one hand,
hand. in the Platonic argument
\he absolute truth or a truth-of-art.
icoTlQ(:lasrs (didactic SChelTUl),
and in the belief
schema), the relationship between art and
belief of the iconoclasts
truth is singular, since the truth that is presented in the artwork is specifically the truth of
semblance and therefore unique to the artwork. However, it is certainly not immanent
becal.l5e "the position of truth is ultimately

ultilTUltcly extrinsic'"
Plato' s
extrinsic" (l3adiou,
(Badiou, 2005, p. 9). In Plato's
because
argumenls made against the Byzantine icons the work
won never
argumenlll
arguments and in the arguments
p=nllltruth
It rather
mther
presents
truth in itself, nor does it behold any of the absolute truth of the divine. It
thaI is extemallO
il. On the other hand, in the beliefs of
merely reflects or imitates a truth that
external to it.
the iconodules and what appeln

appears to be a common thread in theories by StirT\CT,
Stirner, Heidegger,
105
troth is indeed
Kant and Hegel (romantic S(:hema),
schema), the relationship between art and truth
10 be something internal
intemallO
an.
immanent. Truth appears to
to the artistic effect of the work of art.
However,
However. truth is not
1101 singular to
10 the specific work since they are
l\I'e talking about an
absolute, universal truth.
absolute.
tnllh.
However. Badiou (2005) suggests a new
IlCW proposition. He proposes a new schema
However,
(an is
in which the relationship between art and truth is simultaneously immanent (art
to art
coextensive with the truths that it generates) and singular (these truths are unique 10
and they can be presented nowhere else). Badiou (2005) ltI'gues:
argues:
Art itsdfis
itself is a truth procedure. Or again: The philosophical identification of
Wlder the category of truth. Art is a thought in which artworks are
art falls under
the Real (and not
nol the effect). And this thought, or rather
ralher the truths that
thaI it
activates, are irreducible 10
pol itical or
to other truths - be they scientific, political
amol'(lUS. This also means that art, as a si
ngular regime of thought, is
amorous.
singular
philooophy. (p.I)
(p.l)
irreducible 10
to philosophy.
Badiou brings all three schcmata
schemata - the didactic.
didactic, the romantic and the classical - together
in a new consideration of art. He frees art from its philosophical considerations that
require it to be an objoct
philosophy. in a similar way to romanticism. Simultaneously,
object of philosophy,
classicism, truth occurs in art. However,
he argues that like classicism.
However. he takes this even further,
suggesting like didacticism, that the truth that originates in art is indeed unique to art.
Badiou
Bad iou (2005) claims that the work of art is not simply the semblance or the liking
li king of the
impossible to signify real (what at times
limes is presented as an absolute). It
II is only necessary
oocessary
0 think thaI
for one 1to
that art is a unique and singular space ofthoughl
of thought where many truths can
O<;I;ur,
10 other truths.
occur, and these truths arc
are independent from and irreducible to
Consequently, in a relationship between art and truth that
Consequently.
tllal is simultaneously
immanent and singular, one canoot
cannot assume that there is an unnamable real in the void
106
us 10
to fall back on the
(previously presented as "nothingness,,).30
'"nothingness1. JO This would simply cause lIS
assumption that there is an ultimate truth
lruth that waits to be revealed in the nothingness
oothingness - an
inevitably idealistic and romantic conception of truth.
\0
Therefore, one could argue that upon following Badiou's schema, one comes to
art, whereas the elimination of an

support the idea of virtuality as a space of potential in art.
absolute immediately frees art from

/Tom an act of mythologizing. Particularly, the
IooI<s at the fact that in the
establishment ofan
of an absolute truth must be a myth if one looks
ofan
00 single or common
an absolute truth then:
there is no
philosophical considerations of
understanding of it.
it If
Ifabs(llutcl\CSS
absoluteness takes different names and it can be found in different
spaces - the divine, nature,

nature. beauty,
beauty. or morality - whereas these are
an: related but never the
same, then I would assume that absoluteness is a constructed philosophical understanding

undemanding
of abstraction (and as it will
Will be presented in the following
follOl'oing chapter, iti1 is also
alS(! a constructed
mythology of power that aims for unity). Nevertheless, the above can also simply imply
that there are indeed many truths that can occur in a single space - the truth of religion,
oftlle
law, All oflilese
the natural, or the truth of the law.
ofthese
the truth of the beautiful, the truth of
truths are valid and irredllCible

irreducible to
can also be a space that
10 one another. Similarly, art ean
!hat
produces
prod uces truths and it
il can
ean do so without the support of philosophy. Let us
LIS return to
10 the
icon once again in order to examine the above proposition.
as "Nothingn~I"
"Nothingness" .nd
and the Truth as "Something"
The Void
Void.8
"So mething"
Without
of any perspective, the
Withoul the use orany
IIle Byzantine icon leads the viewer to
10
nat space of
or golden
goldcn
immerse herself into the space behind the depicted saint, into the flat
leaves layered in
such a way as 10
to create the background oftJu.:
of the image. The background
in:weh
30
JO
Refer back
to a..p.e.
Chapter I, Section: MPIatQ',
"Plato's Allegory of the Cave
bod 10
eo"" and the Notion
"",ion of the Khora".
KJ>or.M,
107
space is 11a flat, non-thematic, glowing empty space that creates the illusion
ill U!Sion ora
of a divine
tbe element of!he
of the background as a11 non-space, a void that justifies
within the image. It is the
the greatness of the person

penon depicted,
depicted. sinte
~n '$ significance is supported through
since the person's
11a lack
lad, of reference. As if
irthe
exiSIC~ of the divine needs no explanation and
the existence
jjustification,
ustification, but can ",ther
rather exist as oorncthing
something substantial without the support of the
By:amline art only uses the golden background to give visual context to
physical reality, Byzantine
;IS saints.
its
Plotinus,
Plolinus. one oflbe
of the greatest ancient philosophers, in his Six Enneads (250 A.C.)
abseoces inspire presence

prelleoce in works
work!! of art. Plotinus suggests
suggest!;
theorizes the ways in which absences
that 11a metaphysical vision is required in order to access beauty, because this
lIlis is the only
way in which one can reach Imowledge
knowledge that is holistic and immediate, instead of
analytical and
ami rational.
[T]o see is the function oflke
of the Intellectual-Principle.
Intdle<:IUaI- Principle. Even in our own
(Do
sphere (we
[we have 11a parallel to this self-vision of a unity],
s)flcre
unity ), our vision is light
bct:Omes one with light, and it
i1 sees light for it sees colours. In the
or rather becomes
intellectual, the vision sees not through some medium
mediwn but by and through
itself alone,
by
one
light it sees another
alonc, for its object is not external:
el<temal:
anothcr not
through any intermediate
agency; a light sees a light, that is to say a thing
intennediate agcr>ey;
sees itself. This light shining within the
!he soul enlightens it; that is, it
il makes
intelloctive, working it into likeness
li keness with itself,
itself. the light above
the soul intellective,
... ] (Plotinus, 1994-2000, V, para.8)
pard)
r[...
Plotinus
Plolinus claims that we need
neo:I to
lo search for a new way of looking at nature, which is
indifferent towards the outside appearances, the dimensions and the colors.
colors, establishing a
"[t]he materiality
of the
metaphysical way for looking at art. Based on his philosophy, ~rtJhe
material ity ofthe
perceptible objoct
object is indifferent and in fact an impediment (rather than a contribution) to
offonn~
(O 'Meara, 1995,
object, in SO
so far as it limits the reception of
form" (O'Meara,
the beauty of the objoct,
p.95).
108
lOS
The loon
icon of Arclmngct
Archangel CmOOd
Gabriel (Figure 37) is
made with tempera and
end gold on wood panels, fIa
mostly used after the loooodastk
Iconoclastic
technique that was InOStly
dispute and has survived in the iconographic
ioonogrnphic practices
until
day. The wood for !he
the icons is carefUlly
carefully
WlI:iI this day_
oolected
it;g
or pinewood.
selected and it
is usually walnut, C)-]ll'C$,
cypress, orpiocwood
or panels are !hen
then carved 00
so 10
to create an
The panel Of
elevated smrotmding
surrounding frame, as it is show in the loon
e!eviitOO
icon of
Archangel Gabriel (this is nol
not always !he
the case in more
Arcl:irulllel
contemporary practices). Then the slltftKe
surface is prepared
eonttmlporary
...with
-uh glne
plasrer and !he
artil! dra'Ws!he
glue and plaster
the artist
draws the
presentltion
the
presentation with aII light egg color, as it is part of
ofthe
W-cimique'to
mil( me
technique to mix
the 00101'5
colors with egg yolk and yinegar.
vinegar.
The latter prevents molding. Then the artist adds
add.~ on
the surfacegoWen leaves
\eaves using
Il~ng bolo, a
surface of the WlXXIthe
wood the golden
special glue of red color. The golden background is
simple :
often isolated
ioolaWd and simplified and it
II becomes
beroill\'S one simpk
Figure
Archangel Gab-id
Gabriel
Fig'.Jrf 37.
37 Arrkmg-d
layer
of
gIoomiog
reality_
c!eI!les
impfllli:OOn
glooming
reality.
It
creates
the
impression
of 11a i
13th C,
C., The Hcly
Holy 'M0M5tery
Monastery of
11th
a
world
suspends
our
reality
into
surreal
world,
vmrld
that
~
OW'
I'<'ftIlty
i
Saint Cmh.eMne,
Catherine, SiMi,
Sinai, Egypt
Egyp1
wmething
baekgroulKl i
something heyood
beyond materiality. The golden background
exception as it represents
has always been used without
wilhout exreption
the dh-ine
of the most
JOOst w;luable
valuable
divine tight.
light. Gold is one ofthe
metals and it is the symbol of purity :4nce
neV<:I"
since itil never
disintegrate"
io time
lime (Panse!inon,
2(00).
(Panselinou, 2000).
disintegrates or changes in
Even
Byzantine icon.QgrnJJhy
iconography hal;
has
EvCll though BY7.l!lltine
changed throughout 1inlf:
time and Its
its tmmiqne
technique has
, chauged
altered,
a1lkrod, it still remains the same in its principles
: --- it is mum
pr1l8l1t and support
to present
an art that aims W
spirituality. Let us take the
; .l'iriUlality.
Ihe presentation of
the case of the
: angels for instance such
weh as in ihe
: icon
ioon of Archangel GabrieL
Gabriel. Angels ure
are always
depicted with wings and even though
thot;gh they
always
have
male
names
the
viewer
can never
: f\lways
me
female for their facial
: identify
identitY them as male or fcmale
characteristics make
specific
: uharacterislics
rrrnke no references
refe:rorroes to
10 a spcci1ic
hold in the
: gender.
gUIder. The skiptro
&kiptro that they all Iwld
right hand is
; righl
i. an indication
indicauQJl of the divine power
or order_
order. When
they pcrfOnlll!
perform a peaceful
: Of
WbM the}
white archaic cloth that
: mission they
Ihev appear in whik
symbolizes
innocence and joy. &unctimes
Sometimes they
,ymholiws'innoccuee
Figure 38.
healing the
Fig>lTe
Ji<_ Archangel
A:r";"'''gallwalmg
(h~
appear in more official clothes
with gold
, appe;u
clothl"l with.
possessed monk
fXJJussed
IWJIIk; Michael,
Mid_t
adornments aOO
and valuable sww;s,
stones. When they
: ad<>mme.utll
tlxy are
1346, Lesnovo,
Lesoovll,
on a mission of protection or punishment,
sent
punkhment, senT
of
the
Archangel
Church
Chumh uflhe Arohw:l$1 Michael
Micl:wel
God 10
to give a message, tht:y
they appear with
! by GOO
"military" UIliform
uniform (ZrunWikeUi,
(Zamvakelli, 1991).
I their "'military"
i
i
Hl9
109
lar way, in the slim and elongated figures of the Byzantine icons, matter
In aII simi
similar
is 10SI,
lost, disappeared, in the golden eternity that surrounds them. The viewer is simply left
filled with aII spiritual understanding and internal oonnection

with a lack that can only be fIlled
connection
10 the icon. According 10
Plolinus, the viewer's vision needs
neOOs to become metaphysical, for
to
to Plotinus,
"the vision sees no1
itsel f alone, for its object
obje<:\
not through some medium but by and through itself
is not external" (Plolinus,
1994-2000. V, para.8).
parlI.8). The icon can never be external
eXlemal10
(Plotinus, 1994-2000,
to the
inside , This reminds us of

viewerlbeliever because its viewing always derives from inside.
ortlle
10
Rothko's works as they are displayed in the small, darkened room of
the Tate and aim to
spiritually transcend
tJarlSC(:nd the viewer
vie wer into
inlo IIa contemplative sphere.
sphen::. All of the
tile above bring one
vinualily. In the acontemplative

,mtcmplalive and immersive space of
o[the
of virtuality.
the image,
back 10
to the fl()(ion
notion o[
Ibis case of the icon, the spc:o.::lator

10 access art's potentiality. This refers to
spectator is allowed to
in this
lity 10
intemallo
il is
art's possibi
possibility
to present a truth in itself, an art-truth that is internal
to the work as it
10 the viewing of the work.

to
This is similar to Badiou's (2006) understanding of the void. He argues that
thai the
~oothi ng~ is thai
whi(:h is simply not there and therefore it am
void as "nothing"
that which
can never be a
"the void of a situation is [...]

characteristic of anything. Instead, ''the
[ .. . [ what is necessary
nec..,sary for
anything to be there" (Badiou..
(Badiou, 2003, p.12). So, if we assume that Byzantine iconography
ioonography
is the situation, then the lack in the golden background
bac:kground of their work, the golden void, can
be thought of as what is necessary for the divine-truth to oo.x:UT.
occur. Certainly, we could not
possibly provide a successful example of the void of a situation, because
bceause if the void is
that which is not there, then we can never witness
wilne$s it. Hence, a void can never be gold or
white, witnessed or described. Instead the void remains a virtual existence, for it always
remains in its 0own
....1l possibility to give birth
binh to something.
110
lW
Figure
and Child,
Figw' 39. Berlinghiero,
Berlin!(hiero, Madonna
Mmimma aM
1228-1236
P'Hl!lW)/ion in
In ,ke
rempl~,
Figure 40. The.
The Presentation
the Temple,
th
J5"'C
15
C.
In Byzantine iconography
the pen;an
person or even,
event is
it is in a realm beyond our
10
ioonography 1he
js depicted as if if
OHf
<).>;u
tbe ootloll
m;m:ly
of the impo~bility
impossibility of the divine. This merely
own na~
nature, supporting the
notion (lfthe
produces a feeling
and fear and iT
it successfully sustains !he
the holiness
prod\Wl:{\
tecling of aspiring
a:>pirmg grandeur ami
subject sl.!ggCfiting
suggesting that
is an ultimate trurb
truth that relates to this impossibility.
of the $ubj~
tha! there
~m
Additionally, the use

usc of revetments of gold or silver creates a certain obfuscation about
lmflg<:$, since it allows
allQWS only parts of fhq
the figures' hands and taws
faces to be revealed
the images,
becomes one of c<.>!:ICealllWnl
concealment
space of the icon bcwmt:s
(Gerstel, 2005, p.337). In this
tbis case, the ,;pace
Heidegger's
concealed
through which
v.hich the idea of
uf revelation comes forward
furwatd - similar to
tQ Heideggef
'3 ccru:eallld
truth, The empty space (If
c(>IWeiIhnenl rroall~
immemity of the forest.
tbrosL
truth.
of concealment
recalls the inner immensity
tru.1 "we
l0nt> in the woods to experience the
Bachelan:l
Bachelard (1964) says that
''we do not have to gn
go long
always rather G.!lXious
anxious impression of 'going deeper and deeper' into
a limitless world"
al",ay5
inW alimltless
(p.185).
the golden
accumulates the infinity ofthe
(p.!
lI5). Similarly to the
!he woods, "!he
gol&o. background ~umu!ates
divine. TIl.!
The image,
sacred, "sacred by virtue of the
diVine.
iumge, like the forest,
ft1~ is immediately
it:nntediawly -.'Ted,
its natUre,
nature, fur
far from all lOOory
history of man" (Badmlard,
(Bachelard, 1964,
tradition of
ofit5
1%4, p.185).
p.ISS).
Figure 41. Tamas Waliczky, Sebastian Egner & Jeffrey Shaw, The Forest, 1993
111
"'
However, even if
,f we establish the "void" as the nothingness that
thai is
ill required for
something to occur, one needs to look at Badiou's philosophy

philooophy closer. What are
an: the
conditions Wlder
under which an immanent and singular art-truth
art-lru!h occurs? What happens in the
,onditions
space between the void and the moment when the event of truth occurs? Alain Badiou
occurs.
defInes the SillKJlion
situation as the basic element of its ontology, that in which the truth OCCIll1.
defines
"To exist is to
10 belong to a situation, and within the situation there is normally no
110 chance
of encountering anything unstructured" (Hallward, 2003, p.63). More specifically, a
situation is anything whiCh
which is, regardless of
or its modality.
mOOaLity. So, a situation can be a
of aft.
art. Also, a situation is what
building, a cake.
cake, a game, a dream, a prediction,
prediction. or a work or
is "counted for 000"
one" and its unity, is not the Hegelian unity of
absoluteness, but
ofabsoluleness,
bUI it is a
unity achieved in the structure of the situation.
Badiou (2006) goc:;
goes further claiming that the structure
:;:trocture of IIa situation is a(I structure
of its multiplicities. He says that aasifUa/ion
situation is aapresemed
presented mulliplicity.
multiplicity. The structure of
orits
a situation is what dcfille$

whal does not
flO{ belong to
10 it.
il. For instance, if
defInes what belongs and what
Byzanline iconography is a
we think of Byzantine iconography as a situation, then Byzantine
presented multiplicity. This simply means that the unity of Byzantine iconography rests
in its structure of composed multiplicities - these an:

F..aeh icon is a situation
are the icons. Each
stones. wood,
in itself whose unity is again achieved by its 0\\11
own structure. So, precious stones,
the scriptures, paint, faith, and orthodol()'
orthodoxy could be multiplicities (and again situations in
themselves that an:

are composed of other multiplicities) that compose the icon. Therefore,
they an:
are also multiplicities that belong to the structure of Byzantine iconography.
112
Figure
Studies of"
ofa CrucifIXion,
Fipe 42.
41. Francis
FI'\lIIC;s Bacon, Three
ThTee SlwdieJ
CTI.ci{uw.., 1962
1%2
Francis Bacon painting Three Slutiit!

Studies of
ofaa CrucifuiQn
CruciflXion (1962) (Figure 42) can
serve as an example 10
Badiou's
to better understand the idea of multiplicities in Badiou's
philosophy. In this
Ihis triptych Bacon creates a grotesque image of disembodied figures
ligures that
~Bacon had begun to treat his
slightly resemble what once used 10
to be human bodies. "Bacon
ligures virtually as viscera,

viscera. as lumps and gobbets and tubes of flesh, not easily
figures
identifiable IIIUIlomically.
anatomically, pink and red and white,
white. as if his subjects were
wen" what was left
when skin and bones were removed" (DanIO,
p.IO]).
(Danto, 1994, p.lOl).
If ....
we
assume that the human condition is indeed a situation,
1: now asslllM
situaliOl1. then there is no
other mist
\0 better depict the multiplicities that compose this structure
artist who IIUIfIIIged
managed to
than Bacon. llIc

The artist,
not only presents the viewer with bones,
aniS!, nol
bones. blood,
blood. teeth, intestines
inlt!$lines the obvious ""mUltiplicities"
multiplicities" that compose the human body and thus the human condition.
He also manages to
10 present us with pain,
pain. screams, animality, and anguish - multiplicities
condition. Using the theme of
that
thai are invisible but much
much. so part of the human C(lndilion.
attempts to transcend his work from its historical or religious
crucifixion, Bacon attemplS
religioos
to universal
uniVCTS81 pain as much as to individual
indivi dual suffering. The
llJc work
references and respond 10
can equally refer to the devastating years of World War II,
II , or
Of to the individual suffering
113
III
of 11a loss. Thus, in the structure of the work an art-truth occurs. It
II is a truth that belongs
fonns the fourth scllema
to the specific worIc:.
work, and it is inunancnl
immanent in art. This forms
schema of the
thaI an
relationship between an
art and truth as $\Iggested
suggested by Badiou and it is in this schema that
art
becomes pedagogical.
WheD the Real

Relit Overflows Reality: A Pedagogical
Pedagogkal Perspective
Pe nptivr
When
Phi losophy" Badiou (2005) explains the relationship
In his essay "An
"Art and Philosophy"
between an
art and philosophy based on the idea oflruth.
oftruth. He uses Lacan's discourses of the
Ilysteric comes to the Master and says: ''Troth
Master and the Hysteric, where the Hysteric
"Truth speaks
through my mouth, I am here.

hue. You have knowledge,
kn(lwledge. tell me who I am" (Badiou,
(Badio u, 2005,
2005.
wilh knowledge 10
p.l). Even when the master responds with
to the hysteric's here, the
hysteric's positioning escapes the master's grasp and alienates it from the certainties of
his own authoritative knowledge. Knowledge is incapable in this case of c/lplaining

explaining the
truth that oomes
comes out of the mouth of the hysteric, for that truth is already questioned and
tIM.: Habitus (learned

changed by the destructive nature
nature: of the hysteric towards the
predispositions) (McMahon, 1997).
predispositiollll)
always already there,
"Likewise, art is alwaysalrcady
there. addressing the thinker with the mute and
scintillating question
qucstion of its identity while through constant invention and metamorphosis
it de<.:larcs
declares its disappointment about everything that the philosopher
philO$Qpher may
mpy have to say
about it"
it~ (Badiou, 2005, p.2). Badiou's daim
an from being
bei ng object to
10
claim dispositions art
philosophy
claims art to be like the hysteric.
philo90phy or from being philosophy
philO$Qphy itself
i!self and instead daims
Art becomes that which breaks the repetition of the place where
nothing takes place but
when: noIhi"S
the place - as described by Zizek. Badiou (2006) opposes to Zizek's claims, for
lhe
fOT if there
114
114
is indeed IIa place where the only thing that happens infinitely is the place itself, this
So,
assumes a structure
SlnICtun: that gives us only repetition. It
II always gives us
uS the place itself. SQ,
any truth-content
truth-contcnt of that
thai place known or unknown, it
i\ "remains in the finitude of its
being" (Badiou, 2006, p.114).
The above also assumes that truth

1JU1t. always remains enclosed in its own procedure
of becoming. Instead, art like the hysteric always breaks this repetition (of the place
thai takes place is the place). The repetition can be considered to be
where the only thing that
pre-determined presuppositions
the
tIM: Habitus, the omnipresent, pre-<ielennined
preSUpposilio1lll that are enclosed in the
safely
!his
safety of their own knowledge and that never change. So, as art comes to question this
repetition, art produces truth. Not
NOI knowledge but truth. Badiou (2003) distinguishes
twa by arguing that, "a truth is, first of all, something new. What transmits,
between the two
(pAS).
what repeats, we shall call knowledge" (PAS).
So.
ofart
So, if we think of
art as the hysteric then we come to the conclusion that art is a
situation in which truth
troth can occuroccur - art becomes a truth procedure. This truth is at once
unique and internal
intemallO
sense. art as a presented multiplicity is also presented
to art. In a sense,
virtuality because its structure always entails the potential of something new to occur; a
truth. Art
An is always the space that entails the proorismos.
proori$mO$. SI.
S1. John of Damascus used
this, when referring to MOod's
pn:-definition of things He was to
10
"God's foreknowledge and pre-definition
creale~ (Ladner, 1953, p.9). Hence, the word signifies a constant creative movement
create"
inherenl in the nature

nalure of
towards something, which for St. John of Damascus seems 10
to be inherent
the divine. In Greek the word
wordproor;$mo$
proorismos means de$fifUllion,
destination, but its significance lies in
the word's
word 's immediate
inunediate relation to ajoumey or to a process.
proct'!ss. Proorismos
Proor;$mos is dynamic and
of something to
always signifies the possibility ofsomcthing
10 be achieved or created. In a similar way,
115
'"
art as the hysteric always presents 11

IT\Ov<:ment that is filled with
witb the dynamis of
a oons\arlt
constant movement
creation or of truth's becoming.
to the distinction between truth and

The potentiality inscribed in art, in addition 10
knowledge (as what ultimately occurs in art) is what defioos
defines art as pedagogical. On the
one hand the argument of multiplicities frees art from absol
uteness, since
sir>ee art's
art' s unity is
absoluteness,
argument supporU
supports an intimate
simply the result ooff its structure. Additionally, this argwnent
relationship with art. Art, in its potential for a11 truth, immediately becomes
bet:omes mysterious
and unpredictable. TIle

The viewer never knows what 10
to expect when interacting with a
worlc:, for
[or every time a different truth might occur based on the structure
stroctun: of the work. In
work,
a way, art is pedagogical exactly because it
il is never fixed in one meaning oorr one truth,
but rather art is always there to surprise us - 10

to break the repetition of a pre-determined
pre-delcnnined
knowledge.
On the other hand, the argument of truth as distinct from knowledge, frees art
of a repetition. After all, this is what

from the burden ofa
whal we should be looking for when we
troth: not the stati".

static, distinguishable
talk about edllCation
education or pedagogy: not knowledge but truth;
and repetitive knowledge, but instead the dynamic possibility
possibi lity of questioning. Education
hysteric. thus returning back
ba<.:k to its original Greek definition of
like art needs to be the hysteric,
pojdeja. l1\8l
fontls of knowledge in slICh
paideia.
That is to always ammge
arrange forms
such an imaginative way that
allows for some truth to interrogate that exact 1UTarIgement

(8adiou. 2005). Art in its
arrangement (Badiou,
new schema of pure potentiality,

potentiality. the pedagogical
pedagQgic:a! schema,
Jchema, allows for this interrogation to
happen.
happen .
116
SU!Dmary
Summary
[n this chapter.
deal! with the relationship between an
In
chapter, I have dealt
art and truth as this is
defined by philosophy, specifically

sptX'ilically using
usiRg Alain Badiou's
BadiQu's description of the three
defmed
S(:hemata,
Ihese schemata the relationship
rdalionship
schemata, the didactic, the classical and the romantic. In these
between art and truth is negotiated based on the axes of immanence and singularity.
singularity . The
ioon was used as an example to better explain these relationships. Based on
Byzantine icon
Badiou's initial thoughts on the relationship between art and truth which supports art
being pedagogical a new

oow schema was proposed. Under this perspective, art is a situation
of mere possibility to question established forms of knowledge and 10
to produce truths.
Within this potential art is also virtualvirtual - it

il provides the
!be space for something new to occur.
However, this discussion would fall short if one fails to also make an argument about the
ways in which the relationship between art and truth
,roth is established in a general social and
10 present the ways in which the artistic

political context. The next chaplCT
chapter will attempt to
truth of the image is influenced by social narratives.
117
Chaptu
Chapter IV
THE POLITICS
J>OLlTI CS OF ABSENCE IN AN ARTISTIC TRUTH
r[ ... .].] &y

"/ have
huI>e/Qund
(rulh, ".. but rather,
rOIlier, "I
"/ have
huve/Qund
Say noI,
not, "I
found the truth,
found a truth".
Q Irll/h".
Say 001,
ptllh oflhe
soul. ".. Say rolher,
'" have mel
not, "I havefound
have found lhe
the path
ofthe soul.
rather, "I
met the soul
palit. "..
walking upon my path.
For 1M
the soul walks
wallrs upon all paths.
The soul
sou/ walks not
fIQI upon a line,
m:;/her does
dQes it
il grow Jj~
line, neither
like a reed.
ofcountless
petals
The SQul
soul unfolds itself,
like
a
lotus
i/self liM
o/coum/ess pewls [.
f. ..]
.. )
192312002, p.55
- Kahlil Gibnm,
Gibran, 1923/2002,
troth but rather the

As presented in the previous chapter, art is not the absolute truth
situation in which the event of truth (lCCUI'$.

occurs. Also, there is no single truth but instead, as
the
lhe poet and philosopher Kahlil
KahIi! Gibran says there are only truths that the soul can find
lind as
these truths is a truth,
she moves in the path oofr her life. Each one of
oftbese
truth. important for the
journey of the soul and im:dueible
irreducible to others. In Byzantine iconography _we experience
of an absolute truth and of the
concept ofart
of art as the
the nostalgic
I\O$talgie and romantic belief ofan
tile ideal C(lncepl
means through which this absolute comes forward. However, it would be naIve
naive to
10
to look al
at Byzantine art as simply the means of the revelation of
an infmite
attempt \0
ofan
infinite truth
and detached from the conditions within which art is created. This chapter will aim to
establish
the historicity
the multiplicities that compose the
establ
ish !he
hiSlori<:ity of the work of art as one of
onlle
art, and which is necessary

situation of an..
na:essary for the event of truth to occur. I will
wilt begin from
By:cantine iconography
ioorlOgraphy only to move to works of
ofart
[rom modernity in order to illustrate
Byzantine
art from
the important relationship between
between art and history.
118
"'
The Political
Poliliea l Dispute
Dis pute orWo
l'llhip
of Worship
In the previous chapter I looked al
at the Iconoclastic dispute as it
il evolved around
f presence in the ioon.
icon. It seems, however, important to also present the
the question oofpresence
A$ Sahas ((1986)
1986) argues
BlgueS the icon
iCQn
general political reasons over which this dispute begun. As
bec<lmcsjust
thai is obscure and unintelligible if
jfwe
we consider it isolated
becomes just another painting that
and independent from its
ils theological context
woold similarly argue that
thai even in its
;1.'1
context. I would
theological conte~t
context the icon would simply remain an obscure religious image, if we do
1'not
1<)1 comider
ven though seemingly theological
thoological and
consider its historical references. So, eeven
philosophical, the problematic consideration of the icon escapes the romantic apparatus
philosophical.
and enlers
enters the politicaL
political. It becomes apparent that the Byzantine dispute would not have
begun, or taken the dimensions that it did, if it was not for specific political struggles.
Besan<;on
Be~n (2000) argues:
combilled with it was the
Dogma was at the root of the problem. But combined
basileus's agrarian policy targeting monasteries, which were large
landowners, major producers of images,
images. and major beneficiaries of their
venenltion:
veneration; his centralizing policy, directed against the municipal structure
of the empire and consecrated by the protection of sain\.'j;
saints; his religious
reLigious
policy
relations between church
poLicy on the ""Lations
chun::h and state, Constantinople and
Rome;
the question
Rome: and his foreign policy, and, in the first place,
place,lhe
queslion of Islam.
(p.l14)
(p.1I4)
Besan<;on
sociopolitical factors that are underneath
Be~ outlines there are three main sociopoLitical
undemealh the
dispute.
declared
(482565), the emperor dc:<.;lared
First, during the time of the Emperor Justinian (482-565),
wilh the State would
WQuLd be responsible for building
buildinll monasteries
monastcnes and
that the Church along with
decorating the temples ooff worship.

decomting
WQrship. 31
Jl This would
WQuld potentially reflect
reneet the
Ihe wealth
weallh of the
the Byzantine
(482-565) was a brillian1lime
brilliant time for \he
the Byzantine
"31 The time !be
Bynnline Emperor
Empero< Justinian (412565)
8yzat1line Empire.
Empi..,.
J~S1inian
\he empire's sJocy
milital)'
Justinian IIad
had the vision of ..,vivin3
reviving the
glory _
and he is known for his expansion military
triumphs
work, his
ecclesiastic policy
architecture wonders
took place
during tho
the
tri ..... phs and legal wort<,
his...,1csiasIit
poliocy and the
tho arthileClure
W<lrIdon that
IhIIII/dt
pla<:e durin3
119
we~ privileged with the task of creating icons,
icons.
Empire. From the point that monasteries were
of the Byzantine
the church started gaining more and more conlrol
control over the people ofthc
BYZlUltine
bctwoen the mundane and the divine and

Empire. The chul"(:h
church seemed to be the mediator between
10 problems that seemed beyond their
people would return to the church to find solutions to
control such as health or death, finances oorr romances. OnwJually

Gradually the icons, as the
representation ortlle
bcliev~ the ability to
of the divine on earth, attained in the mind ofth<.:
of the believers
also perform
perfonn "miracles~
"miracles" (Panselinou, 2000).
tile invasi
ve expansion of the icon
iC()1I in Byzantium
By7.anliwn that began
[n the face of the
In
invasive
of theological
in the sixth centwy,
century, it
il can be easily understood why a group oflheological
bocame alarmed.
intelligentsia and the holders of spiritual power became
Superstitions, fetishism, and all the pagan perversions linked to the
of the image were all feared, and all these fears
talismanic manipulation ortlle
fear.>
were grouped together in the global condemnation of Hellenism and
p. 71)
idolatry. (Mondmin,
(Mondzain, 2005, p.71)
control
Apart from idolatry
idolauy though, one can here imagine the degree of power and oonlJ(ll
the church had over the masses as those blindly abided by whatever
wMlever rules religion put
pul
light oflhi
of this,
the Stale
State felt
s, it
il is very possible that
lhalllle
fell threatened,
threalened, especially by the
!he
forward. In lighl
perspective of
oftlle
the church's
church 's ability to influence people's decisions that were immediately
the State. The fact

relevant not just to matters
maners of faith but also to matters
maUers of
of!he
faet that the
!he emperor,
emperor. not
nol only blends State and Church in a matter
matler
dispute was firstly initiated by the
that seems theological and philosophical, but

also proves in a certain degree the
bUI a1$O
!he political
nature of this dispute.
A second political issue that
to have
to the generation of the
thai seems 10
Mve contributed
contribuled 10
to economy. The
attempt 10
to
dispute was mostly related 10
lbe Emperor Justinian, in his auempt
establish the Church financially capable of continuing building and embellishing
time he _was the emperor.

Constantinople is
ofthe
architecture
em~_ Hagia
~ Sophia
Sop/IiIo in ConslanIiIIople
i. one of the most
mooI famous
r."",.,.. of
the architCCUlre
marvels
survive
m.....1s that .......
i"" from the Justinian
Justinion times.
ttmes.
120
NOI only that,

thai, but the Church would
monasteries, freed the Church from paying taxes. Not
also receive state grants in order to achieve Justinian's
Justinian 's vision of
ofaa strong empire. In a
way the golden background of the Byzantine icons served not
nol only the task of promoting
of presenting the wealth and strength of

the empire. However,
spirituality but also that ofpn:senting
nfthe
that allowed the Church to pay limited or no taxes and due 10
to the
due to the law thai
state, the assets of the Church were gradually
additional funds received from the stale.
irn:reasing to the disadvantage of
nfw
2(00). llUs
the private and public sector (Pansdinou,
(Panselinou, 2000).
This
increasing
appeared 10
wOOsc o;:onomy
to be problematic 10
to the State whose
economy was suffering after Justinian's
thai seemed necessary to
10 slIppon
rev ived Byzantine
extravagant expenses that
support his vision ofa
of a revived
emprre.
cmpll"e.
Specifically, as Panselinou
Pansclinoll (2000) argues, Justinian's policy and failed military
mil itary
expansion to
10 the West,
West. aimed al
tile Roman Empire, left
leA. the East lines
at the restoration of the
Wl'l:(:kcd. This contributed to
\0 maximizing the Arab Muslim danger,
unprotected and wrecked.
behi nd the iconoclastic
iC(looclastic dispute,
dispute. even thought there is
which appears to be the third reason behind
no historical evidence !hat
that proves this assumption. However, the iconoclastic dispute
disJlUte
was born simul\ane()usly
simultaneously to the .ppeaJanCe
appearance of the Arab Muslim
M uslim danger and finished when
the danger was finally ceased, something that seems to be more than a mere coincidence.
Particularly,
Paniculariy, during the seventh century the Arab expansion increased in Asia Minor,
Minor,
North Africa and North Iberia as a result of religious
rcligious fanaticism
fanati(:ism (panselinou, 2000).
Fighting against the Christians and in search of significant
significBnt geographical space, the Arab
Muslims became a danger, not only because the Empire was not strong enough to survive
the Arab attacks but mostly because a large number of the populations of the Byzantine
followed them. People were disappointed by the hardships
Empire follo~
Iwdship$ that resulted from the
121
e<:<:lllOmic
economic eondilions
conditions oflhe
of the Stale
State and they would rather follow the Arabs hoping for a
change.
leonoclasts, who were
were: against the veneration of
During the eight century A.D. the Iconoclasts,
look care of the efficient protection ooff the stale
thai
the icons, took
state and created a national army that
32
faithfully aimed to protect
protOC! the empire from
trom the newly presented Arab danger. Jl
The
iconoclasu
tile less powerful
powenuJ and
iconoclasts were striving for social justice and the protection of the
WI previously empowered Emperor Justinian, by bringing
they put aside the aristocracy that
a military aristocracy in power (Panselinou, 2000). Even though the .dation
relation bet~n
between
their conviction against the icons and their political beliefs might not be related, I would
speculate that their fight against the icons was merely an excuse so that they gain control
over the church and thus over the population oflhe

of the empire. Also, it
seems to be an
o"cr
il 8ee11lll
excuse for establishing tax laws against those who were venerating the icons and thus
w: laws would
taking money, and oonse<j\JC111Iy
consequently power, away from the Church. Strict tax
potentially empower fmancially
financially the public sector and weaken the Church.
Additionally, the Iconoclasts
the Arabs from
loonoclasts were targeting
Wgeting to
10 get
gel help against
againSllhe
divine
countries of the East. Such countries
COWltries strictly believed in the united
Wlited nature of
o f the diviroe
(panselinou, 2000). So, in 0a
and the impossibility
impossibilily of representing such nature in images (Pooselioou.
way, the conviction of the Iconoclasts against the religious icons
iC(lns was part of their policy
33
of coalition with countries that could help the
!he Empire fight the
!he Arabs.
Arabs.
Consequently
..
Pfwiously !he
.....,. up of ...
!diets who were
_
fO<r their >vices.
ThoR was
_ not
"'" a single
l ingle
32 Previously
the anny
army was made
soldiers
paid for
services. There
military
that would be faithful
empire and always
times or
of danger.
militoly force
foou!hat
fllithful to the
tho ""'pire...,
Illw"Y* ready
.....:Iy to defend
def.,..;! it in !Unes
dang. It
I!
was
not ...
until
the lconocloots
Iconoclasts !hat
that .a national
army was
the firs!
first time.
w
.. ..",
,;1 tho
notionol anny
...... formed for tho
33 With tho
the 01>d
end of tho
the Iconoclastic dispute.
dispute, \lett
even 1houih!
thought the Iconoclasts
indeed managed
save the
..
IconoclOllS indt>od
managc<I to ......
tho
Empire
danger, the poIic
policies
that !hey
they had taken
dispute
destructive
Empi~ from the
tho Arab
"fIIIh dang.
... !hoi
tokett during the di
.....!. had de$lrucli
....
consequences to tho
the intellectual and cultural
the Byzantine
(panselinou, 2000).
conscq_
cukUl'll1 life of tho
ByDnIino Empire
Empi... (P_linou,
2QO(1)_ Most
M"" icons
of this period and of earlie<
earlier periods of Byzantine
art were destroyed_
destroyed. Few ."..."plet
examples remain
ofmis
Byuruine ....
......... and those
122
the Iconoclastic dispute refers not

001 only to
10 the question of presence
pre$ence in the icon but also to
State of the Byzantine
questions of power and control between the Church and the
lhe Stale
Empire. This is also evident at the end of the dispute. When the icons were restored in
"Orthodoxy" itself was
the churches and monasteries of the empire, it was declared that MOrthodol<)'''
34
restored.)!
11 signaled the victory of the Church over the Stale
restored.
It
State as another manifestation of
'.\he wholeness of troth.

Church. embodies~
"the
truth, that the Church
embodies" (Sahas, 1986, p. 30). Therefore, the
religious imagery of Byzantium at once reflects the theology and the politics around its
creation.
Nevertheless, it is not to assume that the Iconoclasts were
wen: completely against
images. The contrary.
They only aimed banish.ing
banishing religious iCQns,
icons, whereas at the same
contraJ)'. lbey
lime made sure to keep the images of emperors. The iconoclasts recognized a ccnain
certain
time
fOUght against it, hoping
power in the icon and this is another reason they so ferociously fought
!heir own political and military
mil itary purposes. "It
~ I t is precisely
that they eQuId
could use it for their
wilh a power speeific
il that it mattered
matteml so much
much. to the
because the icon is endowed with
specific to it
to deprive the church of it,
its exclusive rights and
emperor 10
it. and to reserve for himself
hitru;elfits
... JH (Mondzain, 2005, p.6). Therefore, the icon serves in itself its OWTI
benefits [[...]"
own political
purpose in the course of its history, because it seems to be doing something separate than
were found in Rome where monks from Conmnlinople

Constantinople would fmd
rdld asylum
Mylwn from the strict
<Irid policies that
lhaI
Emptrnr Leo III
nl and his """
... V the Copronyme
c.,pronyme e$lablishod
. . . . anyone
...,..,... who venerated
~
Emperor
son eor-rti
Constantine
established .against
icons.
""".
,.
ond of the Iconoclastic
1"""""I:I$Iic dispule
_ witness
wi_the
sepano;.,n of
the Catholic
ClIlholic and the Orchodox
34 Witllthe
With the end
dispute we
the separation
ofthe
Orthodox
eM
..;., OIurdI.
oppellal;.,n ofthe
of the Eastern Church
OIurdI and it meant "upright,"
""uprigh~ "
Christian
Church. "Or1hodox"
"Orthodox" became the appellation
'"uniq
..... " "t>eJanoccI."
IruIhful"' ",hich
mew to
10 be
N Ihcologicol
n.e.e deri.e
wi-.at
"unique,"
"balanced," truthful"
which meant
theological <:OIUIOWiono.
connotations. These
derive from what
"Catholic"
"Catholic" originally
origi ... lly meant (Sahas,
(Sohu. 1986).
19&6). However,
Howe_, during
durina the dispute,
di$ute. c.holO:ism
Catholicism ended up being
Ning
..-illled
'"univ .....l;."," not
oot only
001)' in a theological
thcoIogicaJ way but ar
... in a political
poIitiaJ way, $<)I1Iethinj
lhaI
associated with "universalism"
also
something that
'"OItloodox.Y"conoide~
~IO
spifituolity. After
Alter all,
aU. the Byzantine
ByDntinedispul.
_ _a dispute
"Orthodoxy" considered inappropriate
to spirituality.
dispute was
betw.. n the OIurch
Stole. So, the restoration
l"O$tQntion ofthe
of"'" icons
iocoM at
_the
or([ ofthe
of the dispute
di>pulo merely
""""I)'
between
Church and the State.
the end
signaled the
ofthe OIwclI
Church over
State. The two
could no longer be
or
$i""lI
"'" victory "fthe
0"'" the
"'" SWe.
(WO c:ould
N considered
OOII$idefed identical Of
.VOI'
milt.... of faith.
flith.
even related in matters
123
'"
As Mondzain (2005) claims, the icon

speech does. ru.
ioon has
lias its own economy that is the ability
10
S~ifil;ally, she explains:
to manage a real, historical situation in its totality. Specifically,
In e!Tect,
effect, it [economy] will
wi ll be both the science of the internal structure of
S(:ier>ee of the relations between the Persons of the
its object, that is, the science
T
rinily themselves (undentanding
Trinity
(understanding and $eeing),
seeing), and the science of the
doctrinal statement of those relations (speaking). ((Mondzain,
Mond7.ain, 2005, p.24)
T
he Iconic
Ironic Economy:
F..eo nomy: An Achievement of
,f Social Equilibrium
F.quilibrium
The
With the end of the Iconoclastic dispute the icon was established as an integral
pan of the religious practice of Christian faith. In

[n their economy,
economy. the Byzantine icons
iC(lns
part
l.lJgos, an empsychos (living) graphe (image and text). In
[n the
gradually became the Logos,
Christie incarnation in the visible reality of

oftlle
the icon, the logos and the invisible
iconic Christic
il is - the unnamable real. As
AI> Barber
truth of the divine comes forward as exactly what it
(1993) argues, "God the Father cannot be seen;

seen: he is materially and physically absent;
bewmes visible"
visible~ (p.13). Paradoxically,
Paradoxically. the image
however, through Christ, God becomes
becomes the material apparatus
appamtus that reinforces the religious belief that God is beyond
bewmes
contained in a finite form.
symbolization and cannot be conlained
fOlTIl. In addition and as previously
represcnlations. the
presented, in their golden glamour and the weightless figures of their representations,
icons simply seem to be the place where the impossibility of God is signified. Thus,
Thus. as
economy the icon becomes
organization of
the visible
Mondzain
Mond7.ain (2000) explains, in its ecol1Qmythe
b\:IcQmes an organiZfllion
ofthc
that provokes a certain belief,

belief. which is subsumed by the power of the spectator's gaze.
Specifically, the
tile icons are not
001 simply placed in the church just for decoration.
TIley
They rather have specific place and order in the way they are painted in the interior of the
narrntive and meaning. Each

Eac h icon has a
church creating a coherent and uninterrupted narrative
templon of the church and the spectator cxpects
expects nothing
specific place in the lempionofthe
IlOIhing but this
124
exact oonfiguralion
configuration and positioning every time she entCl'$
enters an Orthodox church. The
assis1.'l building a amain
repetition of this order assists
certain degree of familiarity, but also validity in
IlIII'11Itives are presented. If
If the narrative
IWT1ltivc that
thaI the icons
icoJlS present never changes,
chang~
the way the narratives
it is only expected 10
I\iImItivc is true. So, the icons function as an
to assume that this narrative
W(lrd of God and they accentuale
afme
articulation of the word
accentuate the narratives of
the Scriptures. They
leXI in
are not simply an illustration of the narratives of the texts but they are a text
themselves.
Mondzain (2000) in her essay on iconic space

articulates the distinction of the iconic repetition
from the one that is internal in paintings. She uses

Ve1{aque:!:' s masterpiece
masterpie Las
lAS Meninas ((1656)
1656) (Figure
Velazquez's
43) that
thai Foucault also described and criticized in
much detail
delail in his essay with the same title
tille in his
o/Things ((1966/1994).
book The
TIM Order a/Things
196&'1994). In
Velazquez's painting the repelition
repetition is internal
intemal to
lO the
painting and achieved by the mi1701'ing
mirroring operation of
Figure
Figrge 43. Diego Velazquez
Velb<!ue~
Las
La< Meninas,
Meninas. 1656
the painting. Specifically, in Las

L& Meninas
MenjlUlS the mirroring and infinite gaze of the painting
1lle artist depicted in the painting is gazing at a point,
point. which
achieves internal repetition. The
the
seems to be the same as the point where the painting's
painting' s spectator is standing. It is as if
ifthl:
painting has been expanded to include its own spectator into the subjed
subject of the painting,
as if the spe<;:lator
spectator be<.:omes
becomes the one she is looked at; as if the spectator is necessary for the
narrative
artist looking at me and I see the artist seeing that he is
namllive of the painting. I see the arUS\looking
125
a1so
also being seen. I[look
look al
at the painting and the painting looks back at me in an infinite
repetition.
Mond.zain (2000) argues
mglleS that
thaI in Velazquez's
Velizquez's painting the repetition
rt:petilion never explains
Mondzain
enigma because it "will

the painting but rather
ralher assists in keeping the painting
painti ng an eniglM
-will never
rocver be
exhausted by the intelligibility of its signs" (p.61),

appean
(p.61). However, the repetition that appears
n:al than
titan the internal repetition that
thai appeani
in Byzantine icooography
iconography is much more real
appears in
Leu Meninas.
Meninas. Every ioon
IlCOOs to copy a previously
pn:viously existent modelmodel - most often another
Las
icon needs
comprehension. Instead, it aims to be
icon - and the icon is never left in the degree of oomprehension.
explicit and comprehensible making its repetition

n:petition institutional and even political rather
than internal. Hence,
I lellCe, in oootrnst
Lru Meninas "Byzantine
~ Byzantine iconography creates a
contrast to Las
W()rld, where
when: the mirror is the invisible quiddity of being, not
repetitive and fertile plastic world,
represented because
bocause not representable. What is shown puts in place the visible fonnula
of that which will ensw-e
nfan
6 1-2).
ensure the stability of
an empire" (Mondzain.
(Mondzain, 2000, p. 61-2).
And how much better would the stability of an empire be achieved if not with
internal stabil
stability,
commonality ofideas?
ity, often maintained by the oommonality
of ideas? This can be explained
eJlplained
eJlanlple from dynamics in physics. When an object is static it is said to be in
with an example
equilibrium.
all forces that act upon the object are balanced. They might
equilibri um. This means that an
not
nol necessarily
ne<.:essarily be the same or equal but they are balanced. If one of those forces
changes, then the object will begin to move, disturbing the equilibrium and resulting in
changing of its condition. The same could happen in a society. Social etjuilibrium
equilibrium is
the state of affairs in an interactive
intcraclive group in which control
oontrol behavior is
li ved up to and its
ilS ends sought.
sufficiently effective so that its norms are lived
contingent upon securing
Just as the maintenance of any system is always oontingent
too is it constantly
the members' obedience to the rules of behavior, so 100
oonstantly
195 1, p.201p.20 1faced with the prospect of thei
theirr breaching them." (Cousins, 1951,
202)
126
tile religious cult was a regulative measure,

measure. along with the
In a sense, the icon as part of the
scriptUJeS
tile church that
thaI sustained the stability of the
tile empire. Its
lIS
scriptures and the laws of the
potentiality in maintaining the faith rests in its economy, its visual strucrure
thaI makes it
structure that
a unique and independent
irKkpendent form of
of"spe<:eh.H
"speech."
the Image
The Mythmaking of Production in the
Ih e Structure of
olllle
Image
In a way the icon

aim, often embedded in the
ioon is never produced without a specific aim.
lite
regulative structure oflhe
of the church. 1lIc
The icon as an image would be incomprehensible and
obs<:ure
ifil
lhe icon
it was created for a merely aesthetic purpose. The visual stmcture
structure of the
obscure if
is not
nOI based on the human ability to see but
bUI rather in the human ability to
\0 make
make
conne(:tions
connections and associations between a visual apparatus and a social narrative. As
transfonned into
inlo
Debord (2002; 2004) would argue, the spectacle is a world-view that "is transformed
objective form." Jl
35 Hence, the icon
an objCl:tive
ioon as graphe,
grophe, as both IIa painting and a text,
le1(t, serves as
a place of fixed meaning that is assisted by its own repetitive nature. Barthes
Banhes ((1977)
1977)
identifies this as a Hdenominative
"denominative function (that]
[that] corresponds exactly to an anchorage of
all possible (denoted) meanings"
meanings~ (p.39). In a sense the icon creates a specific narrative of
the
tile religious cult in a similar way in which
wlJich we become
be<:Qme mythmakers
mythmal<en of our reality. As
MacIntyre
claims, we impose a certain order to the events of our lives that they
Macintyre (1984) claims.
they
construct our past
did not necessarily have while
wlJile they
tlley were lived. We constroct
pas! based on memories
and the line between fact and imaginary,
imaginary. real and illusory blend in a space where there is
self-knowledge-truth..
only the possibility of reaching a self-knowledge-truth
35 We sIIookl
should "'"
not conru
confuse
or Aristotle's
(fonus) that
..
.. the
tile social ideas
idea with Plato
PIMa""
Ari:stoIle's high ideas (rooms)
thai wait
wail to
10 be
a.ctualized
.... I ....
OOlIy referring to
10 social narratives
namli_ that
IhlII are
ore humanly consIiuC:Ied
_itted
actualized in matt
matter.
am only
constructed and transmitted
from ee-*ion
generation 1
to generation
fairytales, Itgendt.
legends, 01
or myths.
0 , . - like flirytaIe$.
mydls.
127
127
This is best illustrated in the film by Charlie Kaufman and Michel Gondry Eternal
Sunshine a/the Spotless Mind (2004) in which the main character Joel Barish attempts to
of his life returning 1(1
to lost
1051 memories. In the film,
fi lm. Clementine and Joel,
Joel. once
make sense nrhis
lovers.
h.ave a terrible fight and Clementine decides to
10 hire aadoctor
10 erase her memories
lovers, have
doctor to
of Joel so that she feels no
rIO emotional distress in the remembrance
remembrnnce of him. Joel devastated
10 do the same, but as he goes under the process nfhis
by Clementine's actions rushes to
of his
memories' erasure he rebels. He realizes that his memories is what
whal he now has
bas ofher
of her and
realiung the value of those memories attempts to
10 save some of them while
white he is still
realizing
UJ\COllS(:ious and undergoing the process of erasing them. The film is a brilliant
unconscious
negotiation between reality and imaginary as Joel dives into
inlo his own mind in order 10
to
safeguard the precious
pn.:cious memories of Clementine.
At
AI the same time
lime the film becomes its
ilS own narrative as the viewer strives to
10 create
an intelligible narrative
namltive about the lives of Joel and Clementine based on the fragments of
their memories. The truthfulness
wthfulncss of this
Ihis narrative
namuive is irrelevant, as any construction of it
will never eease
cease to be the product of creative processes. What is only relevant and
of those memories, similarly to history. Joel is

important
to have
!wive a record of
imponant is for one 10
writing in his diary at the beginning of the ftlm:
film: ""First
First entry in two years. Where did
Ifyoure
001 careful it gets away from you. And then it's
iI'S over and
you're not
those years go? If
here?" (Caufinan,
(Caufman,
you're dead. And within a few years who e~n
even remembers you were here?"
2003, Scene 5, p.2).

on the necessity of constructing
Joel's note is a commentary 011
construcling history from the
memories of our past for it is the only way we have in leaving our mark even after our
here?" Joel asks, troubled by the possibility of
death. "Who even remembers you were here?"
128
plol ofhis
remaining silent ;fhe
if he ever stop$
stops weaving the plot
of his life. It is the necessity to be
heard
same necessity that drives Joel to write
beard that
thai drives us to write history and it is the same:
his diaries throughout the film. AI
At the end he
be realizes
rea.1izes that
thai he has control over the writing
of his own history.
histol)'.
(CONT'D) (pause)
JOEL (CONrO)
Just wait
wait. IJ JUS{
just want you to wait for a while.
Thcy
They lock
lock eyes for a long moment: Clementine stone-faced, Joel with a worried,
knit brow. Clementine cracks up.
CLEMENTINE
Okay.
JOEL
Really?
CLEMENTINE
I'mjust
just IIa (.,.
[...]J Sirl
girl who is looking for my own peace of
I'm not a ooncept,
concept, Joel. I'm
mind. I'm not perfect.
perfect
JOEL
I[ can~
can't think
Ihint of anything I don't like about you
YOli right
rig.h.t now.
now,
CLEMENTINE
CL
EMENTINE
gct bored with
wilh you arK!
and feel
feel
But you will. You will think of things. And I'll get
trapped because that's what happens
kappens with me.
JOEL
Okay.
CLEMENTINE
Okay.
THE
END
THBEND
(Caufman, 2003, Scene 169, p.129)
p. 129)
As
All Joel and Clementine meet once again, after they both had erased their
jrn.;omprehensibJe attraction drives them to get 10
knowone
memories of each other, an incomprehensible
to know
one
time. Even though they realize that they once before fell in love.
love,
another for a second lime.
129
129
and that there is aII possibility for

[or them 10
to grow to dislike each other's faults once again,
namltive and it is the
this is Makay."
"okay." The film ends without any solution or any fixed narrative
viewer's task to recreate the ending of the
tile film as a new beginning oflhe
of the film's
film 's narrative.
The fictional chaJaeter!l

opponunily to
10 recreate the story and
characters and the viewer both have the opportunity
this docs
does not need to be the same as before. In IIa similar way we develop our coll:tive
collective
memory based on a constructed and intelligible narrative. When it comes to the potential
nanative, IJ will call it the icon's politics 0/
production.
of the icon to re<:rcate
recreate this narrative,
ofproduction.
Speci
fically, I am here asking the question of how the icon as an image becomes a means
Specifically,
of actualizing a social narrative.

ofactuaJizing
JanulUY
1007
January 15, 2007
Iiwrite
write ... random words
ltIorib in pieces o/paper
ofpaper ... meaningless words that
liuu aim to
/0 ground me
some
where, 10
free me
from my own imagination. Words,
Worib. meaningless words thatflow
tho! jlow
tofree
mefrom
somewhere,
over the surface ofwhite
a/white paper and I hope IMI
that they will somehow in/heir
in their peculiar order
reveo/some
_.. who knows?
knoW$? I mightfind
migh/find $ome
{. ..}
..J
reveal some So,l
sort of/ruth
oftruth ...
some truth [.
find myrelfheod
myselfhead Qlllhej/(J(Jf"
on the floor and toes
facing
sky. Ilfilld
find myselffacing
Ilfind
/oes[
acing the $ky.
myself/acillg the world
down und
andpulled
by a cell/fr.
center, which i$j/oo/illg.
is floating. I um
am ill
in my OWII
own orbit
my
upside dowll
pulled byo
Qrbi/ ... I am my
aWII
own Qrbil!
orbit!
- From my unpublished diaries
In order to better understand the politics of the icon we can turn

tum back to the battle
banle
as a means of political propaganda. An example
panoramas of the 1800s,
1800s. which served
sefValas
the parIOl"IlITla
panorama of the Battle
ofSedan (Figure
of this is !he
Bollie 0[&0011
(Fi gure 44), which was used as a means of
cultivating
culti
vating cultural identity through a sense of national pride from the constant reminder
of a national victory. The panorama depicts the attempt of the French
FrerlCh troops to mass
mass..ear
near
the fortress
of Sedan on August
fonress of&dan
AugUSl 30, 1870 attempting
allempting to
10 break through the German line.
I lQ
130
"The panorama shows in detailed, almost photo-realistic quality, the alleged situation on
the battle
baltIc field of Sedan at
al 13.30
\3.30 hours on September 1,
I, 1870" (Grall,
(Grau, 2003, p.93). The
baUle of Sedan was considered ooff major significance in defining Prussian victory over
battle
Fmnco-Prussian war (\810-1871)
(krman victory led to
\0
France during the first Franco-Prussian
(1870-1871) since the German
WJ.y 10
the captivation and abdication ofNapoleQn
ofNapoleon III and opened up the way
to Paris for the
German army.
WCmef, Panorama
Pancramaoflhe
Btmle of
Sedan.
Figure 44. Anton Von Werner,
ofthe Battle
ofSedan,
Franco-Prussian
of1870-71
Franco-Pru.uian War e>[
/870-7/
The painting of the battle by Anton von Werner was not

nol a mere
men: chronicle offacts
of facts
but rather a political spectacle for the German

Gennan Reich and a reminder of the virtues of
o f the
German soldier - who in many cases in the panorama was painted taller and
overpowering in comparison to the depiction of French soldiers. These soldierly virtues

of obedience, superiority, discipline and fearlessness were evoked through different ways
and the panorama was a great means 10

nd - especially to patriotic citizens who
to that eend
ITavel from far away to experience this image (Grau, 204)3).
would travel
2003). As Grau (2003)
mentions - ... a closer look
look. reveals
feveals a host
IIost of melodramatic and engineered dements,
mentions"...
elements,
aristocratic, and military

which SC1'Ie
serve the personal
pe!"SOnaI elevation of the political, aristOO::l"1'Itic,
mili tary elite of the
o f the work
work. over to
10 their political aims~
aims"
Reich with the intention of winning the observer of
(p.lOO-l).
(p.
IOO-I).
131
III
In a similar way to the battle
battlc panoramas, the icon becomes a symbol that is used
fnurK:wori<. that is intelligible by the people who relate

relatc to it
il in their
to create a narration framework
religious practices.
pl1lCtices.
[FJor
[p]or what is desired is not a frenetic doctrine of icons in free circulation,
but a coherent thool'\1ieal
theoretical body that will allow the icon to be thought in a
univocal way, from a point of view that is as much spiritual as strategic,
and sovereignty in a
that
thaI it,
iI, as major mode of investing the imaginary 300
controlled space. (Mondzain, 2005, p.138)
p,])S)
For that reason, the hagiographer

hagiogrnpher uses everything in his possession as an instrument of
spirituality in order to achieve the iconic economy.
eCOnQmy. The
l1Ie hagiographer's tools, the colors,
the brushes, and the accurate repetition of the icon's

ioon's visual structure,
strucrure, all serve the purpose
of presenting the truth of the divine (Sallas.
(Sahas, 1986). For instance the lean and fasting
thaI the flesh has
lias been crucified, in a similar way Christ was
figures are the evidence that
crucified. They are "a

Ma statement of
offaittr.
faith and of certain ethos that expresses what is rich
humility. contrition, with
willi a disposition to the quest for sanctityM
in poverty, humility,
sanctity" (Sahas, 1986,
p.16). The simplicity and the lack of any decorative elements in the depiction of
of the
sai
nts, as well as the flat and non-dimensional golden background
backgroWld both aim - as
saints,
previously presented - to immerse the spa;tator

spectator into a limitless act of gazing. The
spectator simply needs to position her fixed and material body against the icon.
spel;tator
Additionally,
Additionally. the church itself is a living body that assists the politics of the icon.
architecture, color,
The liturgy is a combination of gestures,
gestures. archite<:ture,
color. music,
music. and smells and all
assist to the ecslalic
[n a sense,
sense. the icons lose a threeecstatic participation of the sptttator.
spectator. In
dimensional perspective
diJIK:nsional
pcrspa;live in their content,
COIItent. but they are part of the three-dimensional
three-dimertSional and
immersive s~
space of the chun:h.
church. In a way the space that
thaI the icons create, along with the
rest of the elements of the liturgical act.
act, create a virtual
vi"ual space. This is a space where the
132
infini te participation in the history of Christianity is performed. Pentcheva
potential of infinite
(2006) describes the experience of the icon in the church:
[wJhen
flid.er of
o f candles and oil lamps [...],
[ ... J,
[w]hen illuminated by the trembling flicker
fa<.:e on the revetted
revetled icon
ioon sinks and disappears in the
the painted holy face
shadow. "These
These panels operate at the brink oflhe
of the extramissu:m
extramission and
infromisslon models o
tangibi lity and even
off the visuality. They deny the tangibility
intromission
visibility of the sacred image, while they appeal to the sense of touch
through
Ihrough the textured surface of their repousse
repo~ and enameled-filigree metal
ntcheva. 2006, p.631)
p.6) I)
revetments. (Pe
(Pentcheva,
baclt to the representation of
ofbeaven
P02ZO on the
This takes one back
heaven by Andrea Pozzo
CC'iling
19nazio. presented in the chapter of the history of images
of Saint Ignazio,
ceiling of the church ofSain!
(Chapter 11).
II). The viewer gets immersed in the illusionistic space of the ceiling's
perspective image similarly to the immersion in the virtual space of the echurch.
hurch. It
11 is an
bas a purpose
istance. The panoramic ceiling has
immersion achieved through the presented ddistance.
\0 reach the viewer's conS(:ioll.'mess
\0 remind her that
that extends its visual effects to
consciousness and to
iSBn
heaven is
an intangible promise. In a similar way, the space of the church, with the
flickering
the illuminated gold of the icons and the chanting of the hymns
Ilymns creates
flicltering candles, !he
similar
lar to
10 the ones of
o f the divine. However, despite
a promise ooff spirituality and infinity, simi
[oolt or touch the icons,
the proximity ooff these elements - she can listen to the hymns, look
and she can light a candle,
candlc, participating in the creation of the virtual space - she always
alway s
\0 the divine, like
remains a spectator. There is always the impossibility of coming close to
a candle that is no longer lit, like the melody of the hymn that stops, or the saints that
always remain strict and silent in their golden background. At the end of the liturgy the
cchurch
hurch maintains its "authority of religious control" (Grau.
(Grau, 200).
2003, p.49).
of a
Hence,
Hence. the process of visiting a church and the Byzantine icon becomes part ofa
certain type of cultural participation and identity-formation as much as identityidentity.
133
affirmatiml.
In their symbolic position [[...]
... J and in their virtual participation in the
affirmation. ""In
dramaofthe
liturgy. icons gradually took on a diffen:nl
drama of the liturgy,
different role from the wall paintings or
mosaics on the walls,

walls. acting
acling more as aids to devotion than pictorial narratives of
oftbe
the
k, 2000.
p.1 52). Every
EveT)' time the viewer visits the icon
(Gormack,
2000, p.l52).
history of the church" (Gormac
there is a certain kind of participation, but also an awaJer>Css
thai is
awareness of a certain identity that
cullure within which the

!he icon is a means of worship. Thus, a
immediately related to the culture
perfOmLlUlCC, an actualization of culture itself.

itsel f. The moment I
visit to the Church
church is also a performance,
stand against the icon there is infinity of visitations that tie me back to a line of history
hislory
fat as it is a history of my culture.
that is mine, as far
culture, and all these visitations are
simultaneously performed. My culture is performed through the relationship
relationshi p between my
simultanoously
thaI IJ come to
10 recognize are instantly performed, rebody and the icon and the meanings that
enacted.
illustrllted with the Iconoclastic dispute, the icons used to be 11a

In addition, as illustrated
religious statement about the truthfulness of the church.
church, but there were also a political
Constantinople. 1be
The religious image used to
statement about the status of
ofConslalllioople.
10 serve the
illusion of a strong and wealthy State. The

'Ille political necessity
Ile(;Cssity of sustaining this illusion
lhe continuation of creating
even after Constantinople's fall also explains the reasons for the
Byzantine
B~zantine iconography
iconograph~ even
e~en up to
10 this date
dale (Gormack, 2000).
2(00). Even years
~ears after the
!be
Byzantine
B~zanline Empire's physical destruction,
destroction, when Byzantium
B~zantiurn is just a moment in the line of
historical production and historical discourse, the icons maintain the memory and the
fantas~ of Byzantium's
Byzantiwn's virtual existence:.
momenl that
thai the icon functions
fUllClions as a
fantasy
existence. It is at the moment
of cultural performance that

type
I~pe ofeultural
thai believers nowadays
nowada~s continue
COI\linuc to
10 identify
idenlif~ themselves as
empire.
being part of a greater reality that has its roots in the brilliant history of an empi
re. In a
134
sense, in Byzantium's
Byzanlium'~ absence and in the presence of the icon the images of Byzantine art
an
have had and still have, a social and a political function.
definition of
In Byzantine cultun:,
culture, mimesis is the word closest to the defInition
admi~ture of presence and absence. The
lbe
It stands for an admixture
icon cxemplifiesjU')!
it.selfan
an absence
exemplifIes just such an admixture. While itself
(appearance).
iOOIl enacts divine presence
presem:e (essence) in its
(appearance), the Byzantine icon
making and in its
ilS interaction with the faithful.
faithful. (Pentcheva,
(Pcnlcrn:va, 2006, p.632)
1'.632)
"performancc:~.
"performance".
Everything
Eve rytbing ill
is Illuminated
mumio. ted .
... in the Absence
Ab~en
The relationship between absence and presence here is essential in actualizing the
lhc icon - its virtuality. Absence
Absen and
andpresern:e
tile
potential of the
presence are multiplicities of the
structure of history. Since history is a multiplicity
multi plicity of the structure of art, it
;1 is a
consequence that absence and

presence are also multiplicities of the
andpresence
tile structure of art.
Thus, they also participate in the event of artistic truth.
The Greek cinematographer Theo Angelopoulos
Angdopoulos is using the
ihc same absences in his
work 10
to suggest presence - either in the plot of his movies or in his cinematic images. In
work
Angelopoulos' films there is often an image extended
el<tended in time that is lacking of any
fJ1lfl1es
suggestive or explanatory elements. Instead the viewer is simply left with empty frames
and deserted landscapes that
thaI are often lost in the mist or in the
Ike unfocused gaze of
Angelopoulos camera. It seems that

Angclopoulos
thaI his movies are nostalgically searching for a lost truth
with which they once felt deeply in love. Horton (1997) describes Angelopoulos' work
"that is a cinema that points to an inner voyage or journey
as cinema of contemplation, "'thaI
[ ... ] A cinema in the mist paradoxically
paradol<H,;aJly suggcsts
suggests that
thaI Angelopoulos' cinema seeks for
[...]
clarity beyond the
Ike mist that
thai history and cullure
l ).
culture have woven" (p.
(p.l).
In AngelopoulO$'
Angelopoulos' fIlm
and (la Day (1998) an acclaimed Greek writer
Elernitytmd
film Eternity
to live, since he is suffering from an incurable
named Alexandros has only few days 10
135
illness. As hl>;
his Ufe
life is cWlling
coming to an end lIJld
and he is driving to
illness,
10 the hospitalbrn;pital- from where he
knows he
00 wiil
ba\:k - he meets
mects aII young boy, an eight-year old refugee
~fuge<; from
will never rome
come back
Albania,
companion. As the minutes
Alballld, who is meant to be his last ctllnpanioo"
min:ures of the movie slowly
pal!!:i., the minutes
m'mdes of the cbarncter'
liib are Ilcgollald
AleJndrno' own ending but
character'ss life
negotiated 001
not by Alexandros'
pass,
Angelopoulo," cinelllllUO
hill main character to
wlook
by Angelopoulos'
cinematic journey. AIlgeJopoulos
Angelopoulos foo;es
forces his
look at
his life a;;

as Alexandros
his memories willi
with his
young rompanion.
companion, forgetting
Alexandroo shares hls
bis YOIlllg
fmgetrill!l: all
about his end. So, the film is a recollection of

loot and fragmented memories, but also
aJso a
oflost
journey of selflffi.<y,,1dgo
\vhero, like in Kahlil Glbrun's
Akxandros' soul
rout finds aII
self-knowledge where,
Gibran's J1<X'ffi,
poem, Alexandros'
path Alcxandros'
Alexandros' soul unfolds like II
a flower,
truth. In his last
truth"
lastpath
fi<fll!ef, blooming because it has
firnllly achieved !tis
finally
his truth.
Figure 45. Theo Angelopoulos, Scenes from Eternity and a Day, 1998
Time is ~nded
suspended ill
in the film. A minute beoomes
becomes IIa day and a day becomes
I:Jeoomes
infinity as the memories

mrmorie:s of Alelt!llldros
tife
Alexandros are intet'Wl:f<Ntl
interwoven into one another ill
to (reate
create a life
mostly internal
than actual. The absence of any other
that is moSIly
intcrna1 rather tha/la<;tuaL
otlli:r perspective to
10
Alexandros'
a narrative that is only his, it is a truth
Alexandrw' life
lifu allows for
fur him to
Ii} create II
I!1IIh that as
spectators we
but respect. It is like an artistic troth.
truth, internal
and singular 10
to the
!pectal<.m;
W<l cannot bu!
inlernal aud
!he
case Alexandros
occur. So, within the
situation - in this ease
Afex;mdros - that allowed this truth to QCIU'.
,,.
136
of any other narrative but the character's, the film achieves authority to speak of
absences orany
an internal
intemal truth as well as of virtuality. The memories become the journey and the
art, filled with the dymonis

dymanis (potential) of a poetic structure.
slruCture. We can once
journey is like an,
polcntia1i1)' of the situation of
again refer to the idea of proorismos as the always-internal potentiality
an
AI the same time,
lime, the absence of any present
pn:$Cn\ interaction,
interaClion. since all
art 10
to present truth. At
hanu.;tcr' s remembering
r<:membering of
nf his
hi s past, fuses
interactions in the film belong mainly to the ccharacter's
past and present into

inlo a wonderful and beautiful mythical scene. After all, time is only
o nly
relevant to the narrative of Alexandros' memories, in a similar way the suspended time is
Efernoi Sunshine o/the

oflhe Spotless MindMind only relevant
relevanllO
to Joel's memories in the case of Eternal
enough.
and this is cnough.
thaI seems
seetrul to
lO be lost in the
Angelopoulos is nostalgically searching for a place that
i\ in his films (as constructed
pl'csence).
absence) and he re-invents it
constructedpresence).
present moment (as ab.se""e)
Uke his own characters Angelopoulos excavates from the past memories of
ofa
Like
a place that
are forever lost and attempts to maintain them
!hem by expanding them
!hem in time. His panoramic
of the land are seemingly inexhaustible, stretched out in time as memories that
images ofthe
!hat
illS!ead maintain their
refuse to defuse or fade out through the passage of time. They instead
purity, like personal

one'ss
per!lOnal memories, and inspire a re-enactment of the infinity found in one'
Home land can also stand as the
relationship with the land of Greece - a homeland. Homeland
metaphor of a place,
place. the location where self-knowledge and awareness as a truth
!ruth can be
of truth that might occur in the liturgy ortlle
of the
achieved. This is similar to the possibility ofuuth
cchurch
hurch or in the oontemplative
contemplative moment with modem art, or in the suspension of
predefined knowledge in the

tbe avant-gardes.
137
(1 998-2003) argues that, "Greece,

vfee', the inexhaustible homeland, is not
Irene Stathi (1998-2003)
te for Angelopoulos. It is the incarnation of his spiritual anllieties
only a geogmphical
geographical si
site
anxieties
and searchings and, by extension, his artistic
aniSlic expression" (par.4
li ke the
(parA).). Homeland is like
Greek poet Constantinos Cafavy's

CaraY)' 's Ithaca
IlhcJc(l (191
1).)6 Ithaca is never the destination, but
(1911).36
it is the journey that
instead it is the journey, because il
thai is full of the potential of truth.
trulh. In a
oo;:omes IIa virtual
vin ual space because of its potential. Horton
I lorton (1997) argues
way the journey becomes
thaI
that "AngelopoulO$
"Angelopoulos is the cinematic poet searching not only for knowledge but also for a
transcendence: which "home" or Ithaca
Jlhaca - Odysseus'
OdYSI;Cus' longed-for goalgoal - represents"
kind of transcendence
(p.3).
As you sct
set Oul
out for Ithaca,
V(lyage is II
Hope the voyage
a long one,
adventure. full of discovery.
full of adventure,
Lestrygonians and Cyclops,
angry Poseidon - don't
don 't be afraid
afmid of them:
you'll never fmd things like that
!hat on your way
k=p your thoughts raised high,
as long as you keep
as long
loog as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Lestrygonians
Ustrygonians and Cyclops,
wild Poseidon
Poseioon - you won't encounter them
unless you bring them alongside your
yOUT soul,
unless yOUT
your soul sets
selS them up in front of you.
[ ... ]
Keep Ithaca always in your
yOUT mind.
mind.
then: is what you are destined for.
Arriving there
But do not
nol hurry
hw-ry the journey
jow-ney at all.
Better it lasts for years;
so that you are old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you have gained on the way,
not
expecting Ithaca to make you rich.
oot e"pecting
r r
.1
journey.
Ithaca gave you the marvelous
marvelousjOUl"TlCy.
Without her you would not have set out.
th
Constantinos caVllfy
Cavafy (I
(1863-1933)
one oh
of the
offthe
the 20
century. He
"36 Comtantinos
&6.1-1'33) was """
ho most
""'"' important Greek poets ..
2~ <:en1Ut)'.
Ho
lived and wortl
worked in Alexandria .as. .a journalist and he
numerous poems
while
was oJi
alive.
be published
.... b l _ n........"...
poem . ..
bilt he .....
.
Many ..
offhi.
his unpubJo.t.ed
unpublished poetry .....
was 01$0
also made
as
mad< known after
011 ... his death.
deaIh. He can also
obo be found ..
Konstantinus
Contantine caVJfy.
Cavafy.
KomtantmllS Kavafis
K.""r,. or ConI3nti".
138
She has nothing 10
to ggive
ive you now.
ber poor, Ithaca
I thaca won't
WQIl'! have fooled
fooLed you.
And if you find her
become. so full of experience,
Wise as you will have become,
you will have understood by then what these Ithacas
Ilhacas mean.
(Cavafy, 1992, p.36-7)
(Cavafy.
The cinematic image of Angelopoulos'
Angelopou\os' films becomes the space of its
ils own
subjcd.
cltlcnds the gaze to one
OrK: of consciousness.
oonseiousness.
subject, overflows the reality of the gaze and extends
fonn ofrcpetition
ofthc
In a sense one can witness here another form
of repetition based on the infinity of
the
occWTing in Vehlsquez's
VelAsqucz's Las
UJs Meninas.
Menlnas. In Eternity
Eternllyund
and a Day
gaze similar to the one occurring
Alexandros is gazing into his memories and at the same time the memories gaze back at
him, in their silent positioning of one's past, and it is in this repetitive occurrence
OCCUTrCnce that
thai
fir>ds the self-knowledge-truth. "Angclopoulos
AlclIandros fmds
Alexandros
"Angelopoulos has thus immediately
"gaze~ he means not only the look that or>e
pel'll(>n can give another,
established that by "gaze"
one person
know" in the philosophical sense is to gaze into another soul"

sou," (Horton,
but also that "to know"
1999, p.184).
p.I S4).
In the book Everything

Everylhing is Illuminated
lIIuminoledby
by Jonathan Safran Foer (2002), abs<:nce
absence
a journey to the
negotiates presence once again. In the novel a young
yoWtg man embarks on ajowncy
Ukraine in order to fmd
lind the woman who according to his
lIi$ grandmother's stories saved his
lIi$
a journey of total
grandfather from the
tbe Nazis. In
[n ajoumey
IOta I absence of clues, facts and rational
errors and indispositions that
shift to a newly
connections, and a series of comical erTOn;
oonne<:tions,
tllat slowly sltift
intense unknown, and ultimately irrelevant purpose,
purpo$e, the
tbe journey is alleviated into
inlo a
unique dialogue between

into a query of
betw~n the real and the imaginary, transforming
lransfonning itself
i\Selfinto
novel '$ trutll
truth. Jonathan (the author) is searclling
searching for the novel's
truth whereas Jonathan (the
novel's cllameter)
character) is s.earching
searching for a truth thai
that is closely related to
history and
10 his personal
penonaillistory
bewmes the journey of the author and
character becomes
memories. At the end, the journey of the (:I\arncter
139
vise versa Md
and the truth that the novel disposes to the reader is nothing but an anistic
artistic
[t is
i$ a truth that
thaI has
bas nothing
nolhing to do with the work itself, its content,
content. or the intentions
truth. It
of its author, or the intentions of the reader when he or she oomcs

10 the act of reading the
comes to
ani $lie transfiguration.
transfiguration.
book. The reading of the book happens within the space of artistic
lIIuminatedis
Angel0p0ulos' films and to
10 the Byzantine
BY-l.Wltinc
Everything is Rluminated
is similar 10
to Angelopoulos'
loon.
Angc1opoulos
Icon. The golden void of the icon and the absence of a Greece that Angelopoulos
ildhood is similarto
ofeanlCn!
livesoftbe
remembers from his ch
childhood
similar to the absence of
content in the lives
of the
hisjoumcy
novel's characters. Jonathan starts his
journey with no clues or a plan, having no real
Or who he
be is looking for. Ultimately he creates a narrative,
narrative. which
knowledge of what or
oonstrucU
constructs aa truth. lltis
This is 8a self-knowledge-truth for lonathan-the-character
Jonathan-the-character lIS
as it is for
lonathan-tlle-author.
Jonathan-the-author. This takes one back 10
to modem paintings where the absence of
ident
ifiable objects and the playful abstraction of the canvases searched nostalgically
noslalgically for
identifiable
of a universal truth.
the presence ofa
January 17,1007
27, 2007
JllnUllry
I came 10
to the States
September of2002,
a year after the World Trade
SlaieS in &plember
ofl00l, ayear
TriNk Center attack,
auack. a
ofevery
filled with
smoke ofthe
every New Yorker was still
slillftlled
wilh the
lhe smou
oflhe
year when the consciousness of
falling lowers
towers and with
ofdeath
wilh the
Ihe impossible smell of
dealh and loss. I remember my ssurprise
lIrprise by
everyone's
the horrible event. The 'whys"
"whys" were more than
deaths
puzzlemenl over lhe
lhan the
lhe deulhs
e..... ryones puzzlement
had
spread
over
the
lives
ofthis
amazing
City.
After
all,
I
have
been
living
with
that
lhe
oflhis aml1Zing Cil)'.
all.
Jiving wilh the
lhe
lhat
ofloss
born since the
ofmy country never
sadness of
loss since I was barn
lhe politics
polilies and history
hisloryofmy
IUiver
to fold my
feeling free. Itwas
was rather
allowed me lofold
my arms and take
lau a deep breath
brealhfeelingfree.
ralher always
the weight
occupations and the complex
carrying with me lhe
weighl ofseveral
afseveral wars,
wars. and numerous OCcupalions
of
an animal newly andfor/heftrst
limefreedfrom
Nf!W York
York 01)'
lhe
ofan
andfor the first time
freedfrom its cage. New
City was the
the saftty
ofmy cage. I was
for thefisllimefree
the fist time free 10
to be who I was never
safetyofmy
wasfor
forest laid after lhe
fa be and IIwasfor
was for lhefirsllime
the first time able 10
to be who I was dreaming 10
to become. New
able to
its certainty
York Cily
City with
its newly
newlyfelt
wllh ifs
fell insecurities
lno;ecll1"ilies and ilS
t;rlaimy ofloss
of loss was
1010$ my newlyfelt
newlyfell
acquisition offreedom. A
freedom lhal
that hod
had nothing
nolhing to
10 do with possession,
possesswn. or rather
rulher a
acquisilion
Afreedom
freedom thof
wifh possession. Possession
Possession and obsession.
that hod
had everything 10
to do with
- From my unpublished diaries
'''''
140
A diary is a means in which a moment can be suspended in time. It is a space where the
re-cstablished in presence since it
il is in the presented words that
thaI the absent
absence is re-established
moment is captured.
captured. In some respects absence and presence are interwoven for they
realize each other.
IIfQI'CIr 4,
I, 2007
1001
Sunday, March
[f....]
not "'Y
my infention/a
intention to write
as a story of
ofmy
childhood I rather seek to
.. } ilit is IIQ{
....rite this QS
my childhood.
/0
understand
the
story
ofmy
present
and
the
ways
in
which
I
come
to
live
with
my
own
"nderswnd fhe
0/ my
(md
/0
OW/I
moments in an extended
ex/ended and suspended
presenlllwl
escopes ils
pas! orfuture.
or /ulure. Our
suspendedpresent
that escapes
its past
relationship to
/0 lime;s
paradol<, I10m
Ihis story
Slory in my present but ewry
time is sw.:h
such a paradox.
am writing this
every
that htu
has already bee"
been
word already belongs /0
to ilS
its OWn
own pastfor
single typed
/ypedword
past for it is a word lhal
simultaneously belongs /0
to ils
its possible
future for il
it is a word that
someone might
told and Simu/laneoU$/Y
possiblefulure
thot .wmeone
read in a sentence, conce(Jfuo/ize
ullimately have
conceptualize it in a multiple di.ff"erem
difftrent ways lhal
that ultimately
n<J/hing
wilh me as fhe
author. Ifeel
Ilee! thaI
responsihi/ily to
/0 tell
/ell a truth
(rulh is
that my responsibility
nothing /Q
to do with
the author.
irrelevantfor
each
word
will
negotiate
its
own
truth
as
it
relates
to
its
own
;rre/ellUni/or
negoliote ils Own trulh il relales 10
OW" past
post and
simullutleOusfulure.
's why I like words.
words. They are the
lhe simplistic
simplislic manifestation
monifeSlation a/a
simultaneous
future. Thai
That's
ofa
ofmy
being. They can become lhe
the manifestation
complex human being.
manifeslalio" 0/
my complexity or
ar your
yow
that belongs 10
to no one bullhe
but the space within which this
story is
complexity or a complexity lhal
Ihis .flory
wrille,,[
).
written [ ...
..].
- From
f rom my unpublished diaries
Declaring the Telos of Art in Th

Thee Nostalgic Re-Configuration
of Unity
Re--Configun.tion orUoity
At this point it seems important
im portant to
10 return to
10 the idea of universality, as this is
presented in the Onhodox

Orthodox consideration of art.
an. The
lbe Byzantine icon used to
10 serve the
nantltive that assisted conformity, and thus
purpose ofconstl"U(:ting
of constructing a unified social narrative
maintained social equilibriwn.

equilibrium. However, it also served the purpose of presenting
presenti ng a
unified narrative
of life. Specifically, in both the idea of Catholicism and Orthodoxy, the
narrntive oftife.
icon stands as the true manifestation of universality in the absoluteness of the divine. The
theological philosophy that evolved around the question of
ofpresence
presence in the icon reminds
of an absolute truth that an
art is capable of revealing. In the idea
us of the romantic belief ofan
of absoluteness one witnesses
witrteSSe$ the utopia of universality.
14 1
141
productivity. luminous and
Specifically "[I]inlced
"[1]inked to this fantasy ooff pure, divine productivity,
spiritual
without a body, is the simultaneous birth of a painting
painti ng that is pure, spiri
tual emanation,
subjectivit)" and which brings the question of the image back the
liberated oofr all gestural subjectivity,
p.20 7). We are talking of

of course about
manifestation of inherent truth" (Mondzain, 2005, p.207).
the abstract paintings of Mark Rothko, Wassily Kandisky, Malevich and Mondrian,
~veil that covers and uncovers"
ullCOvers" (Mondzain, 2005, p.207). In the
which function as a "veil
paint ings work as the luminous

disappearance of any identifiable o1:ljecu
objects (absence), the paintings
golden background in the Byzantine icons, which veils
vei ls physical and material reality
(pieSCnce).
belmes presence in the process
prooess of unveiling the
(presence). In a way, absence becomes
re)1Je*n\ divine. This is sim
ilar to the construction of
o f history
hi $lory as presented
impossible 10
to represent
similar
previously --the
the absent past is used in order 10
to create a presented constructed social
narrntive.
narrative.
a way, the absence ofform

of form in
In away,
existence,
vinual existence.
abstract paintings becomes a virtual
possibi lity
because it is wnsidcred
considered to have the possibility
of presenting something. As Malevich states:

ofpre$enting
"Only with the disappearance of habit of mind
which sees in pictures little comers of nature,
madonnas and shameless Venuses,

Ve/luses. shall we
have
witness a work
wort of pure, living art. I[have
Figure
Figllre 46. Kasimir Malevich,
Malcvicll,
White
on White.
White, 1918
White""
in the zero ofform" (as

transformed myself
m)'5elfin
cited in Besan<yon,
(Figure 46) is the
Be~n. 2000, p.364). His work
wort White on White
While ((1918)
19IS){Figure
manifestation of his
hi s above assertion. In the absence of any easily identifiable form
fonn and in
142
the hardly recognizable vari9tions

variations of white, Malevich expects that the spectator can
finally reach a pure art and an absolute truth. Since the viewer has nothing to identify,
[mally
!han with her

heroognition.
she can only experience the work with her senses rather than
cognition. Like the
ofar!.
romantic philosophers of
art, Malevich also was convinced that the ideal forms could be
judgments and intellectual
elaborated in a work that was finally free from aesthetic
aesti1elicjudgmcnlS
cansidCTlltions.
considerations. He stales:
states:
The art of painting,
painting. sculpture, the word, was up until now, a camel loaded
with all kinds of rubbish of odalisques [[...]

... J Painting was a necktie on the
starched shirt of a gentleman and a pink OOI'llC\
corset holding in the swollen
of a (al1ady.
fat lady. Painting was the esthetic side ora
of a thing, but it never
stomach ofa
itself. [[...
.. . ]J Creation is present in pictures only
was original and an end in itself.
bUI
where there is form which borrows nothing already created in nature, but
arises out of the
tile painted masses without repeating and without altering the
prinuuy forms of the objects of nature.
nalure. (Malevich, 1980, p.1
p. 107)
primary
Malevich followed negation as a
undemanding and achieving

means of understanding
absoluteness that
thaI in a sense reflects
rene<:rs a superior
unity. Through the unity of pure forms
fonns and
the mass of painting he was hoping to re-
establish the autonomy and unity of art. ""II

in,he
offor",~
the zero ofform"
have transformed my self in
Figure
FiguFe 47. Mark
Mart Rothko,
RoIhko,
Black
BlIXt on Maroon,
MOTQt)R. 1958
he
says, suggestive of his belief that the ideal
lie says.
form can only be presented in a painting that is objectless. In While
White on White (1911) the
smaller tilted square is slightly distinguished from the larger square of the painting.
However,
spaces, the viewer gets the
However. in the subtle differentiations between the two square spaces.
immem:d into a tornado that sucks her in infinity. In a similar way

impression ofbeing
of being immersed
icon, Malevich's
Byl.antine ioon,
Malevieh.' s paintings have their own
to the golden background of the Byzantine
143
eInomy.
Willi the use of white, as basically the absence of any color, and in the lack of
economy. With
any fixed point that will
wi ll ancbor
!be painting presents a silent infmity.
infinity.
anchor the viewer's vision, the
Malcvicb's also create a virtual space that is filled with the
Like Rothko's paintings, Malevich's
possibility of an infinite (;()Ilfiguralion.
configuration. TlK.-re
There is no end, only a vast whiteness and
wcightlcssllCss.
weightlessness.
"In lhe
monocllrome CWlV!lSCS,
the white monochrome
canvases, Malevich diSC()vcn::d
discovered a meditation on the
vital movement of humanity toward universal harmony, a sign of cosmic perfection, and
the ideal state of consciousness'"
consciousness" (Douglas.
(Douglas, 1994, p.102). In a way, the presented infinity
creates a sense of universality and unity that is different from Aristotle's definition
defmition of
URily. As Adorno (2001) describes this, for Aristotle unity
URity is "the unity
unily of properties of
unity.
the clements
painting. unity is not
nol
elements subsumed under it" (p.70). However, in abstract painting,
lns\elld the impossibility to define abstraction in any sort of
Aristotle's type of unity. Instead
identi fiable forms, no easily understood narrative, no
specificity - no object, no identifiable
perspective
art, suspends it, and provides
pro~ides it with a virtual existence. And it is
perspedive - extends an,
in the abstmct
abstract painting's virtuality that one can find art's unity.
Wassily Kandinsky's work
another example in which
work. during the early 1900s
19O(ls is IU"l<)ther
one eQuId
~irtual space of the absence. As Stein claims
could witness the unity ofart
of art in the virtual
[Kandinsky] maintained, be
temponll elements should, he [KandinskyJ
(1984), "[s]ubjective
k[sJubjecti ve and temporal
of the
responsive and hence subordinate to a third and principal element, the expression ofthe
objective: the universal, pure and eternal in art"

art k (p.187). In his work, Kandinsky
KaOOinsky is
searching for possibilities for fantasy and imagination. "The
"'The work should 'resound'
(Hingen)
possibilities. he said, and the "inner"
Minner" content should emerge slowly"
slowlyM
(klingen) with possibilities,
1979, p.107). In a sense, Kandinsky
(Weiss, 1979.
Kanrlinsky is looking for universality as he is inspired
144
rerums to ''!he
by shamanistic traditions and returns
"the idea ora
of a cosmic view of the universe set free
p.130).
from traditional gravitational orientalion~
orientation" (Weiss, 1995, p.130).
hisSmoll
PleasuTe$ (1913)
In his
Small Pleasures
(Fi gure 48) Kandinsky's lines

lillCs and colors
(Figure
claim oWTlC1llhip
own language, as
ownership of their o"n
the spectator can never possibly identify a
narrative in the energetic structure of the
work. In opposition to Malevich,
KandiflSky is reaching
roaching spirituality not
Kandinsky
sih:1I1 absence, but instead through

through a silent
the absence of silence. His lines are
Figure
Figun 48.
48. Wassily
WlSSily Kandinsky,
Kandinsky.
Small Pleasures,
&tall
f'1~aJ"u". 1913
191 J
energy -- as if the painting itself is putting

descriptive of an inner spiritual CIlCrg)'
purring up a music
performance, The
l1le lack
Jack of any concept is in line
tine with abstraction's
abstmction's assertion against
performance.
~artjstic." Rather, as Ferdinand Avenarius
A~narius wrote in a published essay in 1908,
1908.
anything "artistic."
movcmcnllay
lay in the possibility of freely
The aesthetic merit of the new movement
of reality and exploiting them for the expression
transforming elements ofrcality
ellpression of
one's
own inner life, without being bound by special relationships of
Olle 's 0\\011
reality, for the 'freest expression of spiritual situations. (as cited in Weiss,
1979,
1919, p.l14)
p.114)
Mondrian 's use oflines oorresponds
10 the above claim. In
Piet Mondrian's
corresponds with agreement to
his Vertical Composition with
wilh Blue and White
While (1936) (Figure 49) the lines -~ as in most of
his work - are "abruptly
~abruptly sliced by the edges
ooges ooff the painting, giving the impression"
impres:si()JI" that
they oould
could be extendable beyond the frame of the painting and into infinity (Deicher,
p.15). Mondrian lines are different than Kandinsky's. They are dynamic in their
1995, p.7S).
Their energy lays in !beir

their
!hat strikes you from above. 'Their
silence, as a straight force that
145
possibility foc
for an
expansion and in their repetitive nu1ure.
nature. One after the other the
au infinite expansiOllll.lld
certain of their authority in defIning
lines give the viewer the impression
Impression that they are :min
tkfuling the
Ill<;
Simultaneously, Mondrian's use
of white, similarly to Mfikwkh,
Malevich,
truth
lrutll of the work. Simultancuusly,
usc ofwnite,
accentuates the spirituality of the work. The painting becomes II
a pure space, an infinite
~I,!ates
fInitude of the painting's
icon. In a
space, within the finitude
jWintirtg's panelpliI1<ll - similar to the Byzantine iron.
way inc
the work becomes
v.y
a prohlctt:>r
protector of unity.
once again an agent of spirituality and II
Nevertheless, one here needs to separate the unity
of art from theunlty
the unity of an intelligible narrative.
nmmlve. It
11: should
not
of the two is the same.
same, for
mil. be assumed
asslll'fld. that the unity uf
assumption that the horizon is
that
thaI would
wouW be similar to the IISsumptiillllbat
indeed au
an intelligible line that our eyes can
CII.I!. position
prultioo from
point A to point B. More
the llIlity
unity of our
Mort specifIcally,
specifically, W
life's narratives is the same as understanding the horizon as
It
a
Figw<t 49. pjC(

Figure
Piet Mondriim,
Mondrian,
V<II'!;ml
Vertical G\Jmpmitfun
Composition wi/I!
with
Blue t.md
and WhiIc,
White, 1936
lille
Ilnrt has 11a defInite
deli nile beginning and 1Ia deftnite
definite end, two
I\Vn
line that
separable points that never meet. The unity of art though
fixed narmtive
a ftxed
narrative but rather in the
does not lie in {he
the unity ofIt
existt.'IlCe
l\O
a void that in the vastnt:ss
vastness of ihlllHdiiferentiatcd
its undifferentiated eha!:a!.:wr,
character, there are no
existence of II
beginnillgs
Ibooe are inseparable
illwparable and simultaneously
simu!1aneu1.l$ly identical.
Wentical. The unity of
beginnings and emb
ends ~
- those
intelligible life that rests within each social individual, not only is different from the unity
of art, but it almost functi()JiS

!he lat:Wr,
fl is as if
functions as II
a means of fragmentation for the
latter. It
individuality acts as
ilS the fe/f!S,
truth,
telos, the definitive
defInitive answer to art and arf
art's$ truth.
Mondrian commented on the differentiation between the individual versus the
human. "Mondrian thought that the old attitude of the artists, concerned only with his
146
ego and with
willi imposing his own personality
penonality [...]
[ ... ] He also thought that individualism was
....'aS
the source of all evils: nationalism, militarism, and egotism in general" (Fauchereall,
(Fauchereau,
1994.
1994, p.39). In a way Mondrian reflects ideas of Byzantine iconography in which the
artist's individuality is never allowed to interfere with
wilh the iconic
icanle economy. After all,
the artist is simply a human and fInite

individuality of
nfme
fmite characteristic that
lhal cannot be
incorporated in the production ofao
!hat aims to present something of the
tile essence
of an image that
ofthc:
OJ natun:).
Macintyre (1984) claims.
it is no accident that
thai
of the absolute (divine or
nature). As MacIntyre
claims, ""it
Kafka
KWka could not
nol end his novels, for the notion of an ending like that
thai ofa
of a beginning has its
sense only in terms ofintelligibJe
namltive~ (p.213).
(p.21). So, individualism, as a fIxed
fi xed
of intelligible narrative"
narrative, destroys the unity ofart,

of art, since the latter is only achieved in the work's assumed
infmity
fmi te character.
infInity rather than in the work's fInite
individual ity as the felos of the
tile unity ofart
of art
However, the recognition of individuality
challenges contemporary works. Nowadays, art not
nol only promotes but also expects
individuality. Should we then assume that the unity
art is broken as we shift from the
wUty of an
Byzantine icon and the abstract painting to the contemporary work? Should we assume
that the intentionality
intentional ity of art is lost in the intentionality of its artist? Or, that the artistic
truth of the work is vanished by the fixed
fIxed individual narrative of individuality?
individual ity? Are we
then only left with Plato's idea ofthe
of the image as a dead practice? And if that
\hat is the case,
art, if
indeed individuality poses an
how can we still argue about virtuality
vinuality in the space of
ofart.
ifindeed
howcan
end.
of this, contemporary art needs to be cclosely
losely
end, a telos.
telos, to art's possibility? In light ofthis,
examined.
.47
147
Summary
Sum"''''y
This chapter examined the historicity and the politics of the icon.
ioon. History,
Uistory, as a
constructed narrative
r>amltive is different from aesthetics or philosophy, for history does not aim
or attempt to explain the truth of an.
histOl'y becomes
bewmes one of those necessary
art. Instead, history
characteristics thai
that promote the occum::nce
occurrence ooff the artistic truth. When looking at the icon,
chamcleriSlics
this can
can never be viewed isolated from the politics of its production, but instead it needs
10 be viewed as an image that is deeply political and serves a cultumJ
ofSO(:ial
social
to
cultural purpose of
equilibrium.
The latter is achieved in the absences of the icon's visual clw'acter,
equi libriwn. TIle
character, such as
ofan
the absence of
an identifiable reality in its empty golden background or the absence of
weight in the presented figures.

li gures. In a similar way
v;ay abstract art attempted to
10 present
spirituality through its oown
wn absences
abseoces and emptiness.
Furthcntl(lre, in this chapter it becomes apparent that
thalprcscnce
Furthermore,
presence - even as a
constructed and intelligible historical narrative - is achieved in the absence. History,
History. like
ofthe
absent moment. I also argue that
any story, is built
buil! on the foundation of
the past as an aOOm!
thaI
virtuality,
of art to
virtuality. as the possibility ofart
10 present a truth that is simultaneously immanent
(unique to art), is best achieved in absences. We return here
(internal to
\0 art) and singular (lUlique
to Badiou's idea of the void as the nothingness that is necessary for something 10
to occur.
way, one could argue that virtuality is the space that dwells in this nothingness
IlOthingness and is
In aaway,
filled
fined with the potential of presenting a unique
lUlique art-truth or a unique
lUliq ue self-knowledge-truth
self-Imowledge-truth
that maintains art's unity. In the following chapter I1 will examine three oontemporary
contemporary
artists, Bill Viola, Ann Hamilton and Laurie Anderson,
Andel"SOn, in order to further discuss
10 do so by
virtuality as the potential space that sustains an's
art's unity. I1 will attempt to
148
examining the relationship of specific contemporary works of art
of the
an and the
!be notions
ool;Ons oftbe
void, ofabscn<:e
of absence and presence, of history and individuality.
'"
149
ChaplcrV
Chapter V
T URN OF A NARRATIVE
VIRTUALITY AND THE SWWING
SLOWING TURN
still one goes on ...

The end is in the
lhe beginning, and slill
8:keu in Gculcn,
- SamllCl
Samuel Beckett
Geulen, 2006, p.90
th e Absence
AbHn~ of .a Theological Meaning
Mean ing
After the "hll"
"Fall" and in the
While, contemporary art is different from Byzantine iconography, it is also
religious worship,
similar in many respects. Whereas the icon is a means of
orreligious
worship.
be:: an intellectual return to spirituality, by revisiting the

contemporary art can only be
lQ the question of
ofpn"5ence
qucstion
question of the inside and the outside, and once agai
againn to
presence and
deity that is not

of a political struggle
absence. There is indeed a search for aadeity
nol the result ofa
pefllOnal exploration of the world and the self.

self.
but is the result ofa
of a personal
[A]fier
[A liter centuries in which visual imagery
image!)' that
thai was devoted to religious
and forms specifically dictated by the Church (al
(at the
themes in styles aoo
Councill ofNicaea
Second Counci
of Nicaea in the eight cent\U')'),
century), art turns its attention to
W(lrld and it begins to invert its own tenns.
the secular world
terms. Individual artists
begin to be celebrated, and their work demanded. (Freund, 1998,
]998, p.7)
(n this chapter I will examine the work orthree

anists,
In
ofthree American contemporary artists,
Anderson. whose work reflects
reflts the discussions that
Bill Viola, Ann Hamilton and Laurie Anderson,
ic(mography
I] have developed up to this point. The main differences between Byzantine iconography
and the work that
that]I am discussing in this chapter are: a) the contemporary image, even
though still vivid, and regardless
n::gardless of whether it is static or constantly changing,
changi ng, takes the
fonn of
ofaa three-dimensional situation rather than a painting on a flat surface and b) where
when::
form
150
ISO
iOOllOgraphy aimed for a universal
Wliversal trut~
truth, that ultimately supported the unity
unily of
art, contemporary works arise from the individuality of their artists. The choice of the
works presented in this chapter does not
nol suggest that
!hat these artists represent the best
examples for validating (or not) my arguments. The choice of the work carries
canies a lot of
biases and readen

readers need to be aware of the fact that the interpretation remains ultimately
"pcrsonal~
"personal" and
would never wholly rdle<:\

reflect the artistic truth of the works presented. My
main intention
intenlion is to strengthen and clarify previously made arguments as I apply them in
the examination of these spIX'ific

specific works of art.
he Return To An Inner Void

Bill Viola: T
The
Bill Viola was born in New York City in 1951 and has a background in music,
offilm
vidoo art
an since
performance, video and sound engineering. He is a pioneer of
film and video
\970s. He studied in the College of Visual and Performing
Perfonning Arts al
Syrncuse
at Syracuse
the early 1970s.
University in 1970,
teehnical consultant and video
videQ preparator for many
]970, worked as a technical
important exhibitions. He lived in Japan with his wife Kira
exchange
Kim Perov on a cultural cllchange
program during 1980-1981 and he has traveled to Java, Bali,
the Solomon Islands, the
Bali,!be
Ilimalayas. and the Sahara desert in order to broaden his horizons regarding diffcrent
Himalayas,
different
philosophies ofspiritualilY,
of spirituality, which still inform his work.
Specifically, the influence of Zen
len Buddhism, Christian mysticism,
mysticism. the Islamic
the physics of optical perception
lyricism of Sufism,
Sufism. and !be
pereept.ion allowed him to create his unique
visual vocabulary (Blanchard.
(Blanchard, 1998).
\998). In 1995 he represented the US in the
!he Venice
Vcnice
Biennale.
sound and image to create installations
Bicnnale. In his work,
work.. Bill Viola employs oound
iTI5laliatiollS whose
narratives
situation that belongs
r>amlli~s suspend time and in many cases illuminate the
!be void as
lIS a sirualion!hal
151
15'
to the work itself
itselfas
as well as to the artist's narrative. Viola's primary medium is film and
even though he is aware oflhe
of the S<rC3Iled
so-called seductiveness of new media technologies he is
not
oot apologetic in their use.
usc. Rather he uses them as an instrument in re-presenting
re-prescnting
"unseen images"
images~ in a very adequate form (Pilhringer,
\994).
(Piihringer, 1994).
TIl, Passions,
Passions. $.1000.1003
The
c. 2000-2003
ofthe
Musewn
During a one-year residency at the Research Institute of
the J. Paul Getty Museum
in Los Angeles, California in 1998,

1998. Bill Viola became increasingly
increasi ngly interested
intcn:sled in the
!be
painti ngs of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. In 2000 he
tradition of devotional paintings
developed a series of works under the general title The Passions based on his experiences
pn:senl5
and his studies at the Getty. Similarly to the works that inspired him, Viola presents
wo rk that
thaI is vivid and simultaneously silent,
si lent. while in this silence he searches for a lost
work
10 do with a personal narrative than with
wilh. a social commentary.
spirituality that has more to
He attempts to get immersed

iJt1ll'leT'Sed in the narrative of devotional paintings and to re-create it as
(Walsh,
sh. 2003).
a means of reaching self-knowledge and self-perfection (Wal
In his work titled
lilled Emergence (2002) (Figure 51) for example, Viola draws upon
Descentfrom
Descemfrvm the Cross ((1453)
1453) by Rogier van der Weyden (Figure 50), and from
Masolino'ss frescoed
Masolioo'
fresc()Od Pieta
Pieti (1424) (Figure
(Fi gure 52). In this high definition
definilion video
vidoo that was
of a well as water
projected on a wall-mounted
wall-mounled screen, a man emerges out
OUI ofa
waler pours from it
il
to rest
and he is laid 10
res! with the support of two women. When he speaks of his work Viola
argues thaI
that even lhough
though in the C<)n!eJllporary
contemporary eye the viewer is experiencing a drowning,
Viola was instead interested in experiencing
spirituality of
those images from which
eKperiencing the spiritualilY
ofiliose
whieh
he gets inspired, by "entering"
~enlering~ those images and becoming
boooming their protagonist. In his work
152
Viola, re-creates
in a situati<1Il
situation that
re-croaJ;cs the image by staging
slagillg it ill
IImt allows him to have an inner
iflflCf
glimpse of the original work.
.;,
Figure 50
50. Rogie,
Rogier van der Werden
Weyden
D<!:;ullfjh;tm
Descentfrom the C/'b!!S,
Cross, 14J5
1435
Figure 52. Masolino,

F;J!Ilrff
Ma8oIioo. Pieta,
{'ida, 1424
;424
Figure 51. Bill Viola, Emergence, 2002
work W<)
we arcexperiencing
are experiencing Alain Badiou's (2003; 200S;
2005; 2006) argument
In Viola's W<)rk
that art is a situation where the event of artistic truth occurs. Viola's work, even though a
multiplication of other already-created works that are independent in their own truths,
comes anew to generate a new set of truths that are unique to his work's specificity as a
st\1lc1ure.
IImt
structure. This is best explained with an example :&om
from llIII!.he:n:mtic!I.
mathematics. LeI
Let us lISS\III\e
assume that
a work
wwt of art is a set of propositions F(x),
I"(Xh where F is the structure of the work that is
multiplicities (x). x can take
any value
such as xlx2
comprised of different m:ultiplicities(xJ.
take-any
vahresuehllS
ldx2 ...xu.
... XIl. A
propositions/multiplicities F(y),
where y can be y
yly2
F(y). v.t:wre
1y2 ... yn
yll is different from
new set of -projJO!>itionsfmullipJicities
153
"3
f(x). Ifwe
If we now attempt to form
Conn a new set of
ofsltUCt~
thaI combines the structures
structure F(z) that
F(x).
F(x) and F(y), then we have a new set of propositions that includes the multiplicities of
F(,,) and F(y). However, the new structure simultaneously has a new
oew set of multiplicities
multi plicilies
F(x)
.. XII and from yly2

y\)'2 ....yn.
.... yn. In a sense, Viola's
zlz2 ... zn that are different from xlx2 ,...xu
work does not
nol experience a limit - as one would assume - by the fact that
lhat it utilizes
ulilizcs
[or a new set
SCI of
already existing structures. Rather this appropriation allows for
al lows for its own truths to
multiplicities that form the new structure F(z) and which allows
occur. At this point it
il is important
impor\lLn\ to make the claim that
thaI artist's intentionality,
intentionality. similarly
10
to the historicality of the work, is one of the multiplicities of the situation of art, even
arf s truth.
though rarely present in the experience of art's
In the work titled Five

the Millennium
Fiw Angels/or lhe
Millenn;"m (2001) (Figure
(FigW'C 53), which was
also part of Bill Viola's project
projlX'\ The Passions,
I'assions, five individual video
vi(!oo sequences (Birth
Creation Angel;
Angel; Fire
",re Angel; Ascending Angel;
Allgel; Creatioll
Allgel; and Departing
Departillg Angel)
Allgel) are projected
projedcd
of a darkened gallery. Each screen
onto the walls ofa
directly OI1to
screeD drives a different narrative but
Ill] screens shan:
in the ultimate experience of the work in its totality, all
share the same story; that
birth and death are elements of the void from where the human condition transcends.
transcends.
Figure
the Millennium,
Pipe 53.
5). Bill Viola, Five
Fiw Angels/or
AllgeuP lite
Millelll';""'. 2001
Bill Viola seems to have a certain relationship with the idea of birth and death as
these opposites appear again and again in his work, possibly because of his personal
pt'I"SOnal
154
experience
his soru;
sons was born. Amazed
expericlK:c of losing his mother at the same time that
thai one of
ofms
lhe immensity of the opposite feelings of sadness
by the wonders of life and shocked by the
and happiness those two

IWO life events can generate, he attempts to
10 understand
unden;tand them in his
works. Especially, in the Five Angels
for the Millennium Viola inverts
AngefsJor
iovens the drowning of
or a
man (death) into lL'ICeosi(ln
ascension from the water (birth). "OrdilliU)'
"Ordinary human beings become
divine apparitions; explicable earthly events are transformed

transfonned into
inlo a drama
dmma of sudden
spiritual transcendence."
\nlnscendence," 37
j1 In
[n an unorthodox way, both in this work as well
wdlas
as in
Emergence his characters are not drowning in the water but instead they arise from the
38
The blue vastness of the water is the void, similar
to the golden
depth of the water.
water.J.I
TIle
si mil ar 10
void in the background of the Byzantine icon that presents certain impossibility and
creates a beautiful paradox. Specifically,
Speciftcally, even though the void cannot be represented
lleCeSSity of the void in order for
Viola uses the element of water to emphasize the necessity
somethi
ng to
10 come in the surface. The bodies that arise from the water stand as a
something
metaphor for the
!he artistic
aniSlic truth of the work that
thai arises from the void.
void,
Sounds.
Viola' s work reform
refonn a new
Sounds, colors and the slowly revealed narrative of Viola's
understanding ofanistic
of artistic truth in contemporary art
Brt that is very similar to Byzantine
iconography.
iconography_ They both immerse the viewer in a presented infinity. Specifically, Viola's
work surrounds the viewer in the dark gallery in the same way that the icon previously
"37 frnm
M.......... (2003) for its presentation
"",,""W;.,., of "Bill Viola:
V;"tI!: The
From the brticlJure
brochure pr<><Iuced
produced by the 1.
J. Paul Getty Museum
Passions."
..
Viob. put together
.ogether ""Five
Five Angels" using
usi"3 footage
fooIIgt-thaI
rt<lOI'dcd earlier that
thai year with
willl photographer
ph<Itognpher
38 Viola
that had recorded
Ilarry Dawson,
Dowson, with whom he has been collaboraling
m 1992. Using
U. inB video _and fihn
fibn slow motion
1IIQt;""
Harry
collaborating .since
techniques
shot with a QII>mI
camera under
entering the pool with
1""""
..... Viola sII<IC
WIder water
waIer a man
mon enteri"3the
widl his
h" head
bead first,
r ..... and then
with h
.. feet
fed first.
r...... He
H. then chose
_ ! hthe
e best
_ footage
fO<Jt'&~ and used ;,
thai he cdi1cd
his
it in five different setups that
edited by
Slowing
refi1oming, accelerating
""""lewi"3 if
iflllCSA/)'
ond then
slowing down !he
the sequence, """"",,ing
correcting the color, reframing,
necessary and
synchnJni:oed
fi"" channels
channtl,lO
on element of randomness
random ...... in the presentation on the five
r,,,,,
synchronized the five
so that there is an
"narraIi
.... " (W0I5II,
2(00).
"narratives"
(Walsh, 2003).
*"'1_.
'"
155
brought the viewer into the
of the church. Even though Viola has been exploring
tile liturgy ofthc
hi s work, certainly his art is not
oot of
ofaa certain religion.
reli gion. Its artistic truth
lruth is one
spirituality in his
won.
that belongs entirely to the structure of the work of art and has no political reasons in
tenus of the ways in which that truth is manifested. Bill Viola is highly interested in the
terms
relationship between the inner and the outer

OUler world, in the spiritual and the reality and a1
at
times it
own journey 10
to bridge the
i1 seems that
thai his works are the
1he result of his ownjoumey
lhe two. They
thaI derive from the inner sensibilities ofa
hwnan being, but they
are like dreams that
of a human
si
multaneously belong to
10 an outer
OUler world thaI
00\ necessarily
neo;:essarily understand.
undersumd. This is a
simultaneously
that we do not
characteristic that very possibly comes from Viola's interest in religious iconography,
intensifying the idea of an outer sphere of reality that we can barely access.
Tire Room for

rots#'
( , 1983
1m
The
Sf. John of,Ir,
of/he C/Wl.
Cross. c.
Viola's fascination with religiosity and its consequential spirituality is most
54), In this
apparent in his work titled The Room ofSl.
a/St. John of/he
a/the Cr(MS
Cross (1983) (Figure 54).
work, Viola, attempts to reveal the spiritual experience of one person, Sl

81. John of the
Cross, who was forced to undergo extreme physical challenges when he was locked for
nine months in 1577 in a eubicle

cubicle so small that did not even allow him to stand straight
up.J9 He was only let outside ofhis
a1rOCity of such
Up.39
of his cell to be tortured. Regardless of the atrocity
forced experience, the man not only did he not lose his faith or mental integrity but he
wrote his most
rIlO$t beautiful poems while being locked in his cell. His poems are
arc filled with
ign<nd._
"39 s..
_Iillhed ~fonned
m<>I>a\tOrietthal-..
their--"'1IAd
St k>bn
John established
refonned monasteries
that were lax in their
observance and be
he ignored a decree from
the Orde<'.
Order's ouperiors
superiors to """form
confonn IIAd
and return to the <>Id
old ~
observance. For that
reason he
thai -.on
be was considered
consid<nod a
....",1II1I<I
be was held
beld capti
in _a monastery
~ to pevaIt
reform to spread.-ound.
lie did not live to
rebel and he
captive
prevent the refonn
spread around. He
see the paf"'I
papal recognition o(his
of his order in 1593.
(recognized to be a .oaint)
saint) by Pope
....
1~3. He
H. was canonized (recosnizod
I'<>po
Benedict XIII in 1726.
I,.
156
a11oW(Xi him to escape the
~ cruel punishment aoo
beautiful images that in some ways allowed
and in
order to maintain his humanity.
Bride ...
2. Shepherds, you
YOll who go
up through the sheepfolds 10
to the
lhe hill,
if
by chance you see
ifby
him I love most,
tell him I[am
am sick, I[suffer.
suffer, and I[die.
die.
3. Seeking my love
IDOUnlairrs and for watersides;
I will head for the mountains
1>01 gather flowers,
I1 will not
nor fear wild beasl5;
beasts;
I will go beyond strong men and frontiers.
fronliCfS.
4. 0 woods and thickets
4.0
planted by the hand ormy
of my Beloved!
o green meadow,
coaled,
wilh flowers,
lIower.;,
coated, bright, with
tell me, has he passed by you?
[[ ...
.. ]J
11. 0 spring like crystal!
If only,
only. on your silvered-over faces,
faces.
If
you would suddenly form
fonn
the eyes I have desired,
that I bear sketched deep within my hean.
heart.
them. Beloved,
12. Withdraw them,
I am taking flight!
Iligltt!
Bridegroom
~- Return,
Return. dove,
dove.
the wounded Slag
stag
is in sight on the
lhe hill,
hi ll ,
cooled by the breeze of your flight.
The Bride
Bclov~-d, the mountains,
13. My Beloved,
and lonely wooded valleys,
valleys.
stnmge
jsl~.
strange islands,
and resounding
resoullliing rivers,
the whistling of
love-stirring breezes,
oflove-stirring
14. the tranquil night
at the time of
of the rising dawn,
silent music,
sounding solitude
solitude,
157
the supper that refreshes, and deepens love[... ]
(St lolmofthe
2007j
(St.
John of the Cross, 2007)
In Viola's work the artist recreated the
(ell.
indow, On the
cell, a small cubitre
cubicle with a ....
window.
back
Ixwk wall and behind the cell a black and
white video of a snow-covered mountain is
WllS taken with a hand.

projected and which was
handheld C!lfiIDJ1l
im!} a 1rembling
camera that I'CSult:!
results into
trembling
image. Additionally a loud sound of wind

fills the room from t\\\}
two loudspeakers. Even
tOOugb
though St_
St. John'scell
John's cell did not have any
Figw'(l.
54_ Bill Viola,
ViQk,
Figure 54.
Room for St. John "JIM
ofthe Cross,
1983
RwmjiIY!Jr
CTOM, 1%3
openings - for that would merely be a restricted relief

for the prison
prisoner - Viola
operung8
re}ierfof
ViQla grasps the
opportunity to talk about the
<jppOltUlliiY
tllIJ relationship
rel;rtion;ship between the inside and the outside as he
be leaves
this opening. The \\indow
window is the only means the viewer has in peaking inside the oubicle
cubicle
where there
with a metal .....mer
water pitcher and a glass of'\i\-'ateT
-where
~ is a table v,.ith
of water on it (v,'e
(we see here
how v,.'awr
Ufe and God),
('..oct). brown din
water is a reeuning
recurring element in Viola's W<llk
work !hat
that represents life
dirt
on the floor, white walls, and a ....

1ncl1 color monitor.
mOllitor_
4-inch
On the monitor is a color image of IIa snow-covered
SOOW-<lovered mountain. Shot with IIa
fix<xl canJIJfa,
mil time with no
00 <iliting,
fixed
camera, it is prel!t'nted
presented in real
editing. The ooJy
only visible
movement is caused by an OOOISional
occasional wind blowing through the trees and
bushes.,
81.
bushes. From with the cubicte,
cubicle, the sound of a voice softly reciting St.
John's poern;l
flOOve !he
poems in Spwililh
Spanish is lX\r\y
barely audible above
the loud roaring oflhe
of the
v,.indin
wind in lhcroom.
the room. (WetWngl,
(Wettengl, 1m,
1999, p24!\)
p.248)
III
ffi look inside the reI!
In order for the visitor to
cell lJIIll
one needs to bend clown
down orland
or/and put
her head inside tbe
ill duil4\
Iltthe
the small room and in
doing so.,
so, suddenly the Iood
loud roaring of
the wind
158
'"
disappears and what is left is the meditating soft voice oflhe

of the poem. The size of
the cell,
orthe
the window, and the difference between the
!he inside and !he
the outside, so immediate in the
e ~perier>ee of the viewer, submerses her in the work and in an assumed calmness. After
experience
experiencing
enriches the overall
experieocing the inside of
or the cell certain awareness is born that
thai enrittles
experience of the room, which
experiellCe
whj"h can never be the
lhe same again. The visitor is constantly
aware that within the large room there is a small room.
room. This
Thi s reminds ofa
pel'llOD who
wlio
of a person
her life in a constant routine until suddenly an event is forcing her 10

to look at her life
lives ber
il
under a diffen:nt
different light, in a way that her life will never be the same again because it
within it the
carries wilhin
!he burden of that
thai awareness, the burden of knowledge.
Grear Expectations (1999) Pip's life is never going to

In Charles Dickens' book Great
be the same again, not because of a $Cries
series of fortunate and/or unfortunate events that
of his life, but rather because in those events he realizes
happen throughout the narrative ofhis
that he has certain eXpIX'tations,
expectations, dreams and wishes. These would never have occurred, if
;1
thai he could have them. For instance,
inslanCe, his life
li fe changes
it was not for the knowledge that
woman.. hires him because she finds joy in watching
when Ms Havisham, an old wealthy woman,
him playing with her adopted daughter Estella for whom he develops an unrequited
~uitcd love.
Estella becomes the event in the relationship with which Pip realizes that
!hal he wants a
different life so that he is deserving of her. This realization is what
whal transforms
transfonns his life
into ajowncy
a journey of change.
inlO
'59
159
Ulysses' Oaze
Gaze
Similarly, in the film Ulys:res'
(1995) by'flJw
by Theo Angelopoulos,
(\995)
Angclopmdos, Mr. "A," a
Greek-American director embarks on a journey
across the Balkans to
tn find the first film ever
made in that area by Yannakis and Miltos
Milto$
Menakis.
Meuakis. The mysterious film is in the form of
Figure
55. Thw
Theo Angelopoulos,
Ftptre55.
~~IIlm,
Scene from
Ulysses' C'IfJU,
Gaze, 1995
Sume
fruru Ulyi'I!ii'
/995
three undeveloped
about which 00
no single art historian knows. A man, who in his
undewloped reels
t<:Ilis lIb<:rut
10 be an assistant ofYannakis Menakis, remembers and tells "A"
youth used to
"A" that just
before Ymmakis
Yannakis died, he had mmblw
rambled about
he 'i"mlid
would like to IOO>yenhose
recover those three
befqro
aoout how 00
40
still in Albania in 1905.
The haunting
reels that he did with his brother while they were sti!llnAlbanill
1905.""
knowledge that there is a pure first gaze that remained silent for almost a century, from
"A~ begins this journey,
jOW'll)'. it
wbatehangcs
is what
changes "A's"
the early 19{!(h
1900s to the laIc
late 19(1{1!)
1900s when "A"
life. It is oot
not the fact
that these recls
reels exist, OT
or whether this is indeed a fact, that changeg
changes
tact that
the filmmaker's
unsettling knowledge
he needs
journey.
fiIm.mnker's life, but rather
rulh.,r the 1.Ill!icttling
knowl<:dge that 1M:
IJtletis to do this jom:ney.
The journey ultimately becomes a homecoming. It starts with the quote of Plato:
~And.
"And,
If
if the soul is about
to know itself,
it
must gaze into the soul"
il mU31
!Wu!"
133~1
From Platn,Al,;ybiade
Plato, Alcybiades 1330'1
Em_,
40 Albania along
Greece, Romania,
Bulgaria ""d
and what
formed the European
'"
01""" with
whb G-.
~ li~lp~
wh~\ later
brto, formed
r<><m'l</ Yugoslavia
y""""l""ia Jl:n..""Q
rwt<Jf1l<
~ It
II was ""der
Clttoman Rok
!<)llllUd
_ invaded
imadeJ by Italy
judy dW'lllg
part ofthe OtIeman
Ottoman Empire.
under the Ottoman
Rule ",:n,l
until 1912
and iitIwas
during
WWll AIkf
"ilr!lle
Party".,..
... the
IIIetolalillUillJl
ofbW<;1WWII.
After the OIl<!
end <>fthc
ofthe war
the COOU",,,,;!Il
Communist Party
was funned
formed and
under
totalitarian ~me
regime of
Enver
Hoxha
destroyed all good relationships
between Albania
and "'"
the ""igllOOring
neighboring OOilllHitIl.
countries. Albania
f:!o.ha who
wIm do.tro}<M!!II
relolio"'~il'" betw=\
Albmlli _
AlbftlIi& did
not become
democracy until
the ",",,1
early 1990s
still working towards
joining the European
n<>!
"""""'" a <I<nnoc.....:y
Il.I1tihll
!ll9o. and
""'" is
latin
_<II' j<)inffig!be
fluropo;m Union
U"'''''
often reru
refers
to the history
ofthe Balkans
in his
and most
scenes on;
are
and NATO. Angelopoulos
Angclopool.,. <)I\<m
.. ro!he
hi""'Y "fll,.
BolK..,. ,.
h,. films
filml< ""d
moJtt 000Il'"
filmo:l
mtho...mol
w...tioo..
filmed in
the actual location.
"'' '*ms
'"
/rom Plato's
PM,,'. A~
tlltt context
OOI\IIlltl w1ll!,.
wruth the
tho viewer
~iewet!l<l<\ds
41 n...,
The film _
starts ",;tb
with !h;"
this quote from
Alcybiades scltfug
setting the
within which
needs
to read
the J<mm..")-;'"
journey; as a ~
search for
souL
tn
N#I tbe
f", one's
"",,'~ ""vI.
160
In the process ofscarcbing
of searching for the fIrst
fU"Sl glance, "A" looks at his
bis own life and he is visited
orllis
bewme interwoven with the moments of his
hi s present.
prescnl. In
by the memories of
his past that become
~A" fInds
lillds his lost life through the nostalgia of the journey. One of the friends
frieOOs he
a sense "A"
meets during this journey explains to

"The fIrst
10 him: "11>e
first thing that God created was the
journey, then doubt, and then nostalgia."
J\<)W returns back to the work "Room
~Room for 81.
Cross'" by Bill
If one now
8t. John of the Cross"
Viola, one realizes that the same thing happens. The work can be seen as
lIS the journey of
the artist, triggered by his knowledge that what exists in only the unknown.
unknown. Viola
mentions in one of his interviews:
I guess the connection ultimately ... has to do with an acknowledgement
re<:ogni tion that there is something above, below, beneath
or awareness or recognition
what is in front OfyOUT
of your eyes, what our daily life is focused on. There's
another dimension that
just know is there, that
of real
thaI you
youjUSl
lila! can be a source ofreal
knowledge, and the quest for connection with that and identifying that is
10 make my
the whole impetus for me 10
to cultivate these experiences and to
work.
wort. And,
And. on a larger scale, it is also the
lbc driving force behind all
religious endeavors. There
are living
llJere is an unseen world
warld out there and we an:
p.25 1)
in it
it. (Wettengl.
(Wettengl, 1999, p.251)
The work
Tbe
war\.; though
though. can
ean also represent the journey of 8t.
SI. John of the
lbc Cross. The outside
room of the installation, fIlled
filled with
with. the intensity of the
th.e roaring sound, stands for the
unsettling,
tendency 10
to search beyond the restrictions
confIned life
unsettling. violent
violenl lendcncy
restriclions of a socially confined
(the cell).
of the journey eJ<ists.
exists.
cell), because of the knowledge that the possibility ofthejoumey
Furthermore,
the inside and the
Furthermore.th.c
lhe outside spaces communicate with
with. each other in
their!lJlP81eIlt
th.e visitor enlen
their apparent differences and contrasts. 11Ie
The room that the
enters is dark whereas
the cell's interior is white; the picture

picrun: projected on the walls of the big room is black and
white whereas the video in the small screen of the cubicle is color; the one room can be
accessed immediately whereas the cell can only be looked at in an

all uncomfortable bent
161
position. 1lIc
The one is filled with violent, roaring sound whereas the other is filled with the
of a man reciting
soothing voice ofa
=iting a poem. Viola is interested in the symbolic narrative
nanative of the videos as well as of the
that is presented to the viewer through the visible narrative
visible constructed installation.

instal lation.
Simultaneously, in the flow between the two spaces of differences, of the inside
Simultaneously.
Sill Viola constructs his own personal narrative. For him the outside and
and the outside, Bill
the inside are open to each other, reinforce each other and reform each other in the most
imaginative ways, similarly to the case ofSI.
of St. John of the Cross. Within this perspective,
constrieted social
socia! reality but rather is the inner spirituality that
the cell is no longer the constricted
allows for the extemalization of the poems, the window from which the mystic can
communicate with the outside world. In a sense, through his creative journey, Viola
comes into a nostalgic state for the symbolic and the spiritual that ultimately moves
beyond the religious.
Lei it suffice here to

10 have de.f/;ribed
ections, among the many 10
befound
Let
described lhese
these imp;:rf
imperfections,
to be
found
ofthose that
are in Ihisftrst
this first stale
state of
ofbeginners,
in the lives oflhose
lhat cue
beginners, so that
thot it may be seen how
greatly they need God to
10 selthem
lhe state ofproficients.
ofproficienls. This He does by bringing
set them in the
lhem into the
lhe dark night whereofwe now speak;
spe(lk; wherein He weans
We(l1lS them
lhemfrom
them
from lhe
the
bnasls of
these sweetness (lnd
pleasures. gives lhem
breasts
ofthese
andpleasures,
them pure aridilies
aridities (lnd
and inward
darkness, takes
them all lhese
these irrelevances and
andpuerilities,
different
dm-kness,
,akes from lhem
puerilities, and by very
verydijferenl
means causes them 10
to win lhe
the virtues.
virlues. For, however assiduously
assidUbwly the beginner
prucliel'S f.
.. ) he can never complelelysucceed
i/ - until God shall
slulff
practices
[ ...]
completely succeed - very far from it
work it in him passively by means ofpurgation
ofpurgation oflhe
s(lid night f.
[ .....]} because
bec(luse Ihis
ofthe said
this is
very nee<iful
needful in a night
dark and 0a matter
difficult to describe and
"ery
nighl that
l}rat is so dlll'k
mailer that
lhol is so difficuilio
ond
to expound. The line, lhen,
then, is: In ap dark night
10
nighl
(St. John of the Cross, 1959/2005,

(81.
1959f2005, p.61).
162
'62
Hence, Viola is like the mystic St. John
Jolin who throughout his negative theology is
\0 the reality orhis

of his world but constantly unsure
looking for the unknown, always attached to
42
In a similar manner Bill Viola seeks to transform
about what
whal he knows or possesses.tl
transfonn
metapho~ of the inner life,

life. the soullhat
his work and his vidoos
videos into symbols and metaphors
soul that is
searching
remillds us of the
searehing itself in the journey like as Angelopoulos' films. This also reminds
ofthe Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsl.:y
Tarkovsky where the soul searches itself in the
work oflhe
dream.
[E]lements of dreams are essential for his work in general; in this respect,
IE]lemcnts
10 the films of Andrey Tarkovsky that represent, or symbolize,
symboliz.e,
it is similar to
a secooo
second reality, thaI
that is,
is. an emotional reality. This reality is,
is. according to
\0
Tarkovsky,
TlIIkovsli:y, primarily the artist's
anist's reality, it
il is quite literally his own world.
(pahringer, 1994, p.64)
(PUhringer,
Tarkovsky's
10 Angelopoulos'
Angclopoulos' previously presented, have usually
Tarkovsky ' s films, similarly to
a very simple plot that gets complicated by the psychological profile oofrltls
his characters.
characters,
be attempts to present
Prel;el1t through $till
!hat he
be suspends in time and through a
which he
still frames that
minimum number
of cuts. His films are long and slow as they take their
numbcrofcuts.
tbeir time to evolve
into one narrative. 'They

thaI only the
lhe alerted eye
They are full of symbolisms and associations that
of the viewer can perceive,
elements that
oftbe
pereeive, but as in Viola's work there
tbere are recurring
re<:umng clements
thaI make
the
dreams, memories, chi
childhood,
tbe work easier,
easier. such as dreams.
ldhood, and running water
tbe access to the
ftre and reflections.

refle<:tions.
accompanied by water indoors, fire
42
'"
Negative theology
or via ...
negativa
connected with
NeS"'ive
\heoIOe,y Of
gaI;"" is ~
witlo Pseudo-Dionysius,
F'xl.do-Diony,ius. the
!he Aeropagite,
"cropagiIe. a fifth-century
fii'UKenlury
ftgu/t'. who many think was
"',ua Syrian monk.
mook. He defined
dofined a series of stages through
thtoogh which
"'hid! one can come
figure,
cbler to God. In this
th is . God is inside
insiok us.
10 via
o/<l_it"'"
_""ling to
I<> which God is an
closer
sense,
us, in opposilion
opposition to
positiva according
external entity
absolute. Based ""
on via "'gaI"'"
negativa one comes to
extemal
etUity that
!ha! is the
d.. lbsolute.
I<> understand
u _ God through
IIIrougll
negation,
attributes such as
all-good, all.knowing
all-knowing "c.
etc. Instead
that
negation. rather than
!han specific
ope<:if'" attribults
.. oJl-gOOd,
Insiad the
tho only certainty
<>ettainty!ha!
exists is unknowability.
exim
"""""":ability.
'"
163
c. 1m
1992
The S!rww.
Sleepers, c,
tilled The Sleepers (1992) (Figure 56),
56). Bill Viola delves into
in10 the
In his work titled
mysteries of the unconscious mind while a person is asleep and he attempts to capture the
sincerity of the action of sleeping. The work consists of seven barrels filled with water
there is a screen showing a person sleeping. There is
and at the bottom of each barrel
bam:lthere
the .... is no single sound in the silent

si lent gallery
gallel)'
nothing to disturb the sleeping individuals as there
sound to reach
room and even if there was, the water serves as a physical blockage of any $(lund
the barrels. The water protects the intimacy of sleep whilst it
the bottom of
of!he
simultaneously serves as the $ilfe

diS\arlce for the viewer to dip into a curious gaze about
safe distance
the act of sleep.
What are the sleepers dreaming of
of-- if anything at all? In the lack of any sound
and in the distance that the water puts forward, the viewer is submerged into the work as
if she is in a state of dreaming. The blue light coming from the bottom of the barrels
orthe
Ihis 10
the gallery room creating a tranquil setting for this
to
diffuses in the darl;
dark S(lIICC
space of
happen. It
just dosed
closed her
just another
[\ seems that the viewer has
basjust
IIer eyes and the work is
isjust
ofthe
image of
tile mind.
!his almost
almOS! sacred atmosphere,
almOSphere, the
!he viewer may sink
Left to himself in this
selfand
begi n to wonder whether
wI1ether
!he every depths of his own self
down into the
and begin
interpreting
intclpreting and thus illuminating this scene in any way would be
sacrilegious and could destroy the
almost like making too
!he work,
work., almoSl
100 much
noise and awakening the sleepeD.
sleepers. Should we, like inquisitive Psyche lean
over the unknown face of the sleeping Cupid.
Cupid, and then pay for our
ovcr
wickedness ([...]?
.. . J? (Walsh, 2003, p.289)
"The
tile specific work comes in contrast to previously presented works
work.s
The silence of the
Usually. a sound, a voice or music disturbs the linearity ofthe

of tile viewer's
by Viola. Usually,
the sailors
experience, forcing one to pay attention. Similarly to the Sirens that seduced
seduced!hc
164
Ihe journey book
wmk,<;do
serve, as
of Odysseus in the
back In
to lthaca,
Ithaca, Viola's works
do the same. A sound serves
a
1\
luring song
that ancnmpanies
accompanies the presented visual
narratives. However, in the case of
'!Ong !ha!
viswrl nann!ives.
The Sleepers the image becomes similar to the Byzantine icon that submerses the viewer
through
and stillness.
element of this work that refi:rences
references
tbroogh a seductive silence aru:I
slil!ness. The only clem.ent
barrels, in an untidy manner,
alive are the
cables that C()!lle
come out of the 1mrre1s,
something ll\iw
!be C<lbles
assuming tlJat
that the slccjM:&
sleepers are not dead. One could assume that they are either kept
nsswnil;g
\repl alive
In the sleeping heads
beads
cables serve as lively bodies to
with the help of the cables or that the cab\;:s
inside the b&rel~

barrels (Btll,
(ttl, 1999).
1m).
Figure 56. Bill Viola, The Sleepers, 1992
Thi<:!
reluinds of one of the
!he early S!Xne$
Tarlwvllky's film
This "vorl;:
work .pecilloo!y,
specifically, reminds
scenes in Tarkovsky's
Nosmlghfa (1933).
luna~e Domenico
Dmmmico walks
Nostalghia
(1983). One ofib.e
of the chiml,;t:l
characters of the film, the lunatic
dog by an outdoor spa, follo.....oo
followed by the main character, the Russian writer
with his
hb dag
Gorchacov lIIld
and his tnu:l$latw
translator Eugunia.
Andrei <furehaoov
Eugunia, In the background of this
tI:iis. shot the
can sec
see the ~
heads (l"f
of five people
bathing in the spa and surrounded by II.
a deep
viewer e:m
peopk buthlng
The bathem'
bathers' heads
part of me
fog. TIw
bt:ads become
beoomepart
the background picture
picturemat
that mnmentariiy
momentarily
and interferes
shot of the forefront as the bathers'
inwrrere& with the single soot
interacts aru:I
disembodied heads dru:uss
discuss with ;;ach
each illhm:.
other. As Domenico walks by them he explains
to hh
his oog
dog that hey are all oo!U\Jhing
searching for ewrnal
eternal Hfe.
life. Viola's disembodied sleepers are
In
similar_
of life and
defused blue light ami
and they raise issues oflife
similar. ]hey
They rest in the fog of the defuwd
death.
--
this piece ",iib.

with the ones already presented
If one compares
oompares iliill
preseTiled one can find that water
Walet
is the common thread that binds all of these works into one narrative. The water that
pours out of the well in Emergence,

EPwrgem.v, the water from which
whicb the angels come forward
forward in
165
Five Angels/of
wateT pitcher in Room
Room/of
SI.
Angelsfor the Millennium, the glass of water and the water
for St.
John Ojfhe
barTels in The Sleepers, all represent Viola's
a/the Cross and the water in the barrels
fascination with hinh,

birth, death and spirituality. Specifically.
Specifically, as human beings we first
tirst come
comc
to being as bodies in the amniotic fluid of the womb and we need water as a necessity
throughout our lives in order 10
to survive. Additionally,
Additionally. water relates to
10 spirituality as we
gel baptized
baptiw:! in water in order to wash the soul from the eternal.sin
faith.
get
eternal sin in the Christian faith,
or as we bathe in herbal
hcrbaI water
waler - a pagan ritual similar
simi lar to baptism. Also, in many cultures
the soui
soul needs to cross water (a river) in order 10
to safely transcend to the after life. In
Viola's work, water
waler simultaooously
simultaneously presents all these symbolisms and becomes the
narrative that holds the truths of the work as well as of the artist. Water in Viola's work
becomes a virtual space full of potential in which one comes to meet the artistic truth of
each one of these pies.
pieces.
TireS/om,.,
The Stopping Mind. ('.
c. 1991
In the work titled Stopping

(1991) (Figure 57), Bill Viola returns once again
Slopping Mind
Mind(L99I)
to the void, black space. In this work, Viola painted the whole square gallery room black
with the exception of the wooden floor. In front of each wall he placed a large screen
susper>ded
of two meters from the walls, creating a
suspended from the ceiling and in a distance oflwo
thai is open at
al the edges. When the viewer walks in the room, she can either choose
cube that
to be inside of the four screens hence in the volume of the cube, or walk around the
tile four
Viola projects still
screens positioning herself in the cube's periphery. On each screen Viola
frames of the same landscape which after IIa few seconds come to life and they burst into
movement. This is accompanied by loud roaring sound corning
coming from four speakers
166
installed in the four comers
corners of\he
of the rooms' ceiling. This happens for a few moments only
to be followed by si
silence
10
lence and the moving images freeze again in the dark room. The
images projected
projccted on the four screens even though they are part of the same film,
film. they are
tbc installation.
installation,
never identical at any given time during the
of the inside and the
outside, OrlM
of the
Again, in this work Viola creates a condition nfthe
lhe outside.
smaller room in the larger

[lIfger room, as he did in The Room/or Sf.
St. John of/he
o/the Cross. In a
similar manner to
\0 the latter, Viola places a speaker al
separately
at the center of the room, Soepanilely
rour speakers
speaken; at the comers
!he visitor walks closer 10
from the other four
corners of the cciling
ceiling and as the
to
son
the middle of the room realizes that it is the voice or!he

of the artist reciting in a soft voice a
lext in English:
text
[T]here is nothing but black. There is nothing but silence. I can feel
[Tlhere
fee l my
Lying here. I[am
body. I am lying in a dark space. I can feel my body lying
am
awake. I[feel
bTeathing, in and out, quite and regular. I[can
fed my
feel my breathing,
can feel
sec nothing.
breathing. I move my body. I slowly roll over and look up. I see
There is nothing. There is no
00 light.
light There is no darkness. "There
There is no
volwne.
00 sound. There is no silence
....
volume. There is no distance. There is no
silence....
I am like
li ke a body underwater breathing through the small oopening
pening oofr a
straw. A
srraw.
A body underwater breathing. Breathing through aII. small opening.
Finally,
Finally. I let that go. I let go. IJ feel myself submerge. Submerging into
blackness.
blac!mess. Letting go. Sinking down into
inlO a black mass. Submerging into
the void. The senseless and weightless void. (Lauter,I999,
(Lauter,1999, p.303-4)
Figure 57. Bill Viola, The Slopping

Stopping Mind,
MiNI, 1991
One can see

sec that the influence
inlluence of via negativa
egaliva theology,
\heQlogy, previously presented,
,onstllntJy
constantly appears in Viola's work as he is attempting 10
to sean:h
search for the inner self in his
167
artistic explorations. In these works Viola does not attempt to
10 communicate with his
self under the conviction that there is nothing

viewer but rather 10
to communicate with his selfWJder
I\Othing
ultimate but the absurd and the unknown. This takes one back to Badiou's reference to
10 happen. In negation one returns back
bact to the idea
the void as the necessity for anything to
of'"nothingness"something:' Even though the idea of
oflhe
of "nothingness" and in nothingness one finds "something."
the
"void~ and of
oCtile
pessi mi stic approach to the world,
world.
"void"
the "nothing" assumes aII nihilistic and pessimistic
one should not be oonfused

It(:re. The "void
elementlhat
confused here.
"void" simply becomes a virtual element
that
H
al
lows us to
10 explain how the truth ofart
OC<:UIS.
of art occurs.
allows
Mindthere
In the work Slopping
Stopping Mind
there is another element that it is important to be
considered, the element of
time. Viola makes reference to
10 time
lime that has past and the
oftime.
memories that
nothing less than
wilh, which are nothing more oorr oothing
lhat it has left us with,
ofaa narrative
namltive that it once used to
10 be a whole. The
disembodied, frenetic fragments of
lhe four screens overwhelm the viewer as she enters
entCf'!llhcir
images presented in the
their space. In
this ~
space there exists the potential for !he
the narrative to come back together into a whole
li ke ap puzzle.
punle. n.e
fmgmented images allow her to create a narrative and they force her
her to
10
like
The fragmented
do so in one specific way,

way. preventing her from posing a telos
Ie/fM to the narrative. The
images claim their independence from their viewer as they rapidly and randomly change
in slICh
such a way that
thaI the eye does not
nol have time
lime to impose linearity on them. They leave
10 any memory. Nevertheless,
Nevertheless., the associations ooff the action
her with impressions, similar to
to the viewer, making

contemplative and
of gluing the pieces together are left 10
mPking this piece a oonlemplative
personal piece.
168
ADn Hamilton:
Ha milton: The Spiritua
lM'lpt From History
Hislory
Ann
Spirituall Escape
tel<tile design at
al
Ann Hamilton was born in 1956 in Lima, Ohio. She trained in textile
she later received aI Masters
the University of Kansas and shoe
MaslCTS of Fine
Finc Arts in sculpture from
University. She worked in Montreal for several

sevCT1!] years,
years.. before returning back to
Yale University.
Ohio where she currently lives
Jives and works. Like Viola, she represented the
tbe US in the
Venice BiennaJe
Biennale in 1999 and she has exhibited cx:nsively
extensively in different countries around
WQrk includes installations,
installations. phologro.phs.
videos. and performances that
the world. Her work
photographs, videos,
often make use

oftcn
usc of organic materials and objects,
objects. involving time-consuming
lime-consuming and intense
labor work in their creation process, and evoke questions about the real and the invented,
about spirituality and aboullbe

histoTy. Spe<;;ifical1y.
lief works are about
about the fabrications of history.
Specifically, her
gestures that she uses; uand
"and about
the memory embedded in objects, the
!be materials or the gesrures
tire ooncrele
concrete realities ofpoctic
of poetic composition,
oomposition, going back to the earliest Latin and Greek
Grttk
meaning of poesis: a making" (Simon, 1999, p.12). She is a storyteller "whose
"Whose language
is not necessarily verbal, 000
OOJI(;retely precise
one whose 'voieings'
'voicings' may be as abstract and concretely
43
as the knots of Peruvian quipu"
quipll" (Simon, 2002, p.l2).
p.12). ~J
still. S.c. 2001
the eifl"~
picture is still.
11r~
l1amilton creates a siteIn her work Ihe

the picture is $till
still (2001) (Figure 58) Ann Hamilton
specific installation for the Akira
Ak ira Ikeda Gal
lery in Yokosuka, Japan which includes Dry
Gallery
suspended from the ceiling of the gallery), a

Ocean (an installation of pieces of charcoal SllSpended
of a close-up
black and white video projection ofa
close-liP image of
oraa child's face, and sounds of the
tile
artist's whis~
whispers and the child's whistles. The gallery is located next to the harbor and
43 Quipu
system of
knotted cords
societies to ~.
store a large
.,
Quip" is
ia sy>Im1
of1moaed
00I'd0 used
.....t by the
die Incas
tllOM and their
!be;" predecessor
po' " Ilor $OCiI:ties
an>oun1
iIIf_ion importanll<>
!be outnu.
ci~ilization. The <:<>mbir.allon
orknots.
of information
important to the
culture and .....
the civilization.
combination of
knots, fibers &lid
and
amount or
co","
_ a ~m
lik< language
~ with which
whk/l the
..... Incas recorded
rt>e<>nl<d their
thei, hi>l<>r)'.
colors c
created
system like
history.
169
Hamilton
of chru:ooaI
charcoal from the surrounding
Harniltun used approximately 150,000 pieces
piect:sof
slilTCIIllding area
Il!Illl and
the help of more than 600 locals to create this installation. She suspended the pieces of
charcoal so that they reach the floor down to 150cm from the ceiling of the gallery,
literally
to walk through straight up.
Hwraily leaving no space for the visitor
visiror b:>
lip. As the visitor walks
1'>1iIks
ill !he
IlIUTOW tnnnellike
rets in sligltt
in
the narrow
tunnel-like corridors at the cell1er
center of the gallery she sets
slight motions
the suspended pieces of charcoals, as her head and shoulders touch the pieces, and as the
pie>:e5
illICh other in this
thls movmrent,
(Jdd to
tu the eerie
pieces touch each
movement, they creale
create dry noist:s
noises that add
feeling of the work.
The omy
only Ught
light that enters the room:
room
comes from IIa single window

v.111dow with
\vith IIa frosted
glass whereas the clean air of the gallery room
due to the purifYing

purifying I\IId
and detoxifying
detoxifYing
properties of the Japanese charcoal transcends
the visitor into a dream-like situation. 44
Hamilton explains her work liS
as follows:
Harnihon
fllllJJ~: " By
~"USp<1nding
suspending
Figure
FiguN- 58. Ann Hamilton,
Hamilt<::>R
liN picture is still,
:;I{{f, 2001
the
an enatmQ\lS
enormous number of clIarooal
charcoal pieces - wood without water - the work
oceanic. The perception of the individual pieces falls away and

becomes oceanh:.
nnd the
lIle
accumulation 'hecomes
becomes afield
a field !hat
that is liquid or cloud-like" (Kitagawa, 2003, p.44). As the
accurnulaMn
this space there is II
a kelillg
feeling ofheingaione
of being alone and floating
visitor sumds
stands in thls
fllXUing in the vastness
\~ of
This recalls
experience elicited in Bill Viola's \'Klrk,
work, Five
ofthe
a dark sea. TIlls
reca11s the
IhccxperklUX'
Fm Angels oJlhi!
Millennium. In the dark gallery space of surrounded sound and vibrant images,
Mil!ermlwn.
images., the
visitor feels wi
that she
just like the bodies that emerge from the
visitru
sire is floating in water jusllike
Ille
44 "Japanese
charcoal ..
is made
capillary carbon
and thus
makes an <I1<cdkm
excellent <>do,
odor ""d
and humidity
..
")"""".", ~boreool
.,.00 from ""I"l1"'Y
0iIlbtm fiber
fi\>Ilt J!ll<l.
til", II1lik<ls
hamidi\y
absorber, jn=!!\l!l!Oltam,
insect repellant, <i.tlJ><illor,
detoxifier, an;!
and air purlr
purifier.
and negm:rve
negative i<mt.,
ions, it is
~r,
...., Rich
Riob in minerals
millOl'llls!llld
'"
tmdit",nally .....:d
Ihnn fuel
[....11l>
improa"';l
w_l[...]"
... j" (Kil;ljplwa.
pAS}
traditionally
used {<:>!her
(other than
to improve
soil and well water
(Kitagawa, )003,
2003, pA5)
170
powerful water scenes. Both works remind us of the

!he experience in the dark interior of a8
golden
Byzantine "hurch
church lit only by the light of candles and the reflections on the Kolden
surround the visitor with their silence. In all these cases.
cases, the
background of the
tile icons that surrouoo
helS<.M in a presented infinity, a represented void that

thaI is "nothing-ness"
"nothing-ness~ and
visitor finds herself
at the same time.
"everything-ness" al
lime.
The work the

lhe picture
pic/un is still is Ann Hamilton' s response to the history of the
gallery's space, which used to serve lIS
as an elItensivc:
extensive military base for domestic and
lite
American armies. Ann Hamilton creates a feeling ofsadness
of sadness and heaviness from the
of the suspended pieces of charcoal, a commentary on the

suffocating atmosphere oflbe
WId past and on the dark ehaptcrs
building's specific context and
chapters of Japanese-American
history. The claustrophobic installation becomes a visual metaphor of the ways in which
history enters
as something that we cannot touch.
ent~ our present in often haunting manners, lIS
itselfbeoomes
History itself
becomes the sea in which we get immersed (Kitagawa, 2003). The
suspended charcoal becomes

bec<Jmes a metaphor of the ways in which history suspends in time
suspeOOed
epoche.
and becomes
becomesepoche.
In Edmund Husserl's philosophy of Phenomenology,
PhenomefW/ogy. the German philosopher
epoche 10
to describe the "transcendental
term epochi
used the lenn
'1r1lJtS1;:eOOental suspension of conviction"
convietion~ when it
il
,arne
krtOwledge of
oflhe
Specifically. he described or attempted
anemplcd to
10
came 10
to knowledge
the empirical world. Specifically,
explain empirical pre-judgments Uand
"and 10
to discover connections of meaning that are
necessary
necessruy truths underlying both physical and psychological sciences" by suspending or
"bracketing" the judgments of existence (Encyclopedia Britannica Onl
ine. pA8).
p.48). Husserl
Online,
did not deny those pre-judgments, he simply reflected on their intended meaning. In a
way_ one could never be certain about history,
hislory. as time allows for the manipulation
similar way,
171
or even selection of events that compose it. The only thing that
thaI one can do is,
is. like Ann
Hamilton.
history. put it in brackets,
brackets. and reflect on its intended meaning.
Hamilton, to suspend history,
What exaggCflltes
exaggerates the manifestation of the historicity inscribed in the work is the
fact that as a site-specific

site-spa:ific installation it has only a limited life and as such it will cease to
exisl
attempts to recreate it, this will never
exist after the installation goes do..n.
down. Even if one aucmpts
be the same, not only because of the

tile specific random positioning of the charcoal from the
ceiling, but abo

also because the work has a certain relationship with the splICe
space and the history
that gave birth to it. In a sense, the work becomes
bewrno.:s part of the history of the place
plac<: and lIS
as
has no history of its own. The work becomes
such it
il bas
bocomes an intervention to
10 an already told
history and it becomes

~omes yet another interpretation of that history. "
These accumulations of
"These
identical items convey a feeling ofabundance,

of.'1Ometbing
10 be
of abundance, of the collective, of
something to
ordered and controlled" (Schwenk, 2003, p. 50). Simultaneously,
Simultanc:ously, the work comments on
the nature of history itself as simply an interpretive artistic process. One certainly could
here that the work alternatively presents the ways in whieh
which history and the overall
argue hen.:
ove ...11
contexts ofan
of art oftm
often become, as it
social and historical conlexts
il was previously discussed, another
45
art."
muhiplicity in the event of
oftlle
the truth of art.
multiplicity
Furthermore,
Furthennore, the title
ti tle of the work the picture is still is suggestive of the
multipl
icity of the work's
work 's truths, as founded on different interpretations. One could
multiplicity
assume that the work, even though an installation, is considered by its own artist to be a
of something, a reference to the representational qualities of pictures. However it
picture
piel~ ofsomelhing,
il
"the" picture
piet~ and with that reference the work directly becomes a picture
pict~ of something
is "!he"
gallery'ss history, a picture of
specific. Docs
Does that
thaI mean that the work is the picture
pictull' of the gallery'
history. or of
oftbe
tile work as
the artist'
artist'ss interpretation of that history,
the viewers' interpretation of the
Chapter IV.
"45 O\apIerIV.
172
an interpretation? Or does "the
'"the picture"
picrure~ refer to the d
ose-up image ofher
close-up
of her son's face that
steell door? After all, one

is projected in the video at the end of the gallery and on a stee
wonders about the relationship between
bew,'ee1\ that projected image, the sounds of the video,
and the suspended charcoal.

aoo
I f~ return to Viola's work
worl< The Sleepers
Slupers we
~ might be able to get an explanation,
explanation ,
Ifwe
despite the apparent di

fferences between the two works. In a similar manner to Viola's
Viola' s
differences
work, the sleeping face of Hamilton's son becomes a premonition for life,
work.
life. which in some
[n the silence of the Dry
Dry Ocean - as
charcoal. In
ways juxtaposes with the "dead
"dead" pieces of charcoaL
M
tile
in the silence of the room with the seven barrels in The Sleepers - the still frame of the
picture enhances a feeling of livelihood. The stillness tells a story; less about the faces
depicted sleeping and more about the possible truths that originate in the work. In a
sense, in Viola's and in Hamilton's
Hamilton 's specific works,
works. as in the Byzantine icons,
icons. virtuality as
possibility rests in the works' stillness.
tropos. f.
c.1993
1W'f&
1923
IrQ{JQ&
tropos
is another, site-specific installation that

lhal Ann Hamilton conceived in 1993
59).46 In this work the gallery

for the Dia Center for the Arts in New York
Yorl< City (Figure 59).floor is covered with horsehair and in the middle of the gallery there is a desk where a
young woman sits and reads a book aloud.
aloud. 471 As she reads the book she burns
bums the words
46 For this
used three
of horsetail hair,
groomed off'
off onimato
animals in China.
..
1111' piece Hamilton
lWni""" .....t
Ihn>e thousand
tI>oo.>oan4 pounds ofhoneuoil
hair. 8'001,,",,
Ooi .... This
fabric"';pes
treW in Philadelphia.
I'hiiacklpltia. After the
\he exhibition
elllibition.,.,...
\he ani$(
was !hen
then JeW"
sewn into fabric
stripes from a crew
came down the
artist
gave a large
1"'1\< qquantity
...... ily ofcht
cht artist
onist Petah
Ptiah Coyne who used
_
on.. ofber
IICUIptures
of the I>orsehoi,
horsehair to the
it for .
a .series
of her sculptures
shown in 1999.
re-shaping it into
something else Mol
and re-using
in other
1m. The rest
lUI she recycled
ruycled by
b)' ro-shopina
;"10 SOlI'J>O!hing,,~
_ing it ..
odoer pieces
pit<:es
(i.e. "3cripced".
"scripted", 1997)
(Simon, 2(02).
2002).
(i.t.
I WI) (sm-.
47 The """'"
books w
were
selected to bo
be interesting
during the installation
"Tho
.... ..,Ieded
inter$lng to
'0 the people who were
WCR reading
fQdinS them durin3
in,tall"ion
and """"
none ofthtm
of them had titles or chapters
disrupt the
of reading or give
the visitors
"""
chapten so that
oha1 itil dido't
didn't di""pt
tho act
ICC offQding
g;ve ,be
vioi!on any
,i,'"
173
m
she has just read u;;ing

omokc and the smell from the
:he burning
using an ciecl.ril:
electric burin. The smoke
pages fill the air of the gallery as if the words become ghostly apparitions that escape into
the gallery space. Simultaneously, another voice, a male voice, is reciting poetry from
speak.cfli
illslalled in the gallery's rooms. The overlapping
O'VeflappiHg of the two voices
voicea ueates
creates IIa
speakers installed
random chorus that I imagine i!
it to be similar to
w the chorus in IIa Byzantine
Ilyz.antiuc church, where
prewnt in the natmtive

the visitor rarely is present
narrative of the chants but always immersed in their
still to be;
hypnotic rhythm. This is also how I imagine the experience in the picture is mUm
the soothing voice of Ann Hamilton and the soft whistling of her son in the video
projection, ini:Used
boctIlll a chanting chorus.
cl:Kml:s,
to become
infused in the dark space of the gallery seem 10
Figure 59. Ann Hamilton, tropos, 1993
In
this work,
ways in which fixed
fn ibis
work. Ann Hamilton comments once again on the "'lIys
meaning arises, this time from the act of reading, in a similar way to the fixation of
written history.
notion of expanding language, the woman's singeing the
In
In. view of this
tbis Muon
a hot iron ll1I!)"
may be compared
'resurrect'
printed text with
..villi II
oompared with aII. ritual act to
10 'wsum:ct'
the text that has beoome
become a 'rigid visual fixity'
fixit;' into
irlm 'limitless living
livill#
contexts ...
actualization of words,
contexl,>
.. " letters, which are the actuali11l1ion
W(!rds, were liberated
into
space
as
they
are
burned
and
transformed.
(Kitagawa,
p.44)
ifllo
tromfurmed. (Kitagawa. 2003, 1'.44)
reference fur
for sigtlifu:ati<:m.
signification. Also,
selected
to be
good qooIlty
quality of
paper ..,
so that
mark
",r""""",
AM, they
!hoy were
""'"' ..
~ I<>
W of very
""'Y guOO
NPi'P
tlm the nmk
from burning """h
each p/l:mSIl
phrase wool<!
would """,.ill
remain diltir.ct
distinct ""
on _h
each pllge-(Simn.l002).
page (Simon, 2002). Similarly
to the
horsehair,
Smulflrly 1<1
die ""moho
.. ,
the
books W\lm
were 're-used
as oojeet;
objects in 3a ill!l'erum
different "leo<:
piece afte<
after tropos
dismantled.
III< b<><:*~
<l-II>OO os
/ropill was
Wll:> J;'","mle.,t
174
Hamilton oommcnlS
comments on language as a limited system for effective communication since
then: are sensual experiences (like the smells and sounds of the installation) that could
there
[n a sense, knowledge
never possibly be described with spoken or written language. In
itself is never achieved with merely the limitations of language. The

lbe burning words
become a symbol for the
tile impossibility of understanding what the words attempt to
deS<.::ribe,
\0 grasp the
describe, whereas the action of burning becomes a metaphor for the attempt to
hidden knowledge
knowl edge o(
11 becomes aII metaphor for
fOT the search for knowledge.
knowlcdge. At
AI the
of things. It
end, the work itself becomes the meaningless abstrnction
abstraction that words are
end.
arc in the act of
language
10 perform the same
language,, and the singular, isolated figure that is captivated, doomed to
n.:pctition, reminds one ofth<:
act ofbuming,
of burning, again and again in an endless and absurd repetition,
of the
myth of Sisyphus.
the: gods to always repeat the

In Greek
Greek mythology Sisyphus was condemned by the
same meaningless !aSk;
task; to push a rock up IIa mountain just to see it roll down again - a
puni shment that was the result

n:sult o(
punishment
of him defying the gods and put Death in chains because
he looughllh.a\
thought that no hwnan
human needed to die. Albert Camus in his philosophical essay with
the same title, The Myth
a/Sisyphus
My/h of
Sisyphus (2005), uses
lISe$ Sisyphus as an allegory for
fOT the constant
sear<:h
fOT meaning and clarity within the realization that there is 00
search for
no eternity. Does the
realization of meaninglessness require suicide? Camus answers the question negatively.
Instead he suggests that Sisyphus is happy and that we must imagine him being happy,
since his struggle "is

~is enough to fIll
fi ll a man's heart."
heart. ~ It
It is in the certainty that this struggle
is absurd that Sisyphus finds happiness, because
be<:ause he perseveres in being human rather than
continuing his search for an absolute. It is like the via negalivo

negativa philosophy ofS!.
of St. John of
of Tarkovsky, of Angelopoulos and of Bill Viola. In a similar manner,
the Cross, ofTarkovsky.
manner. the
175
womun in
ill Hamilton's
fIamllloo'$ work is precariously searching for lhe
he is burning
burniog
woman
the knowledge she
away, assuming only the certainty of the repetition of the act of burning.
As (he.fruit
the fruit melts in jOOiMrmN!-,
jouissance, WI
as
absence mm
into drlight
delight
it changes its abseflC<!
mouth where
shape dits
dies ...
in a lI!ilUlh
wlwro its sll<Jflf!
The sharp ifuect
insect YCratches
scratches the
dryness,'
dryness; ewrylfling
everything is burnt
burnt, dis!.alved.
[ma air ...
.
solved, receiwd
received into
life is huge, being drunk with
bitterness is
sweet, and
absence, and
absente,
IPfd bfflemess
Is $'Wee!,
the mJnd
mind is-dear
is clear ,.,
...
Valery, 'The
"The Gra
Graveyard
Sea" (as cited
Morgan, 1992, p.42).
Paul Valmy,
...cyard by the Sea'"
cite(! in MoI'lJ.llo,
pA2).
III
rruittbe<e
In the act (If
of eatillg
eating aIl fruit
there is only the certainty of the fruit's tIl&e
taste lI!l
as it melts in
thi;: is the only cectamty
your mouth and this
certainty that exists. In a simJl<tr
similar way, Viola and
HamiltQn'$
tim! there is Jl<)
beyQOO whanhey
Hamilton's work Ilclmowlcdgt
acknowledge that
no <:Jther
other cmaiaty
certainty beyond
what they ean
can
of making their "'tlrk,
work. In
experience in their process of!:llilking
exprien.:e
ill tropos there is only the certainty
the smell of the
paper am.!
and the cenainty
certainty of the
surround the
of llie
tim burning ptlptz
too sounds that SllIT<ltllld
viewer. and that is wbat
ilC As
A~ in Vlllcry's
poom, it
il is
j$ 'within
viewer;
what th"",
there is.
Valery's poem,
within this certainty that
the mind gets clear.
tim! one can:p<m:lC!;S
clear, freed !tour
from the obscure l.l.lisundcrstmding
misunderstanding that
can possess
in his <lISay
essay The Myth
life. Camus (1942/2005) says similarly in.
,'.fyth o/Sisyphus:
ofSis)phus: "Of wbom
whom
andofwhal
indecl canJ
"'1 know !hat!'''fbis
willii me I ean
foe!, and I
and of what indeed
can I say;
say: '"I
that!" This hem1:
heart within
can feel,
judge thm
that it exist>.
exists. TIns
This world 1
I can toooh,
touch, aru:l!
and I likewise Judge
judge that it exists. There
jud#c
the rest is coolltructi<)rl"
construction" {p.17).
(p.l?).
ends all my knowledge,
knuwlcdge, and 1he
One could say 1hal

that the 1irolllan
woman
sitting in the
frame of the installation
gittiog
tho frnme
installatioll
might ~ry
Hamilton
very <:asi!y
easily be Ann Hamillon
herself, ruming
turning her mock
back to the viewer
henclf.
remaining preoccupied
and retnain.ing
~icd with her
Iwe
own pe!Wllalj01.l1!lrY
personal journey of a rigorous
o,",TI
action. All
and repetitive octioa.
AU of the
Figure
60. Aim
Ann Hamilion,
Hamilton,
I'igw 00.
privation
and
excesses,
1989
pri..,#oo ami
t 9!!9
==.
artist's pieces involve a tremendous
'"
176
amount of labor to the point where it becomes absurd. In her work privation
pri~af;on and
(1989) (Figure (0)
60) for instance she installs more than 750,000 pennies in the
excesses (\989)
gal lery that is coated with honey. She is making a eonunentary

floor orthe
of the gallery
commentary on how time
(Wletinn and meaning of things. While pennies used to
10 be valuable, they
changes the function
billc (1991) she used

lIsed
now merely add extra weight in ooe's
one's wallet. In her work indigo blue
40,000 used blue shirts that once belonged 10
ofT or worked
to workers who were either laid off
in companiC5
companies that went out of business. In the specific work, Hamilton is tackling a sense
oflosslhat
of loss that is always associated with the passing of time and with history. In the work
1998) (Figure 61) Hamilton used 60,000 cut
cui flowers laid onto
onlO a single 48-foot
mantle ((1998)
long table al
An Museum in Florida. She is here making references to
10
at the Miami Art
seventeenth century Dutch paintings where
when: isolated figures are presented reading,
10 the woman sining
simi lar to
writing, or sewing similar
sitting in the gallery room and sewing (mantling)
bathed in the light ofllle
of the window she is facing. Simultaneously, Ann Hamilton is making
references to Miami as an international trade center for the flower
" ower market
mark.et raising
questionsoflultury
2(02).
questions of luxury versus necessity or service versus manufacture (Simon, 2002).
Hamilton says about her work:
"Dont tell me ... I know! I put my

"Don't
I' m still
sti ll
slides together the other day and I'm
doing the same piece. II travel around
~Iamjlton.. m(lnt/e..
Figure 61. AM
Ann Hamilton,
mantle, 1998
from place to place doing the same

piece!"
piecer (Hickey,
(Hickey. 1994, p.131).
p. 131). There are moments when the viewer of her works
worts asks:
"What is the point?" cltpeding
expecting that the anist
artist will respond
respooo with a different piece; a work
that
seem to
!hat is simple in its actualization and fabrication. However, Hamilton
Hami lton does not se<.:m
177
look \Q
\his matter.
mlllter, Like Sisyphus,
Si~yphus, Ilbe
to romnn.micate
communicate with her vWWeI:
viewer 00
on this
she is only
interest!t<.l in the certainty that
lhal there
tIu:rc are 00
19%), There is only IIa
interested
no absotmes
absolutes (Laue,
(Lane, 1996).
process of a very complicated art. Like "A" in Angelopoulos' film Ulysses' Gaze there is
single truth to b.:
be achieved about the fJISt
first gl.:mce
glance in the Balkans
Balkans, ooly
only the journey.
no $Ingle
Like Viola's pieces there is 00

n!lmltiveUlattheviewerean
pie;:es, only the
no narrative
that the viewer can wll
tell about 11
her pieces,
cr:mlemplative
contemplative narrative of one's self while she is standing in the space they GI"C&Ie.
create. In a
millnoos and lhcirrepctitiom,
~tblll
way, Ann Hmniltoo's
Hamilton's WQru,
works, in their stillness
their repetitions, ewme
create a space
that is
epoche. Hamilton is not

suspending the
virtual broause
because it holds
viItll.llI
bolds the potential
puteatial of an epoch?
oot only susptlllding
knowledge of history
bistory but she is suspending the knowledge (lLb&
aever
of her (lwn
own art, never
assuming that there is only a single way in which, she or her works can exist. She is
rather presenting her viewer with the possibility of an infinite manipulation of selfknowledge.
Janine Antoni
Loving Care
JlIIline
Anloni in her work
wori: titled fLlving
Cure
(Figure 6263)
62-63) soaked her
hair iuhair
in hair dye
: (1993) (figure
ber Imir
I and mopped the floor of the London gallery
galkry with
act created
circular movements
i it. The e!ocuoo
movemnt>i of her lU.'t
~
wave patters
on the floor of me
the gallery caw;jng
causing
patttrn:oo
to
the impression
itnpressioo of a space that is impossible
impo&lible te
enter. It looks like the deep ocean of a
enla.
1 "wuthering"
"wutherin.," day. The gallery becomes
Wro\llC$ a private
priv<U:e
hers. Antoni
claims it as her ewn
own
i space that
!hal it is bets.
Anlmli claims.
not only ~
because she is marking it with
her
own
willi hr
body, but
Imt also because in the act of making
nwkiug it she
is expelling the ~Jators
spectators towards the exit of the
of the
gallery; following her from
one wall of!he
fh>ro the ()Dj)
gallery 10
to the other as she paints
with
jlIiIialli the floor WIth
of
Hamilton's
pieces
her
hair.
This
reminds
us
betbair. Tbis mnill\l$ WJ ofHami!ton's piet:es
in which
whieb the artist's body is directly or indirectly
i.ndu'ect!y
present
whose aim is
preseat in the work, like a guardian ",flow
I
Figure 6),
62. Janine
Figwv
J;mine Antoni,
Loving Care, J99
1993..
iu;>fugCare,
to prevent the viewer from assuming that there is

a single
be retrieved from
; I narrative to he
!rom the
spectator is left with
process of the piece. The spectaloflS
the im ression that she was denied a direct
178
communication with the artist but at the same
time
she is rewarded with the feeling that it
,
L
i is
actually
space. It is l.I(:tually
: possible
pooslb!e to claim this
tbis spare.
necessary.
In the
11lf;lC(lSSfU'
y. III
!he repetitive process
pr!)roSS of making
circular movements oithe
of the head
1 the
th<; work
wmk - the
~eircu!ar
heiid
while
white it mops the floor - Antoni
Antmli seems
~ to
ro get
lost in
absurdity orwis
of this motion.
viewer
lest
ill the absunfuy
motion, The view
to feel
too, magnetized
can choose 10
fud lost
loot 100,
magneti7.od by that
exact repetitive
motion.
cxacl
repelitive IDOli<:m-
Figure
63. J!Il1ine
Janine Antoni,
Flgw" (isLoving 0m!,
Care, 1993
LIWmg
!993
Furthermore, in tropes,
tropos, as
Hamilton such liS
as in
Furthem:w;e.
!I$ in many other works by Ann Hamiltoo
"indigo blue" and ''mantle''
"mantle" presented above, the presence
"iudigo
PfCS\)fICC of the artist is forced
fon:tld upon the
tim
viewer.
work the 'wo.man
woman sitllng
sitting by the desk serves as
vieWC!:'. In the specific wOI'k
lIS a guardian of the
semi-private room
work in a way 'that
that 'the
the 'l.islror
visitor fcclslike
feels like an intruder in 11a semi-privaw
WQIk
!"Qom (Hickey,
1994). Ute
The visitor can never
neyer assume the space as
!It her own for it is obvious that it belongs
to oom.:ooe
someone e1=
else. She is ouly
only there
look, 10
to feel,
reactions ll!'!d
and
the.re to look.
tee1, to
In think of her own rea.c1i<.mS
sllJries
bill not
rnlt to make
rnaloo this
tltis worl:
work her
stories tbrced
forced in the surface of her being through the work, but
own. In IIa sense.

wbe ,ffiared,
tTh!('e is no
lW
sense, the wurk
work Of
or the experience of the W()rk
work is not to
shared, lI$
as there
singie
single InOIl\eIlt
moment when the work intt:ntiooally
intentionally asks to oommunieat
communicate with its view.
viewer. TJ:x,
The
work instead, forces its visitor to communicate with her self and as such it becomes a
contemplative piece. II would saytbat

00111 Viola and Hamilton's pieces
pieces!lllI'VC
thesrune
say that both
serve the
same
PIIflX'scs.
mmilaritywith
By:rnntinc iconography.
iconogJ'llpby, In a very paradoxical
pwadmooll
purposes, despite their similarity
with the Byzantine
ex&ctly because
bcaus
becomes more spiritual !han
than religious iconography exactly
way COllteIIlpOrnIy
contemporary art bewmes
allows for mx:h
such dialogues with out
our inner Wfl!W.
world.
it alto",:;
comes from the Greek root ''1ropt.''
"trope," which
Finally, the title of the work tropos
Iropos.;:omes
means "turn." In rhetoric "trope" also refers to any linguistic device, such as metaphor,
179
melollyrny,
metonymy, syneOOoche,
synecdoche, irony, that manipulates words other than their literal sense. As a
~lrOpe ~ also refers to
10 any word or phrase
phra!le that
thai interpolates
inlCl'p()lalC$ as an embellisllmcnt
noun "trope"
embellishment in
"tropism" derives from

the sung parts of certain medieval liturgies. In English the word "tJOpism~
rool and it
il refers to
10 the turning or bending movement of
ofan
Of
an animal or
the swne
same Greek.
Greek root
flower toward or away an external from stimulus such as light,
lighL heat or
Of gravity. Ann
Hamilton derived in her title inspired by tropisms, as these an:

are used in the work of
2(02). Specifically, Sarraute, the French born novelist and
Nathalie SIIfflIU\C
Sarraute (Silll()n,
(Simon, 2002).
literary critic, describes these tropisms as
10 the limits of
undefinable movements which glide very rapidly to
OOIlSCiOUSnes5;
an: the root of our gestures, our words,
words. of the feelings
consciousness; they are
we manifest I[...
constitute the
... ]They
IThey seem to
\0 me and still seem to
10 me to
10 C(lnstitute
secret soun:e
source of Our
our existence.
lhese movements an:
offonnation,
\bey
When these
are in the process of
formation, they
remain unexpressed - not
one
word
emerges
not
even
in
the
words
001
1101
of an
ex~me
interior monologue; they develop within us and vanish with extreme
rapidity ... they produce within us frequently very intense, but brief
sensations; these can be communicated to the reader only through images
[[...]
... J (Knapp, 1977, p.15)48
p.15)"
In a similar way Ann Hamilton's Iropos
tropos becomes what it describes: an interior
inlerior
monologue that is merely transmitted

trnnsmittcd through the sensations of the horsehair under the
trnnslucent
feet of the visitor, of the incomprehensible murmuring of the sound, of the translucent
light that enters the room through the windows of the gallery, and of the smell of the
burning paper.
49
paper ....
..
ofuopisms by Sarraute
Sarrarte is found
fOllOld in 0Ibet
laIions. oJighLIy
di/f<IUII. from this
48 The ......
samee Cl<ptanaliotl
explanation oftropisms
other .......
translations,
slightly different
one, such as
(1975).
"These rn<>vemetJ1!
movements glide
""",
IS in Vineberg,
viJlOberg. E. (I
97S~ ..",...
glicle quickly round the border
bonler of our
COMCiousn<ss, they ......
pooe the ""'011.
aro:I sometimes
_ _ very
""'Y ......
plex dramas
dnImao concealed beneath
consciousness,
compose
small, rapid and
complex
gestures, the W<)r<b
words we
our avowed ond
and clear feeling"
our actions,
octions. our geotureo.
_ speak, our.YOW!
f... li"3~ (p.576).
(p.'76~
49 Ann Hamilton replaced
"translucent pbrI
planes
..
~ the windows of the gallery
pilery with
.. ith .."",..")""",,,
.. of pebbled,
pebbkd. wire-reinforced
.. i~reinfon:ed
glass"
that blockl
blocked the view from the ovuicle
outside ......
world
creating a ..
self-contained
al
..... !hal
1<1 cfOOILina
If-<:OlUined space
opoo:e that
thai is only relevant
relewnt
to interiority
2002, p. 145).
inlcriority (Simon, 2002.
180
reserve.
reserve, (,
c. 1996
wort reserve
reurve (\996)
Hamihon creates another installation
inslallation that
In the work
(1996) (figure
(Figure 64) Hamilton
reslfrve was
is specific to the location in which it is presented (as is most of her work). reserve
created al
Netherlands. which used to be a
at the temporary space Van Abbemuseum in the Netherlands,
faclOry. As the visitor walked in the space she could see six long
Phillips electronics factory.
tables, each ofthcm

of them Wf1I.JlIl'
wrapped
I:d around two columns, with logs wrapped with pages from
~~n on the other end.
coveral
end, which was covered
books at the one end and an embedded video screen
pie oflinen
with IIa piece
of linen cloth.
Each table showed one of three videos in IIa random order, each of them
various ways of making and unmaking: one was aII stylus scratching its
writings on glass; another IIa needle sewing aII piece
pie: of cloth making IIa rough
circle of crude stitches.
stitches, also with the attendant sounds of its own making;
in the third,
third. fmgers
fingers picked apart silk gauze,
gauzc. loosening the weave. (Simon,
2002, p.179)
p. L79)
"The
The tables were placed under skylights that had been cleaned, after years of being
light to fill the space and their placement "around"

"around"
closed, and allowed the natural
naturallig.ht
pillllr1 of the room, which transformed
tmnsformed them into IIa seemingly innate part
pan of
the pillars
original architecture.
the origiMI
Figure 64. Ann

AM Hamilton,
HamillOrl, reserve,
,es.:"",. 1996
Additionally, the juxtaposition oflhe

of the videos Ollihe
on the one end, with the logs
Additionally.
wrapped
language on the other end of each table emphasizes
the disparities
WTapped with written
wriUelllanguage
emphasiJ...,s!he
",
181
between image and language. This is merely a reaction
reactiQIl of Ann Hamilton to the history of
e:<isted in the country during the

religion in the Netherlands and the divisions that existed
nineteenth century between Protestantism and Catholicism, proving once again how the
of a place informs
history ofa
infonns her works. Specifically, Holland used to
10 be divided, based on
the main religions; in the north lived the Protestants who valued word,
Ike
word. the logos of God,
as the ultimate truth and in the south lived the Catholics who valued the image
tn the
image., In
New Sclwff-Henog
Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of
o/Religious
Schaff (1954) explains
Religious Knowledge,
Knowledge., Phillip
Phi llip Schaff(19S4)
the main principle of Protestantism as follows:
The Protestant goes dim:tly

instruction. and to
10 the
directly to the Word of God for instruction,
whi lst the pious Roman Catholic consults
C<lnsullS
throne of grace in his devotions; whilst
the teaching of his church, and prefers
prefen to
10 olTer
offer his prayers through the
tile Virgin Mary and the saints. (as cited in The Catholic
medium of the
1911 flOC)?, para.
pam. II)
Encyclopedia Online, 191112007,
The distinction between written language and image is important
imponant for it is integral
10 the relationship ofart
history . Simpson ((1988)
1988) suggests that the connection between
to
of art 10
to history.
U'IICe it back 10
written language and art has a long history in Europe. One can trace
to the
association between literature and

eighteenth century assertion that there is a natural
naturalassoo::il'llion
ootjust
nam.tive paintings - were given titles in the
all kind - not
just narrative
painting. "Pictures of aU
of poetry" (Simpson, 1988, p.49).
form of long extracts ofpoctry"
p.49). However, I[ would say that this
10 depict language
relationship is much older. As we move from the uses of the image to
ioonography, to the Renaissance,
Renaissance. to Baroque,
Baroque. to Cubism,
systems such as pictograms,
pictograms. to iconography,
to Futurism,
Futurism. to Dada, to Surrealism,
Sum:alism, to contemporary art, the relationship between visual
image lIIld
and language is always present.
present What happens is that
lhat the two exist
e1<ist as opposite
poles ofa
of a single thread. If the thread is horizontal the two seem 10
to be far from each
182
other, if the thread shifts into IIa vertical position the two come together and they crash
into each Olher
other because of gravitational force.
force.
inlo
This simply reflects previously presented notions concerning the autonomy of the
"Otis
of representations and as
art. While
Whi le Plato suggested that images are mere representations o(representations
such are inferior to

10 language, Hegel suggested that works of art have a <:ertain
certain aura that
of autonomy from other discourses
reflects the absolute, hence placing art in a pedestal o(autonomy
and from language. Specifically, in his

IUs Lectures
LflIres on Fine Arts,
Am, Hegel ((1975)
1975) argues that
~a work of an
10 the
"a
art is such only because, originating from the spirit.
spirit, it now belongs to
territory ooff the spirit; it has received

re<:<:ived the baptism of
o f the spiritual and sets forth only what
has been formed in hannony
harmony with the spirit" (p.29).
In Byzantine iconography,
iconognflphy, the image was immediately related to the logos, that
thai is
as ,uch
such art becomes
God, and 11!1
0Cw1I\C:'l not only the image but also
a130 the text
(Cit' of faith (graphe).
(grup~). In
In
modernity, art B!uirro
acquired the power to comment on its own status becoming philosophy
Hami lton. the
and as such a language. In contemporary art, or at least in the art of Ann Hamilton,
relationship between an
necessari ly
art and language is re-examined. Hamilton does not necessarily
give an answer to the question of the relationship between the two but she rather presents
pros.enl$
her works as the result of the process for I\:iking
asking questions such as: '"What
"What is the
relationship between
betWCC1\ written
wril1en and oral language?"; "What is
i$ the relationship between
What is the relationship between language and history?";
history?,,; "What is
language and artr';
art?"; ""What
an and history?"
the relationship between art
The Mexican artist Laura Anderson Barbata, who for the past fifteen
fi fteen years
yean has
ATTUlZOII, stands as another example

split her time between New York and the Velezuelan Amazon,
of a contemporary artist who attempts to negotiate the above questions through her art.
183
especially the
She has established close relationships with the natives of the Amazon, espcxially
Yanomami
Ywmmam; and the Ye'kuana,
Ye' kuana, and her work is a direct strike in demythologizing the
first traveled
romantic anthropological writing for the Amazon as the lost paradise. She ftrst
there after friends' encouragement
to see
etlCOL1I'lI8cment 10
sec some of the
Ike objects
obje<.:1s of indigenous people as her
work shared an affinity with !hem.
them. When she arrived at one of the missions in the
that students had available and after the
Amazon she was stmek
struck by the lack of materials thai
lhe
nun's request to bring some notebooks, if she were ever to visit again, Anderson Barbata
decided to
10 teach them how
bow to make
rn.ake paper instead. Moving to 11.a different mission and
after living
liYing there for a few months she proposed that she teaches the Ye'kuana
Ye' kuana how to
make thcirown
their own paper in exchange for teaching her their craft; how
bow to make canoes.
Her work is 11a series of responses
="' -,,
.'
.
..
to her expericnce:i
experiences living in the Amazon,
AmllZOll.
-""--
among the natives,

natives. and to a history that is
peQp1e
written not by the indigenous people
.. .
themsel~ but by others

others for them. In a
themselves
sense, she is teaching the Yanomani

Vanaman; and
Ye 'kuana people the right to
\0 preserve
Ye'kuana
..--
"
.,
Figure
Shapono
Figwe 65.
65. Laura
Lawa Anderson
Andenoo Barbata,
BarbaIa,SItapono
(Stills from video projection),
projeclion). 2002
their own history, ideas and images and

10
secun: il
gelling lost
loS! in the interpretations
intcrpretatioD$ of othel"$.
[n the work Shopono
to secure
it from getting
others. In
Shapono (2002)
(Figun:
(Figure 65), the artist documents in a short video the drawings made by the Yanomani
people and she creates a narrative
narralive that
lhat rell:ts
reflects their responses to their culture. Even
Intervention of the
tlie artist
anist in putting
pUlling together the video can be considered to
10 be
thougli
though the intervention
an interpretation like the ones she is attempting to criticize,
criticize:, one cannot but respect the
lhe
184
.84
between her and the people who trust
to present their culture in
collaboration betv."CCII
Il'\Ist her enough 10
galleries in New York City and elsewhere. In a sense, she is becoming the mediator
between two different worlds without the use of any oral or written
wriuen history. The
Tbe
drawings are a reflection of the
tile Yanomani culture
cuhure and the organic fibers,
fibers, used to
10 make
the paper for
fOT the drawings, is what holds the original history of these
tbese people, reflecting
limitations of any other system of communication in doing the same thing. Anderson
the limiulions
Barbata
works are both an embrace of the ways in which
Barhata and Hamilton's worils
....nieh we "read
'"read
experience, recall memory, and understand
wtderstand cculture
ulture and history"
hislOtyH (Fox, 2003, p.Sl)
p. 51)
In another work titled
tilled Qui
Que tiene
fiern! que ver
ve, la
/0 piel,
piel. el pelo,
pelo. la
fa pluma,
plunw. la maderw
madena con
Skin, Hair, Feathers, and Wood Have to Do
eljaguar, brujo,
mago, sohio?
sabio? (What do Skin.
e/jaguar.
brojo. mago.
With the Jaguar
JagU31 and the Shaman?) (1998) Anderson Barbata creates an installation ooff
H
.'lCverol columns
oohl1l1ll3 filled with hundreds
hundred:<! of8hccts
ofwhitc
lIwt peel
ped off and float up
"several
of sheets of
white paper that
from Bibles
(Katzwe, 2003, p.34). The words written on the pages
Bi bles placed on the floor"
floorH (KalZwe.
of the Bibles are in the different

difTerentlanguages
languages that she has encountered during her stays in
Arnawn and the words on each sheet of paper tend to fade out as the sheets "float"
the Amazon
away from the floor and towards the eeiling.
tJaruJCend into floating
ceiling. Language seems to transcend
ofthe
pieces of
the naturally made paper. One can say that the work becomes a commentary on
natW"a1 process nf
contelt1.
the natural
of language that evapol1ltes
evaporates as it is removed from its original context.
abo represent the natural
natuml process of
oftime
It can also
time in relation to a language that changes
bocause of cultural
interferenCCll; the result is a flow of
people from one
because
cultural and social interferences;
ofpeople
location to another. For instance, in my home country Cyprus, the spoken language is a
dialect that brings heavy references to pronunciations and words of English,
Greek dialt
English.
Turkish and French as Cyprus was under the occupation of those nations.
nations. 11Ie
inlcmction
The interaction
185
with other languages resulted in an amalgamation of linguistic characters that reflects the
general tmnsformation
transformation of culture as well as the history of Cyprus.
gelleral
In addition.
addition, language seems to be important in the ways in which a viewer
of art within a certain symbolic
engages with a work
worl<. of art. A viewer approaches a work nfan
order defined by the language she uses. Even without any written text or oral language
that could potentially provide an explanation on a given work of an,
art, its
thaI
ilS viewer most often
to the work with the tendency to describe it.
comes In
il. By asking the question "What is it?"
it?"
or "What does it mean?"

mean?'" the viewer attempts to
10 provide an answer to
10 the question
quest ion she
herself
raised, thus reducing the engagement with the work into a linguistic c:<et'(:ise.
exercise.
herselfrnised,
to support an argwncnt?)
argument?)
(After all, am I not
001 doing the same here in my attempt 10
However, in such engagement is rather difficult to escape the references of language that
social. As
can be cultural as much as 3OCial.
A3 Barthes
BarthelI (1964) suggests
3uggC3U in the introduction of
Elements
a/Semiology,
Ele""ent.~ of
Semiology,
gencmllerms,
in more general
terms, it appears increasingly more difficult to conceive a
system of images and objects

obj1S whose signifieds can e)!;ist
indepclldentJy of
exist independently
10 fall back
language: to perceive what a substance signifies is inevitably to
on the
lhe individuation ofa
nol
of a language: there is no meaning which is not
deSignaled,
designated, and the world of signified is none other than that of language.
reaJi:wion that the work is never
ncver independent ofilS
As a response 10
to the realization
of its viewer, Ann
Ilamilton comments in an interview with Mary Katherine Coffey, referring
n:ferring 10
Hamilton
to her work
myein (1998) (Figure 66): "I
~l came away thinking that
lhat my question for the next
lIe)!;t ten years
10 be a reatkr1"
p.1 4).
What does il
it mean to
reader?" (Coffey, 2001, p.14).
is, Wha,
186
mt'ein, (.
myein,
c. 1998
Arm Hamilton was honored to represent

repre!lCIII the US in the
In the spring of 1993
1998 Ann
Venice Biennale. For
for that purpose she was given the US Pavilion in Venice,
Venice. a building
l bomas Jefferson's Monticello, which in its
ilS turn
tum is based on the
11K: Greek
loo5ely
loosely based on Thomas
classic arthiteclure
of a temple. Ann Hamilton found the structure of certain
architecture ofa
il was simultaneously I'(lflecting
ambivalence for it
reflecting "modesty and aspirations to civic
p.l2S). After all, the reference of the building to
grandeur and authority" (Simon, 2002, p.228).
Jefferson's history is very a<XUfale
orthe
accurate here since it indirectly reminds us of
the problematic
inheritance of democracy that

thaI was formed in slavery (Coffey, 2001). Jefferson did
in<k<:d
De<;laration of Independence,
Independence. but
001 he had
bad more than two hundred slaves
indeed write the Declaration
that he inherited from his father working for him.
At the same time the reference to the Greek temple brings forward the idea of
ofaa
sacred notion of history or the ways in which
which. history becomes sacred vis a vis the ways in
inICnse, religiosity. Hamilton
which human beings tend to save it with a certain, almost intense,
of her interviews: "I

~ I took this
Ihis project
projCCl very seriously and really thought about
says in one ofher
1101'.' a work can explore some of the absences that are
an: in our historical record, or that
Ihat are
how
pervasively present,
to us. Can material form
fonn be a way of
present. but in some ways invisible 10
looking?"
(Coffey, 200
2001,
to respond to; the
looking?"' (Coffey.
1, p.11).
p.l l ). This is what Ann Hamilton had 10
ambivalent structure of the pavilion. And she had to do that in the fluid and romantic
romantie
attempt to
thai same year the US was engaged in a military
milita/y attempllO
atmosphere of Venice, while that
put an end to the escalating violence between Albanian guerillas
g..erilLas and Yugoslav/Serb
Y ugoslavfSerb
forces in Kosovo.
,go
187
She used the word "myein"
~myein" lIS
Ihis was the first of a sene!!
series of responses
as a title and this
\0
W()rd ""myein"
myein" has
to the challenge of taking use of the US Pavilion. In Greek the word
references \n!he
to the action of "dosing
"closing eyes and lips" and in English to the word "mystery."
apIIn. an
History is written in certain ways and one cannot but always has eyes (Jnd
and lips open,
act
aCI of participation in the process of writing
wriling such history. It
II seems that
thai the title is setting
scning
lropos.language
us up for what the viewer is going to experience. Similarly to her work tropos,
language
chQice of
"fthe
becomes once again an integral dement
element of her work, from the choice
the title of the
work to
10 its actual content.
Figure
myein, 1999.
1999,
Figwn 66. Ann Hamilton,
Hamilton. "'Y"in,
ofthe
offthe
the US Pavilion and through the glass
(View of
the outside ...
gl83:11 panels)
Hamilton created a grid nfwater-glass

of water-glass panels that she placed in front of the
pavilion and which transformed the view of it from the outside. 11le
The viewer could only
look al
at a dissolved image of the building behind the panels,
panels. before entering its courtyard.
oounyard.
ortlle
bui ld ing as if this
thi s only belonged to a dream,
dream.
In a sense she smoothed out the image of
the building
to something that is not
oot always accurate or absolute and as such it is malleable to
interpretation. llie
The glass served in liquefying the solidity and the authority that structure
stnll:ture
suggested. However,
structure. It no
00 longer belonged 10
to the
However. it was now an enclosed strocture.
overall Venice environment but it stood as an isolated,

isolated. independent, self-sufficient space
188
that had its own history,
histofy , ambivalent or oot,
not, which allowed the visitor the clK.>ice
choice of
entering
out of the curiosity to discover what it
enteri ng it. If
If the visitor chose to
\0 enter, mostly OUI
was behind the panels, she would then enoounter
encounter the proud struo:ture
structure of the pavilion.
frool of the pavilion Hamilton placed an altar-like wooden table from which
In front
of white cloth wcn:

were "dripping" below. Each cl0lh
cloth was individually threaded
pieces of
lOp surface oftbe
knoned al
lOp, creating a cush.ionedthrough holes on the top
of the table and knotted
at the top,
cushioned-
like matting for the wooden surface. This references her background in textile as well as
the idea thai
history- (i.e.
that knots were among the first means ofrewrding
of recording language and history
(Le.
altar. giving the
Peruvian quipu). Hamilton created a record-keeper in the form oran
of an altar,
bei ng in an ancient sacred ceremony ofsacrific
irtg recorded history.
vicw..:. the feeling of being
of sacrificing
viewer
100 fast
fasl to the interior ofme
At once, she was also preventing the viewer from walking too
of the
building, neglecting 10
to look carefully at the work.
wort. Hamilton was instead forcing
foreing her
visilO!"$ 10
th<.:ir
visitors
to dQ
do something opposite than what the title of her work assumed; to open their
th<.:ir lips to the suggestive narrative of
of her work.
eyes and their
of the pavilion she emptied the whole building searching for

rOT the
In the interior ofth<.:
absences, the things that are never spoken or the things that
Ilull get lost in the
th<.: historical
hi storical
transfiguration
transfigurntiun of our stories. She was aiming to create presence through absence. On
the walls of the empty space there
thcre was the text by Charles Reznikoff's
Reznikofrs Testimony: The
Tire
States 1885-1915
United Slates
1885_1915 translated into Braille. 50
'" From the top of the walls, where the
50 Testimony
was initially
discovered
on court
..
T.utu-y "'as
initi&lly a prose that re-told
rc-told stories that Reznikoff
Re2nikoff disoo
... ered while
""'ile working ""
coun
records as a law :ltudent

student at the New York University
discovered
I"<OCIf1k
Univaltty in the early 19OOs.
19t1O$. In those
tho$c stories he disw~
somtthin&
h;,ro.y - . 1885-1915
I U.\-191 S that was
..... untold
......,Id and never
_
ma:Ie it into the pages
~ of
or
something of American history
between
made
history. These were
on court
cases that
are reminiscent of the violence,
diversity
race
.. ere stories based ""
coun caseo
that..,
... ;.,~. di
...... ity and
ond ...,.
struggles
States. He
only in-.d
interested in presenting
$bU8l!1e$ of the people of the United SIlItO$.
lie was ""Iy
prae<lti~g those
"""'" stories
storieo without
wiihout
description 0<
or o",,\arudion..
explanation. Over the .....
next fony
forty years
of his lif<:
life he re-wrote
this stories in the form
any de$cription.
y-. orb;"
~_1h;"
room of
a found poem, wipped
stripped of ..
anyy metIIphors.
metaphors, personal bias 0<
or emotions,
~
..-ions. and
ond it runs to almost
at ....... 500
SOO pages.
189
walls met the ceiling, w~
cascades of fuschia oolorod
colored powder were
coming down on the
w.:re comiog
tile
then rollectcd
collected in the angi'!s
angles that
walls in density and speed and were lhen
lhllt the walls
w\llb created
the floor
67). As the p<)wer
power came d<:mll
down the
with til<'
Jloor (Figure
(Fq;ure 61).
IIkl walls, like running blood or red
tears,
words on the walls making
tears. it would
W<JUld color the 'words
roaJdng them slowly and gradually visible,
Reznikoff' made visible the stories
unspoken Ilis!:ory.
history.
the same way that Rwnikoff
stOOes of the lJ:ll:SjNken
Hamilton's voice was

echoed from speakers placed in
ec.hood
the four ~ornen;
comers of the room, as
she was reciting Lincoln's Second
Inaugural AtIdresi;.
Address, a sfwrt
short
llll\uguml
declaration Cl:J(ournglng
encouraging the
decltmrtion
to treat it:<!
its ewn
own wound:>
wounds
nation 10
Figure 67. Ann Hamilton, myein, 1999
The ...
whole
speech is trmnfOl'llled
transformed in the NATOs' i:ntemational
international
after the Civil War. 100
'lmle ~b
phonetic code, so the text is spelled out letter by letter. 51 "Thus, the opening FellowCountrymen became: Foxtrot echo lima lima oscar whiskey charlie oscar uniform
!lCWmbu
tim
november fango
tango romeo ymtkee
yankee miJre
mike echo 1WWmIber"
november" (Simon, 2()(l2.
2002, p.230). What the
visiroru did not hear were

",.ere the
IIkl inspiring and honest
honm words of Abraham tincoln
Lincoln that very
visitors
possibly caused his assassination a month later.
These sieves
i~$t AU
IhaJ
slaves ;:onstiMoo
constituted a f"'!"ullar
peculiar aruI
and powedcl
powerful interest.
All knew that
,his
expCWJ
this interest was SOJrullIDw
somehow the cause or,he
of the 'Wat,,,
war... Neither parry
party expected
war lhe
the magnitude or the
which if
it has
already llffuined.
attained.
for the Will'
IIkl duration wllicl:l
Ilas iIltefu1y
Neither dmicipateJ
anticipated that
cause of lhe
the ronfikt
conflict Illliht
might ~!lW
cease willi
with or even
Mjlhcr
tlmt the lXtuse
before
should cease. Eaeh
Each looked for an ea:siet
easier triumph,
itselfsoo\lld~.
bctoro the conflict
oonflict itself
fundamental and asroundrng.
astounding. Both read the same Bible
and a result less furulamtJ:lllll
"51 NATO
!{Ato pwm"u,
w"m, I<l
of!IID
hIsIW>.obet
phonetic alrIfflb<t
alphabet lI(;~
assigns wldcly
widely """IP';,.;"hj(!
recognizable words
to n..,
the 1.-.
letters of
the English
alphabet
~!1y_
I I , "(h(:af'
die jt/l(lf
~hpa' fill'!he
k!u:t-t "P,"
~r," ''ThnS<i'
fur
"0," "Papa"
for the letter
"Tango" for
acrophonically. VI)!"
For _
instance,
"Oscar" M3n<h
stands fur
for the
letter "O,~
"T' flo,
etc. Th
This
establish w
so that
do so
regardless of their
''T'
.. was ~
thai people
_10 who
wlro transmit
lrnIl_it messages
m.. 'II'" by radio
fII<Il" can
""" <k>
II!) ~dlll.if
n(l1;-'~
native
""'-fie.
whn !IID.aft\y
vigllllom Or
j>W;.'ln$ is endangered.
language, osJ>'lcially
especially ia
in _
cases when
the safety <If
of navigations
or persons
i$""~_
190
(iQd, and each invokes His aid against the other. It
and pray to the same God,
may seem strange that any men should dare to ask aajust
just GOO's
God's assistance
100 sweat of other men's faces,
faces. but
bUI let us
in wringing their bread from the
judge not,
nol, that
thaI we
"Ie be not
Il()I judged.
With malice
charity for all,
mal ice toward none,
none. with charily
all. with
willt firmness
finnlless in the
right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to
10 finish
fillish the work we
are in,
in. 10
\0 care for him who shall have
to bind up the nation's wounds, to
borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, 10
to do all which may
usl and lasting peace among ourselves and witlt
achieve and cherish aajjust
with all
nations. (Lincoln.
(Lincoln, 1865/1989,
] 865f1989, para.3-4)
t<:mple,
Hamilton's voice echoes like the female voice of the oracle in the Greek temple,
ullderstood, for they are always filled with metaphors

melaphors and
whose sayings are never understood,
doubled meanings; they are sayings that can be read in many ways, mostly felt rather
ralher than
logically comprehended.
comprehended, and as such they can be misleading and dubious. One needs to
10
This is like the voices of
write down the words she hears in order to decode the text. lbis
history
histoTy that only become visible as one records them in writing, for it is in the politics of
writing that a story becomes part of the discursive order. However, like any written
history, in order to be understood,
unc:Icrstood, one needs to be familiar with the modes of
signification, usually related 10
to one's culture,
CUlture, the kcode."
"code." Hence, even though the
phonetic code is usually used to

10 assist communication in this case it merely prevents one
from reading the work in a literal way. As in other
of Hamilton's works (i.e. trop<l$,
tropos,
otherofHamilton'S
bullO
SIIe can
1993) the viewer is left with no other way to approach the work but
to sense it. She
only feel the way the voice e<:hoes
echoes on the empty walls, the
tile way the sun fills the room
with light.
light, the way the Braille characters
chaniclers can be felt under her
ller fingers
fingen and under the red
dust.
10 its own content, which is the
Consequently, the work becomes opposite to
objectivist Testimony by Reznikoffs
Re2llikoffs that lack of any em(){ion
emotion and becomes more like
I>Ovels of tropisms. It is based on inner movements
movcmenlS of perception and
Nathalie Sarrautc's
Sarraute's novels
191
consciousness that precede language or actions. According 10

I) Hamilton's
to Simon (200
(2001)
of opening their
myein showed but did not tell anything, left the visitors the responsibility ofopming
ofmultiple
eyes and lips to the work. "What myein olTered
offered was a palpable sense of
multiple diffused
rewgnitions brought to light"
memories, ofmouming
of mourning and responsibility, of qucs\ions
questions and recognitions
left with when interacting with Hamilton's

(Simon, 2001,
201H, p.235).
p.23S). Finally, what one is len
won
work is a sense ofvinuality.
of virtuality.
",urk allows for the creation ofa

Her work
of a space thai
that is full of
sllified and transformed, histories can

possibility. In the work's space knowledge can be shifted
be negotiated and re-negotiated,
suspended and reconfigured; all, in
re-negOlialed. interpretations
inlerpremtions can be SllSpended
ways that an:
are unexpected and beyond pre-determined linguistic understandings.
Laurie Anderson: The Interactive

laleractin Voice
Vo~ of Politics
AOOel'Sl)n was born in Chicago in 1947 and she was the second
seoond of eight
Laurie Anderson
childn:n. She started taking violin classes when she was six years old.
instrumentlhat
children.
old, an instrument
that
she has mastered throughout the years
yeal'll and which she almost always incorporates
incQrporales in her
performan<;$. She has a bachelor's degree in Art History from Barnard College and a
performances.
Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture from Columbia University. While a graduate student at
Columbia University she also studied art history with Meyer Shapiro, printmaking with
country and
Tony Harrison and philosophy with Arthur Danto. She traveled around the IXIW1try
toured in the US, Europe, Australia and lapan.
Japan. She also lived in remote areas and slept in
many different public places, fascinated by the intensity that dreams have when the body
in public space is never fully asleep and somewhat aware ofthings
of things that happen around it.
She won numerous aWllJds

anist-in-residence at NASA in 2004.
awards and she was the artist-in-residence
192
'"
won
Laurie Anderson's work can !\ever

never be identified as of this or that
thaI category. She
creates sculptures, artist's books, installations, or performances.
perfonnances. She uses sounds,
sounds. text,
projections, light, and images and fuses technology with traditional medium. Her works
are multi-media and multi-layered,
multi-layered. interweaving complex ideas that usually
usual ly respond to
10
social
to her country. At
the day Anderson
50Cial or political issues related 10
AI the end of
o Cthe
Andet"SOn is a
storyteller whose work is a created space for communication and a living dialogue
between her and her audiences. In an interview with her friend and artist Chuck Close
(2005) she says: "I
tried to explain my idea of who Ii thought the audience was,
~[tried
was. and then I
realized what I was saying wasn't exactly true. IJ was really kind of doing it for aIi sadder
version of myself, who's, like, siuing
sitting in row K. And I[ was trying in aII way 10
to say
something funny 10
to cheer her up."
perfonmux:cs, Anderson
Ander:JOn stages
:K!tgC3 herself
her:lClf as
03 ;[the
woole performance
perforTl1WlCe is
i~
During her performances,
if the whole
an image, an installation that is always surrounded by visual elements. Anderson is also
immediately interested in words and the relationship between language, history and
culture in a similar way to Ann Hamilton. In fact,
fact. Laurie Anderson and Ann Hamilton's
Hamilton' s
101 ofsimi
larilies. Even though Anderson
work, as well as Bill Viola's work, nil
all bear a lot
of similarities.
\0 be a performance artist her work can also COWlt
installations.
could be considered to
count as installations,
and even though Bill Viola and Ann Hamilton an:

sculplOl$ their work
are thought to be sculptors
resetnbles a performance. As Schwenk (2003) says respectively,

resembles
Hamilton' s land
n:min;scent in many ways of spaccs
Hamilton's
[and Viola's] works an:
are reminiscent
spaces
perfonning arts, stage sets of dance, theater,
theater. or opera ... She
for the performing
creates a constellation of different but dearly
clearly linked elements, a
an:
performing COIlleld
context in which (inner) stage area and (outer) auditorium are
!be visitor is intended to speclate.
(p.SI)
superimposed and the
spectate. (p.51)
193
All three anists

artists use the human
oftheir
hwnan body as part of
their work. Anderson's body becomes
~s part
p<:fionni ng, Bill
Dill Viola is always present through the voices and
ooff the work while sh<.:
she is performing,
sounds.
\hen:: through the placement of a "guardian
vel)'
"guardian" or through a very
sounds, Ann Hamilton is there
M
complicated fabrication of art

an that makes the presence of a craftsman apparent.
apparenl
AI once, as artists, they an:

At
are all an authority, like Byzantine iconography. The
difTerer>ee
ieonogrnphy and the work of these contemporary artists is
difference between Byzantine iconography
that in the work of the latter the truths that
thaI originate in art
an have ultimately little to
\0 do with
the initial intentions of the artist.

anist. In
[n Byzantine iconography the artist, as an author of the
narrative that needs to be translated into a visual form, disappears the moment the icon
moves in the diSl;ursive
discursive order of the religious practice. In the work ofanists
of artists such as
Viola. the artists define their work with their name, but
bul they do
Anderson, Hamilton or Viola,
not intend to be authors, because an author presents
presenlS a fixed
fIXed meaning and an explanation
and hence defines the lelos

telos of the work. n
52 Instead, these artists provide a space for an
endless revisiting, an endless formation of meanings and readings that
thaI are never
definitive or singular in describing the truths of art. This is exactly what IJ previously
as being virtuality,
vinuality, the space for the possibility of the infinite transfiguration
IJansfiguration of
described lIS
meanmgs.
meamngs.
Language
a Virus,
c.1980
Lllnrllilu is
j.t q
VU'M.t. .!989
IJ saw this guy in the chait.
chair. And he seemed to have gotten
of those abstract trances. And he was going
stuck in one ofthosc
Geraldine sa.i
said:
""ugh...
ugh ... ugh...ugh..."
ugh ... ugh .. . ~ And GC1'IIldine
d: You know, I
im..,. ...
history of images artists

commissioned to """'0'"
make art but 1hty
they w=
were not
" In the hislo<y
isIs were commissio<>ed
__allowed
lIowed to sign
sip their
Stole. the Church,
0!urdI. the Prince
I'rinoc and
ond SO
fonh and
ond the
work. The work did _
not belona
belong to them but to the State,
so forth
... The ortisI
idvisible behind the requests
req_ of the Church
0twdI and
ond
B)'Dflline
this.
artist was invisible
Byzantine icon is _
a good e..ample
example of "'
his work
was
defined
by
specific
rules
of
making
the
icon.
Today,
artists
define
and
claim
their
work
in
won. defmtod "I""'ifl<
of..-k.."
icon . Too"y."isIs define...,;l "!aim
Ihe
igning~
II is not
_ certain "hen
.iSl decicIod
IIII1\e
the act of~tling
of titling ond
and ssigning
it.. It
when in thc:
the history of images the .
artist
decided to name
or .....
her work.
his "'
worI<.
52
"'*'
"'*'
194
'"
think he's in some kind ofpaln

of pain ... I think if
it'ssaa pain cry. And I
that's a pain cry.
cry, then language ... is
said: If thaI's
IS a virus
VIrus ...
.. .
Language!
Language! It's
It 's a virus!
Language! It's a virus!
[ ... ]
Well I was talking to
ro a friend the other day, and I[ was
saying: I[ wanted you ... and I was looking for you ... but
IJ couldn',
couldn't fmd
find you. And he said: Hey ... are you talking
to me ...
10
.. or are you practicing for one of those performances of yo~?
yours?
virus!
Language! It's
It 's a virus!
Language!
You know,
don't believe there's such a thing as the JapakllOw. I[don'\
don't even know how to
nese language. I mean, they don',
\0 write.
They jjust
ust draw pictures of these little
linle characters,
characrel"$, and when
they talk, they just make
male sounds that more or less synch up
with their lips.
Language!
l.anguage! It's
II's a virus!
(L. Anderson, as cited in Goldberg, 2000, p.99)
Laurie Anderson wrote the song Language is a Virus! inspired
ill5pired by one of William
Burroughts' quotes thai
that suggested that language is a disease oollllnunicable
communicable by mouth.
AndCl'$I)n was fascinated
f"""inated by th",
disp;>rily of the
!he fact that
thai such a proposition
propo&ition was coming
Anderson
the disparity
wllose artistic medium is language itself. She comments on her

from a writer, someone whose
choice of writing this song: ""[S]ometimes
(S]ornetirnes when you say a word, you think:
think you actually
understand it. In fact, all you're doing

doi ng is $Bying
don' , necessarily
necessari ly understand it at
saying it, you don't
all. So language, well, it's kind of
ofaa trick" (Goldberg, 2000, p.99). Earlier
Earl~r in this
chapter, Ann Hamilton
Hami lton eogaged
lropos. as the seated woman in the
lhe
engaged with the same issue in tropos,
gallery
burns the words she just read,
gesture of the
galle!), bums
read. a suggestive gcstllR'
tile impossibility of
grasping what each word attempts to describe.
Anderson is presenting here the question about ways in which language can serve
as a denominator for understanding meaning but espc<:ially
especially for misunderstanding.
However, due to the artist's own critical positioning toward language, the viewer
195
simultaneously feels uncomfortable in the obvious possibility that the way she
experiences Anderson's work can simply be the result ofa
of a misunderstanding. In the
creation orthis
of this ambiguous space that the viewer fmds
finds herself in,
in. there
~ is never
never one fixed
JtH:arung.
pcn:civing Anderson's messages - if
ifany
meaning. Rather in the potential of erroneously perceiving
any
bolt of
m<:anings, to search outside of the box
- the viewer is forced to look for alternative meanings,
[n aaway,
way, the work itself allows the viewer to
what something might or might not mean. In
search for the work
's possible truths, to become a virtual space
spa of
ofpotcnli
al.
work's
potential.
ortlle
~mythical
Aooernon's work
wo rk reminds one of
Furthermore, Anderson's
the idea of"mytJJ'
of "myth" or of "mythical
spe'h,"
Ihis was described by Barthes
Ilarthes in his essay Mythologies
Mylholog;es (1972).
( 19n). Myth is
speech," as this
defined by Barthes (1972) as a system of communication, the message, whose main
characteristic is 10
inlO a form, a sign. "This allows one to perceive
to transform a meaning into
of signification,
that myth
mylh cannot possibly be an object, a concept, or an idea; it is a mode ofsignificalion,
fonn," and it is assigned with historical and socictallimits,

nruse
a form,"
societal limits, as well as conditions of
use
(Barthes, 1972, p.109).
p.l09). Based on this, one could say that Anderson's
Anderson' s work as an
interactive and dialogic performance and a mode

m(l(\e of communication with her
~r audiences is
ke myth. Taking this or>C
972) suggests that, ''the
"t~ materials
materi als
also lilike
one step further Barthes (1
(1972)
of mythical speech (the language itself,
itse lf, photography,
pbotogmphy, painting, posters, rituals,
rituals. oobjects,
bjects,
etc.), however different at start, are reduced to a pure signifying function as soon as they
are caught by myth"
myth~ (p.11
4).
(p.114).
Hence,
Hence. Language
wngunge is
;s a Virus as a language and as a work
won: of art can be seen as the
product of mythical speech, the product of Laurie Anderson's myth; that is her
performances.
So, during the performance
pcrforrnaJJCe$. So.
perfonnance the work is reduced to
10 a single signifying
function in its resolution by its author as well as by the audience that perceives it.
196
Language
nothing less than what it
umguage is a Virus becomes
bewmes nothing more or IlOlhing
il describes; it
becomes
virus because it is something that the
beromes a viru$
Ihe viewer cannot escape from since it is
always caught in the signifying process. After all
al l how could we even talk about a
process if
there is Ill)
no reader to actualize the myth? A
ifther<:
A signifying process is
signifying pnxess
always presupposed (Barthes, 1972).

artist's"" intellectual fascination with semantics, and with philosophers who
The artist's
of language, from Ludwig Wittgenstein
Jacques
wrote on theories oflanguagc,
Witlgenstei n to Walter Benjamin or JacqUC$
Derrida,
could be detected in songs whose serious aspects were cleverly disguised by the
Dcnida, wuld
'n' roll"
one
rhythms of rock '0'
roll ~ (Goldberg, 2000, p.99). Language
lAmguage Is
/s a Virus is just 000
complex theory into a "hummable $(Ing~
song" and this is the result of
tnonslales oomplelt
example that translates
Anderson's interest in storytelling. In the act of storytelling
storytelli ng she finds her way to raise
questions and to engage her audiences in the journey of an interesting
inlcn;sting dialogue.
dialogoc.
Storytelling can be viewed as just another mode of communication and hence it

il is like
Banhes' (1972) argues that, "mythical speech is made of a material
mythical speech. Barthes'
II 0).
O).
which has already been worked on so as to make it suitable for C()mmunication"
communication" (p.
(p.11
Storytelling is made of Anderson's experiences that have been worked by the
lile artists in
order 10
conununica1ion with her viewers.
to be made suitable and easy for communication
addition. storytelling is an art form that Laurie Anderson learned by being IIa
In addition,
stories. She
member of a large family that was amllSed
amused by language games and by telling stories.
recalls that she spent most
mO$! of her childhood listening to her parents and siblifl&S
siblings
recounting stories about things
thing.'! that happened to them.
~m. "Reports
~ Reports had to be tailored in
places, expanded in otllers.
others, points of view sometimes
places.
somctimes had
bad to be altered,
altered. occasionally
missing details or more dnunatic
dramatic C()nclusions
conclusions had to be supplied' (Gordon.
(Gordon, 1980). She
197
started incorporating
inoorpol1lling these elements in her performances
perfOrtn3ll(:CS admitting
admining that the stories she
tells on stage are

of her everyday life,
an: in the
\he most part true and intensified occurrences ofher
life.
thaI she might have had the previous night
even if these stories derive from dreams that
(Goldberg,2000).
Georg Lukacs in his Theory
ofthe Novel explains the above in an
Theoryoflhe
(Goldberg, 2000). Goorg
eloquent way:
... Jdoes there occur a creative memory which
Only in the novel [[...]
transfixes the object and transfonns
transforms it [[...]
... J The duality of inwardness and
outside world can here be overcome
OVeT\X)me for the subject
$ubjed 'only' when he sees
the I[...]
out of the past life-stream
... ] unity of his entire life ([...]
... ] oul
life-stream. which is
compressed in memory [...
]
The
insight
which
grasps
this unity
[.. J
wily [...]
[... )
the unattained and therefore
becomes the divinatory-intuitive grasping of
orthe
inexpressible meaning of life.
cited in Benjamin, 1968, p.99)
li fe. (as ciled
Therefore, even fictional narratives

Therefore.
nanalives are not pure imagination but they are
an: shaped
experiences and memories, they are a stretched 01.11
out version
by already lived c"periences
veninn of our reality.
In the novel Eva Luna by Isabel Allende,
comes full circle when Eva meets
Allen<ic, the story C(lmcs
meeu
again with the General Tolomeo Rodriguez, whose
wllose interest in her ability for stories
inspired her to quit her job in a factory and to pursue a living writing stories.
Let me !;<Iy,
say, in passing, that I admire your work. How do you do
it? I mean, how does one write?
I just do what I call.
can. Reality is ajumble
a jumble we can't always measure
boowse everything is happening at the same time. While you
or de<:ipher,
decipher, because
and I are speaking here, behind your back Christopher Columbus is
inventing America, and the same Indians that welcome him in the stainedglass window are still naked in ajungle
a jungle a few hours from this office,
office. and
10 open a path through that
try to
will be there a hundred years from now. Iluy
10 put a little order in that chaos, to make life more bearable.
beamble. When
maze, to
I write, I describe life as I would
WQuld like it to be.
be. (Allende.
1989. p.300-301)
p.300-30 I)
(Allende, 1989,
The llbove
lake:!! one back
ba<.:k to Ann Hamilton's work
WQrk "myein"
Mmyein" in which
wllich the artist
mist
above takes
refe~ to those stories that remained untold in the discourse of history. Likewise to the
refers
10 be the basic and essential genre

storyteller, '"narrative
"narrative history ofa
of a certain kind turns out to
(MlIClntyre, 1984, p.209).
p.2(9). This simply
for the characterization of human actions" (MacIntyre,
198
presents history
any type
histOl)' as a human construction
ooll5truction and as such a problematic reflection
renection of
orany
of singular truth.
troth.
lbere
llgle history 10
LUIIII in Allende's novel,
!lOve!.
There is no si
single
to be conceived for like Eva Luna
an author can never
neVCT possibly record
rewrd an
all that is happening simul\ancQusly
simultaneously al
at a given
lime. Rather
Ratner the author is given by the nature of her "occupation"
~occupation" the
moment in time.
rewrd. As in the case of perspective

persple(:tive paintings,
paintings. the image
privilege to choose what to record.
proximil}' to
10 the perspective
perspc.:li ve of the landscape of the artist's reality.
was made in absolute proximity
However,
of absoluteness is immediately 10S\
lost when one
one: views
vieW-! the painting
However. the illusion ofabsolutcncss
(Oombrich, 2000).
perspc.:tive that was not meant for the image to be seen (Gombrich,
from a perspective
10 a perspective
perspc.:tivc painting; the absoluteness ofilS
10
History acts the same way to
of its proximity to
an assumed truth is lost as soon as one realizes
real izes different perspectives
per1pectives under which
another truth rises.
EmptvPlaces,
c.1989-1990
Emptv P1qm. S'
1982- 1990
Laurie Anderson created Empty Places (1989-1990) as a reaction to
10 the political
States al
at the cnd
end of the 1980s.
The work is a "subversive
life of the United Stales
1980$. 'The
~subvel'liive attack
piece. as in other political
directed at the
tbe American status quo" (Hood, 1994). In this piece,
hers, like Uniled

United Stal
States
pieces of
ofhers,
es (1983), the viewer is faced with Anderson's intentions
for
de-constructing the political truth of the country. She is communicating her
forlie-constructing
frustrations and disappointments but she is also clarifying her own lack of responsibility
towards the construction of this political
pol itical fallacy because she was not awake. Transferring
Hamilton's used term
tenn myein, Anderson is also talking about the responsibility of citizens
199
to have their eyes and their lips open so that they criticize and keep their politician on
constant alert. She recalls:
Like many people, IJ slept:

slept through the Reagan era politically. When I
woke up, everything looked really different. Homeless men and women
New York, hundreds of thousands of
were living on the streets of
ofNew
Americans were dead or dying of AIDS, and the national mood was
characterized by fear, intolerance,
intoienrnce, and straight-ahead greed. Suddenly
everything seemed deeply unfamiliar.
unfwniliar. Was this
Ihis really my country? I
de<:ided to write about this new place, not because I had any solutions but
decided
because I needed to understand how and why things had changed.
(Goldberg, 2000, p.150)
Anderson becomes a political agent
that communicates the problematic political
agenllhal
nol wish to become a commodity by doing so.

life of her country but she certainly does not
She is not
to become yet
001 looking 10
yel another voice on the tableaux of
o f the political
pol itical market.
""[S]he
tSlhe tries to
\0 make a performance
perfonnancc that does not
1101 rely on pop-star identification,
identificaliOfl, on the
desire to emulate and consume. She wants 10

to avoid becoming a product for sale and
WWlts to create a more resistant and viable art"
art~ (Hood, 1994). She is not
001 an author and
wants
she is making sure to state that clearly in her

sbe
be, work.
W(lrk. She is not attempting to become the
stan<;ls outside of them. Instead, she

authority that points out the problems and then stands
wraps her work
W(lrk around her body like someone who wraps the robe around the neck
ncek
W3J1ts to feel the certainty of death. She has only questions that evolve from
because she wants
W(ln<ier about how her county was left to be an empty place.
her wonder
to the lack
The title of the work Empty Places makes references
refere~$to
la(:k of dreams like
thai Reagan initially promised but was never able to deliver. Instead Anderson
those that
feels that he left America to become a rotten,
rotten. empty place with no dreams, and a place
with no dreams is a place with no life for it has nothing to expeo;:t
expect or to look forward to.
10.
il is important here to note that Anderson refers 10

ROllO
Also, it
to an empty place and not
to an
200
53
emply
US back to previous differentiations between the two.
empty space, which takes us
twO. lJ So, it is
a place and not
oot a space for the notion ofa
of a space, presented in this study as virtuality,
would immediately assume possibility. Rather the country has become just another
loo:.:ation that is lacking of potential.
!X)tential.
location
In this work,
work. Anderson used almost two thousand slides that were projected onto
tall. ten screens and forty-five
fony-five film
fil m and slide projectors. During
four towers, twenty feet tall,
bluebirds. flowers blooming
the performance the screens would suddenly come alive with bluebirds,
and picket fences, "only
~only to be immediately transformed into a hellish city street piled
p.1 SO). The intensity or
backgrouoo along
of the visual background
with garbage~
garbage" (Goldberg.
(Goldberg, 2000, p.150).
Aooerson' s songs created a melancholic disposition and intensified a
with the lyrics of Anderson's
fceling of guilt that she herself was filled with,
with. and which was the result of putting so
feeling
much wuestrictcd
unrestricted and unquestionable faith in political personas. This develops during
tile performance.
perfonnance. SpcciflClllly.
the song and is finally revealed at the end of the
Specifically, the work
begins with a lot of ideas about politics
!X)litics and music only to single down to a very
vcry simple
story. She
Site is telling the story ofwl\en
of when she fell
fe ll down an uncovered manhole
manllole and ended up
next to a troubled homeless

sitting ncxt
homele$S woman in an emergency room. In this experience and
in the bleeding, swollen feet of the homeless woman, she is suddenly faced with the
of the Reagan administration. When the woman points her feet
horrible effects ofthe
fed to her,
"bleeding~ country, she
Anderson cannot look, because apart from the result that it is her "bleeding"
is also faced
fllCCd with the cause ofthat
Lack of social responsibility.
of that result, which is her own lack
A couple of months ago I was getting out of a cab

and I turned around and fell right down
pen manhole.
into an oopen
Yeah, right into the New York City
sewer system.
.'leWCT
53 View
Chapter
"
View~
... 1.
t.
,,,
201
\[ ... ]\
So, the ambulance took me to the hospital and parked
my wheelchair in the emergency room.
And I sal
sat there watching this long line of misery
Arid
passing by.
Gunsho!
Gunshot wounds, stabbing victims, and as the night
wore
on,
~~<m.
the old people started to oome
come in.
in.
And there was this old woman sining

sitting next to
10 me.
She was a bum and her feet were bleeding
li ke grapefruits
and swollen up like
and she kept saying:
say ing:
"Look at my feet! Look at my feet!
And I C(luldn't.
couldn't.
And there was an old man sitting on

OIl the other side of her
and she kept
kepi saying:
~ My feet.
fect, Look at my feet!"
fee t!~
"My
And he did.
And he said:
"That
"Th.at must really hurt."
(L.
as cited in Goldlxrg,
Goldberg, 2000.
2000, p.153)
(I.. Anderson
ATKicrson 115
p.IS3)
Songs f!lIdSloriq
and Stories '1"1)'"
from Mohr
Dick. s.
c. 1999
Soan
M"by D;cl<.
1m
Songs and stories

storiesfrom
thai was first performed
from Moby Dick is an electronic opera that
al
om: of
at Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York in 1999. n.e
The opera is the only one
Anderson '$ works that
thai is based on pre-existing text, the extraordinary novel by Herman
Anderson's
alor>C: on stage. Three

Melville, Moby Dick and is also among the few in which she is not alone
nrthe
male actors.
actors, who assume different characters during the unraveling of
the story,
COmpulCf$ and it
il includes new inventions
accompany her. TIle
The work is entirely based on computers
l<l/lcing Jlid,
remOle<onlrolled instrument
instrwnenl that
thaI she designed with the
lhe
such lIS
as the talking
stick, a digital remote-controlled
instrumenl is designed to
10 break:
break sound into
inlo
help of other dcsigners
designers (Figure 611).
68). This new instrument
liny segments, which can then be played back with
wilh the help of
ofaa computer, which rereo
tiny
10 create new textures.
arranges them in various ways in order to
202
Again the piece
pie<:e is about
Americans,
journeys, power and
Americans. journeys.
IIOt a political piece

pie<:e
control, but it is not
like the 0!>e5
ones previously presented.
Songs and Stories from Moby
Rather,
Rather. So.,~
Dick is a deeply philosophical and
metaphorical work that addresses the
.tick~ from
Figure 68. Laurie Anderson, "Talking stick"
Songs a""
and Stories
&mfP
S1orj~ from Moby
Maby Dick,
Did. 1999
human struggle to always search for $(lmething

something that it is almost impossible to grasp. In
the obsessive search for acquisition orw:

tile ship who
one is getting lost, like the captain of the
of the ~an
ocean by the whale he has so
firwil ly gets dragged to the bottom ofthe
goes insane and finally
zealously hunted. The opera opens which the song Audite:

Audile:
Listen,
L.isten. 0 people of the land
To this story of the ocean,
bow they looked for what they wanted.
And how
bow it ate them in the end ([...]
...]
And how
(L
p. 185)
(L. Anderson, as cited in (lQldberg,
Goldberg, 2000, p.185)
adaptation of Melville's
Anderson's work is not
DO{ an OOap\ation
Mclville's original story but instead a
reformation of the ideas that the story brings to the surface of its reading. Specifically,
refonnation
journey. rather than the journey itself,

itself. and it
the work is more about the frustration of the journey,
is more about the uncertainties
of life
uncenainties ofl
ifc rather than about the life of Captain Ahab.
Allab. Captain
Abab
Ahab becomes all the readers who are.
are, like the captain, also in search of something - they
unkoown and unexplained. The big white
whitc whale is
isjust
mClllphor
are in search for the unknown
just a metaphor
of the dreams that we are chasing or the intangible realities that we are seeking, driven by
ofaa complete life. The journey was not one ofvengeaoce
ki ll the whale to
of vengeance - to kill
the desire of
whom Ahab lost a leg in a previous voyage -_ but it was also one of certainty. "Ahab
Ahab was
K
203
not
to rest wnlen!
content with acting in events which he did not
nO! one 10
1101 understand.
WJderstand. He was
of his
but also to understand the meaning orh
determined not
r>Ol only to conquer the whale bUI
is
conflict with the

tile mighty beast [...]"(Myers,
[ ... n Myers. 1942,
1942. p.16).
p. 16).
of the novel,
his life by losing it.
At the end orthe
novel. Ahab is discovering the meaning of
orhis
In a similar way to
journey, or the journey of~A
of "A" to discover the undeveloped
\0 Odysseus
Odysscusjoumcy.
K
journey 1
to
reels in Angelopoulos
AngelopouJQS film, or Safran Foer's
Foer'sjoumey
0 a lost memory,
memO!)', or the journey of
darkness of the night, Ahab'
St. John of the Cross towards spirituality in the
ihc darlmess
Allab 'ss journey is
alS(l one that

thai results into something. Ahab
Abab is traveling driven by the absence of the
also
whale, and the final
and fatal
of a self.
selffUlilJ alld
falal presence of the whale is simply the presence ora
knowledge truth for Ahab.
Ahab 's and like Ishmael (who

ajourney similar to Ahab's
Anderson is also embarking on ajoumey
is her clwactcr
character in the opera) is fascinated
of the ocean and the
fMCinatoo with the vastness
va3tncM ofthc
ville starts
stans his fIrst
first chapleT
Melville
chapter "LoomingsK
"Loomings" in Moby Dick
possibilities of the journey. Mel
with this exact assertion:

Cal
year.; ago
Calll me Ishmael. Some years
ago - never mind how long precisely -.
parti.. ular to interest
having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular
pan of
me on shore, Il thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part
the world. It is a way I1 have of driving off the spleen, and regulating the
circ\llation.
find myself growing grim about the mouth;
circulation. Whenever I[ fInd
wheneveT it i$
find
whenever
is a damp, driuly
drizzly November in my soul:
soul; whenever I fInd
myse lf involuntarily pausing before coffm
coffin warehouses, and bringing up
myself
the rear
rearof
meet: and especial
ly whenever my hypos get
of every funeral I meet;
especially
such an upper hand ofme,
of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to
prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically
\ben, IJ account it high time to get to sea as
knocking people's hats off - then,
.'lQOn
... J (Mel
ville, 1851/n.d.,
185 I/n.d., 1:1)
I: I)
(Melville,
soon as IJ can [[...]
AOOcrson's work succeeds to simultanC(lusly
Anderson's
simultaneously be about the journey as much as it is the
journey itself. However, as a potential
potC1ltial journey, her work also presents virtuality. When
tile work becomes
bel:omes a voyage, then the work is pregnant
PfC8111Ult with the possibility
the space of the
204
for the anist

artist - as well as for the spectator - to reach self-knowledge truth. We only need
to return to the works of Viola and Hamilton to realize that virtuality indeed appears in
the intimate proximity
pro~imity of the artist to his or her work. When the work becomes a space
constant
of contemplation then this space is open for a process of poiesis - that is the oonstant
transfonnation of the artist's understanding of the so"lf.
self.
transformation
Contemporary
COlllempo
... ry Art
Arc and A New Narrative of Virtuality
Bill Viola, Ann Hamilton and Laurie Anderson present differences that make their
of a
similarities
exemplary
work unique, but they also share
~ simi
larities that
thai constitute their work as cltcrn
plary ofa
new transfigumtion
transfiguration of the notion
I>Otion of virtuality. Even
EVf:n though all three artists often use
U$e
lie in the use
technology. (Thei
(Theirr
computer technology,
technology. the work's
WQTk's virtuality does not
nollie
usc of
oftcchnology.
ofthis
work ~blishcs
establishes the initial argument
argwncnl of
this study that virtual reality
renlity is not
nol necessarily
nc:cc~ly a
8
condition attached to
\0 computer technologies).
Ie<:hnologie:s). The virtual is something else. Similarly to
the history ofirnagcs,
of images, these artists continue a tradition of immersion in their work by
creating spaces that allow for the spe<:tDtor
partic ipate in !he
wort.
spectator to ecstatically participate
the work.
vinuality is not
oot simply the result of this participation, but instead in the
However, virtuality
a way. art becomes once again
potentiality that lies underneath the act of participating. In away,
Alain Badiou's .filualiDrl,
occun.
situation, in which the event of a truth occurs.
artistic, unique to
Until this point
poi nt I discussed the possibility
possi bi lity of truth that is artistic.
10 art and
irreducible to other truths, but I also discussed the possibility of a self-knowledge truth
TIle two relate but
but:m:
situation. The
are not the same. An artistic
that can occur from the same silualion.
sel f-knowledge truth inform each other.

complcmcntasy or
truth and a self-knowledge
other, but are never complementary
irreducible to each other. Even though I adopted Badiou's
Badiou' s arguments about the truth
205
take these argUlTlCllts
arguments one further step by arguing that aII selfpossible 10
to ()C(:UJ
occur in art, I[take
knowledge truth is like IIa reflection of the body in the
lIw: mirror. Specifically, when I1 look at
the mirror,
what I see is a self_knowledge
self-knowledge truth. It is IIa truth that
mirTOr, whatl
thai occurs
OCGW"S based on my
conceptions of the way I look, my wishes of the way II would like to look,
look. my knowledge
the body. At the
of how other people
prople look, and my understanding of the physical form of
orthe
is specific 8Ild
and unique to my
same time,
time. the reflection
refle<.:tion itself is like an artistic truth. It
It;s
body as IIa structure (work).
Furthermore,
Furthermore. in the development of his philosophy, Badiou
S adiou rarely
ran:ly discusses
diso.;usses what
happens in the relationship between the spectator and the work of art or in the
relationship between the artist and the work. Such relationships were des<.:ribed
described by
Merleau-Ponty
ofPerception
Merleau_Ponly in his Phenomenology
Pherwmenologyo/
Perception (1962/2004).
(196212004). For Merleau-Ponty
Me rleau_Ponty
truth occurs as
a meaning, or interpretation,
lIS II
interprctlltion, that the spectator
gpcctolOr ascribes
ascribc3 to
\0 the object. In a
II
way, he claims that truth is not
way.
IlOt necessarily in the work itself but in the viewer's
viewer' s
CQrujCiousness.
11 comes from the inside to the outside. He says:
consciousness. It
The miracle of oonsciouo;ness
consciousness consists in its bringing 10
to light, through
attention, phenomena which re-establish
r!:-establish the unity ooff the object in a new
dimension at the very moment when they destroy it. Thus attention is
images. nor the return to itself
itse lf of thought already
neither an association of images,
object which
in control of its objects, but the active constitution ooffaa new ohject
Wltil then presented as no more
makes explicit and articulate what was until
indetenninalc horizon. At the same time as it
il sets allention
attention in
than an indeterminate
momenl recaptured and placed once more in
motion, the object is at every moment
il. (Merleau-Ponty, 1962/2004,
196212004, p.35)
p.J5)
a SUIte
state ooff dependence on it.
oot fully agree with Merleau-Ponty's
Merlcau-Ponty 's philosophy of phenomenology
Even though I do not
either, I propose a combination oflhose
IWO philosophies,
philosophies. of
ofBlIdiou
Merleau-Ponty .
of those two
Badiou and Merleau-Ponty.
So. I would argue like Alain Badiou that
thaI the work is a structure in the situation of art.
art, and
So,
then: is a possibility for an artistic truth

troth to occur. This is a truth
troth that
thaI is
in this situation there
206
WQrk. Viola's works have aIi different

different!ruih
Hwnilton's, and each
unique 10
to each work.
truth than Hamilton's,
work by Viola
VioLa has its
ilS own artistic truth that is different from the truth that might occur in
another work by Viola. At the same time
lime though, based on Merleau-Ponty's
Merlcau-Ponty's philosophy
of phenomenology, I would argue that in the relationship between a work of art and a
SpecUlor
po$sibility for a self-knowledge truth.
troth.
spectator there is a possibility
More specifically, the works of Viola, Hamilton and Anderson

Andef$(lo create spaces that
beca"'" they respond
are contemplative and spiritual, not because
bet:ause they refer to a deity or because
10
ioon. Instead they are spiritual because they
!hey
to any type of religion, like the Byzantine icon.
present the possibility of self-knowledge

s.elf-knowledge truth (a truth that
thai relates to the knowledge of
could argue ofoourse
of course that modem art also presents such possibility,
one's self). One could!U'gue
possibility. but
this is simply illusive. During modernity, the avant-gardes
avantgartles were deeply concerned with
establishing a new form of
ofart
thai would question either itself
itselfor
art that
or the society around it.
tJanSfomJatioo of the concept of an
thougll the avant-gardes allowed for the transformation
art and our
Even though
relationship
relationsltip with
willt art forever, they
lItey forgot to allow for a space of contemplation.
If we can agree that it began with
willt Data, surrealism
sum:alisrn was, in the first place, a
revolt: against World War I, against the society responsible for it, against
the art establishment - not the pompier painters
longer, but the newly
painteJlllonger,
established establishment - and particularly against the
lite "return
''return to order"
noted in French
f rench painting in the 1920s.
19205. When the revolt went farther,
farther. it
turned against art, against the work, and, in the end, against life [[...]
... ]
(Besan~n,
(Besan90n, 2000, p.322)
Modern art enclosed itself
ilSClfin
Modem
in its own defined categories and never managed to
escape. That is one of the reasons for which a classification of modernity into different
artisti .. movements is easily done, whereas it aappears
ppears more diffi
.. ult to define
artistic
difficult
contemporary art. Contemporary an

art seems to be all and nothing
nollting at the same time,
lime,
oontemporary
Wlproblematic.
without having a oommon
common narrative that would make its own definition unproblematic.
207
of art in this
thi~ exact difficulty, but this is a rather ridiculous
Many identified the end ofan
journey as a homecoming, I would say that
assertion. Following the previous thesis of aajoumey
JI() cnds
final destinations, but only
in contemporary art there arc
are no
ends or deadlocks or fmal
beginnings.
worts of Viola, Hamilton and Anderson could never
IICver possibly provide
provilk a
The works
art. for they are

arc limited to their own artistic
anistic truths
general undeTstanding
understanding of contemporary art,
absolute!>Css. However, there
then: is no
and they are indifferent towards any definition of absoluteness.
need for such generality, for this would

!>Ced
woul d simply come in opposition to the above argument
argwnent
of the lack of dead ends. After all, my allemploore
attempt here is not to understand the world (for
thaI, like any absolute, is simply impossible) but rather the world's specifics. I[am
that,
am not
sean::hing for an unequivocal definition of contemporary an
art as this or that, but I rather
searching
chose to leave art

own mystery. Any attempt for generalizations would falsely take
an in its 0\\011
tak.e
character, as exposed by the
away the eharm
charm of contemporary art's
art 's whimsical eharacter.
too previous
presentation of the three artists.
Additionally, the tendency of contemporary art for beginnings is what makes this
space: of possible artistic truths and
art to be a pedagogy. In their virtuality - that is in the space
~ One would need here to
self-knowledge truths - these works are "educational."
educational." 54
of
distinguish between the didactic and the educational, for a misleading comprehension of
these works as didactic is possible to occur. The three artists, as many others, create a
work
work. ofan
of art with certain intentions. Even the Dadaists, who strived for art that had no
00
pre-determined intentions, failed
pre-detennined
fai led their goals because nothing
II()thillg can ever begin without
I\() intention. The modernists in general,
certain intentionality; theirs was the intention of no
like the Byzantines,

By7JUltines, were searching for a message to be transmitted
\r1ulsmilled through their art.
Chapter III.
"54 Reference in 0Iapter
lit.
208
This was their main intention. In both the works of the avant-gardes and the religious
religiouo;
iconography of the Byzantine
BY-L.aIItine Empire there was a narrative
na.mttive that
thaI needed to
10 be
to the spectator.
communicated from the
thc artists,
artists. to the work, 10
spe<:lator. Thus, the spectator was
presented with the finitude
lelos of
ofaa presented narrative.
finilude and the
lhe 11'/0$
In contrast,
contrast. Viola,
Viola.. Hamilton, and Anderson, even though they all begin with
intentions,
inlentions, these have nothing to do with their spectators. Instead their works are mostly
an esoteric O!ploration
exploration that does not immediately address any third agents. Within the
spectator from the narrative
disclosure of the spe<:1ator
namttive of the work/artist and the intimate relation
of the
tile contemporary artist to his or her work, the
tile viewer is left in wonder. She is once
ora
a pre-fixed meaning or
again presented with absence. This time is an absence of
narrative that (>a priori allows the spectator
spectalor to playfully participate in the construction of
the work's
sense the absence
of a narrative,
work '~ story.
~tory. In a $Cn,.;
ab3Cnce ofa
Il4mIlivc, is always
al_ys filled
fil llXI with possibility
and as such this absence is always virtual.
Summary
SumlDary
In this chapter I looked at the work of three contemporary American artists: Bill
"Their work is a manifestation of a new

r>CW era in
Viola, Ann Hamilton and Laurie Anderson. Their
art when artists no
an
roo longer work in a single medium but they are instead fusing in their
work
work elements from other disciplines. 11le$e
These artists are simultaneously poets,
philosophers, scientists.,
resear<:hers. This is certainly not
IIOtto
scientists, engineers, and researchers.
to assume that
we are falling back in past arguments that wish for an
art to finally be considered as
Ihis is simply to
10 reveal that
thaI art is never excluded
philosophy or science. On the oontr1lry,
contrary, this
from the life of the anist.
artist.
209
worts presented in this chapter share similarities in the issues they

Also, the works
choose to address oorr better yet to question. llIese
!hat relate to personal
These are issues that
memories. loss,
Joss, death, absence, inside and outside, history and its representation, and the
memories,
relationship between language and art. However, the ways in which they approach these
tile artistic process is always personal the intentions of these

issues differ. Even though the
W(lrt. is contemplative and personal
JICTSOnal and it
il becomes a reflection
artists differ. Bill Viola's work
oflhe
illdividual journey towards the experience of the work
won. and the question that
of the artist's individual
ilmise,
10 provide. Ann Hamilton's work
workl1uctuates
it
raises and/or the lInswers
answers that it has to
fluctuates
het,,-eo;:n her inner-self

innersclfand
finds herself working in. She is
between
and the community in which she fmds
often present
pre$C1li but not always immediately ready to COffimlUlicate
communicate with her viewers. Laurie
Andenoll
10 interact with her audiences.
Anderson is always present in her work and always ready to
lends 10
aller her works while these are taking place, instigating an intentional
She tends
to alter
conversation with the spectators.

sp(X:taton. Overnlllhough.
Overall though, in the examination of these works it
becomes apparent, as Hamilton
Ilamilton eloquently puts it, that
thai "the work
wmk evolves out
OUI of the
questions" (CoITey,
(Coffey, 2001, p.23).
necessity of questions~
Finally, the witnessed transformation
contempOrary art from being
bo:ing
InInsformation of the artist of contemporary
of Byzantine iconography) into
author (whi,.h
(which was the =
case ofmodemity
an authof
of modernity and ofBYllunine
inlo being IIa
reader, it
reader.
il changes the nature of the image. The image ceases being
bo:ing didactic,
didactic. and it
il
becomes pedagogy. In the fmal
attempt 10
to further discuss art
final chapter
chapler of this study
siudy IJ will allempl
context of what
as pedagogy,
pedagogy. within the conlexl
whal has already been discussed so far, bringing this
study into
il begun, and into
inlo a closure.
siudy
inlo a full circle, back where it
210
Chapter VI
CONCLUSION: ON EDUCATION
EOUCAnON
gnilT/ed surface, water

waler and Ifeel ilS
And here art
are trei'S
trees ami
and IJ know lheir
their gnarled
its
taste.
ofgrass and start
lasle. These scents a/grass
)"Iarl at night,
nighi. certain
cerlain evenings
evtning$ when the
hearl relare$
heart
relaxes - how .shall
shall I ,..,gatt
negate Ih;~
this world whose power and strength I
feel? Yet
rei all 1M
asslUe me thai
fiel?
the knowledge on earth will give me nothing to assure
that
this
world
is
mine.
You
describe
it
to
me
Ihis
mine. YOII
ii/a nu and
aN/you
you teach
leach me to
/0 classify it.
il.
You "numerate
enumerate its
laws and in my Ihirstfor
thirstfor knowledge I admit
that they
YOII
il$law$
admit/hal/hey
are true.
lroe. You take
lake IIp(lFI
mechonis1n$ and my hope increases. At
Allhe
apart its mechanisms
the
jillOl
lhal this
'his wondrous
w{Hldrow; and mlli/i-c%wed
you teach me that
multi-coloured universe
final Sl(lgt!
stage you/each
the owm
atom and lhal
that lhe
the atom itselfcan
can be reduced to
/0 lhe
itself COn be reduced 1to
0 the
lhe
electron. All this is gcxxl
wailfor you to
/0 continue. But
BUI)-'111
good and I waitfor
you /ell
tell me
system in which electroM
electrons gravitate
on an invisible planetary
p/ane/(uy ~s/em
graviwle around a
mu:leus. You explain this
Ihis world to
10 me with an image. I realize then that
{hill
nucleus.
)'011
shoJI never
never.brow
[,.-1
you have been reduced 10
to poetry: I shall
know [...]
194212005, p.18
- Albert Camus, 1942/2005,
Albert Camus best describes the uncertainties of knowledge when it comes to
understand the world, since mere knowledge or reason can tell us nothing about the world
in which we live. As
A5 he
lie asserts,
asserts. there is nothing in knowledge
Irnowledge that
thai can provide us with
the awareness of the mysteries of the world, or all the things that are better understood
uodcrstood
through sense. He is
then asking how one can feel a world as his own,
istllen
0....11, if he has no means
of conquering this world. In away,
II way, knowledge becomes like a proper name, and in the
not only signifies but also ClItegorizes

categorizes the world. Such act inevitably
act
aCI of naming, one
one: 001
results in authority but
bul not necessarily
nea:ssarily in understanding. In
10 mere knowledge one is left
an unknown world. In IIa similar way, this dissertation has argued that
with ao
lhal art
an cannot be
of philosophy or epistemic knowledge,
explained by means of
Irnowledge, for that
thaI would immediately
immediato:ly
'"
211
art's autonomous nature. When philosophy presents us with an answer to the

negate an's
questions ofan
an.: cltplained
of art and when the mysteries ofan
of art are
explained by rational thought then art
unavoidably falls within IIa categorization. Art's
An's explanation outside of its
ill! own space,
po;>tcnliality and thus assigns aII certain end, II
limits art's potentiality
a Ie/os
te/os to it. If philosophy acts like
a name, it acts like knowledge - it becomes IIa fixed and dead understanding of the world
that in its certainty presents us simply with problems.
prCI:<imity ofthis
wori<. I1 have attempted to present
prescnt the relationship between
In the proximity
of this work,
art and philosophy in the consideration of the relationship between art and truth
(ruth (and vise
\0 come 10
lICCOunt of art. Following Alain Badiou's philosophical
versa) only to
to aII new account
ILave tried 10
tlLal is filled
fi lled with its
thoughtl
thought I have
to remain as faithful as possible to a space oran
of art that
own potential: this is what I have called virtuality. Here
H~ IJ will return to the term in order
10
~stablish the previously made argument that in the potential space for art, an
to re-establish
art can be
~ause it
il teaches,
teaches. or because it can be IIa teachers' tooltool - for that would
pedagogical. Not because
defeat the whole purpose of this work

won. to speak ofllle
ofart's
polCnlial to
lo attain its
ilS
of the unity of
art's potential
truth. Rather,
of its potentiality 10
to always
own !ruth.
Rather. art becomes pedagogical exactly because ofilS
be free of e~planation.
Ihat
explanation. Similar to Camus, we only need to be left in poetry and agree that
we shall never know.
A Return
Rnum to the
tbe Virtual
Virtu.l
of art
In this work I have tried to establish the notion
IlOtion of virtuality in the potential ofart
to P""'sent
present its own artistic truth and this was negotiated
negotialed based on the philosophical
phi losophical thought
of Alain Badiou. Badiou e~presses

expresses his conviction that
thaI we need to look at art outside
oUlSide of
aesthetics. He proposes
of art that is i1l(WSI!relic.1IOrding
inaesthetic, according to which a
proprn;es a consideration ofart
212
work of art is understood in non-aesthetic terms, and places art in isolation from a series
of exclusions that philosophical considerations
CQnsideJ1'ltions of it require.
rcquin:. He
lie argues:
~inaesthctics" I understand a relation
n:lation of philosophy to an
art that,
By "inaesthetics"
tum
maintaining that art is itself a producer of truths, makes no claim to turn
object for philosophy. Against aesthetic speculation.
speculation,
art into an objoct
inaesthetics describes the strictly intraphilosophical effects produced by
the independent existence of some works of art. (Badiou, 2005, p.O)
o f art as aesthetical is the

As Bernstein (1992) argues correspondingly, UThe
"The experience of
experience of art as having lost or been deprived of its power to
10 speak the truth -
whatever truth will mean when no longer defined in exclusive ways" (p.4). Plato and
Ileidegger and Kant,
Kant. always present
presenl an
wilh
Aristotle, and even the romantics like Hegel, Heidegger
art with
presenl art as the
a limit, for they exclude it from being able to have its own truth. They present
place where
absolute truth is either resembled or signified.
when: the absolule
I,
at art in its own right. Cenainly,
Certainly, I am not
nOI an
I. like Badiou, attempted
atlempted to look al
oot attempt to
10 break pre-determined
pre-dctennined notions of
Dadaist. and thus I did not
anarchist like the Dadaist,
art. Instead, I wish to add an alternative point of view to the ones already existing. Of
course, I am awan:
one. a fixed
aware of the possibility of this view to also become a fixed one,
natwal and eexpected
xpc<;ted fate of each constructed narrative. In a
understanding, as this is the natural
similar way to
10 history, when events are
an:: ascribed a certain order they immediately lose
their original existence..
existence, since they now belong to History. Also, I am aware of the
non-philosophica1
paradox of using philosophical thought in order to construct a non-philosophical
10 keep in mind that my philosophical arguments do
consideration of art. So, one needs to
not
oot aim to
k> transform art into philosophy. Where I failed to
10 do so, I ascribed this to
n:sult of art's
to do so, I believe it to be the result
art' s
limitations of language. Where I succeeded 10
213
autonomy. It is expected for such limitations to be encountered, as it is impossible to
present or substitute all the silences and mysterious "words"

'"words" of art with speech or writing.
Within this autonomy.thc
autonomy, the unity ofart
of art is re-established. Modernity and abstract
paintings attempted to revive this unity in the presented sspirituality
pirituality of the lack of any
Ry7.antines. In the case
ease
identifiable reality.
reality, resembling the religious iconography of the Byzantines.
of the latter,
latter. spirituality was achieved in the conviction of absoluteness, the essence of
A.fter all, it was in the universality of the
which the icon was capable of presenting. After
absolute that
thai the construction of social equilibrium was also achieved. However,
However. both
wen: caught by the same aporia. In their attempt for

modernity and the Byzantine icons were
ainu - religious oorr not - that drove them), they
the unity ofan
of art (regardless of the initial aims
both remained fully discursive, failing to look at

art as autonomous.
al an
aulonomous. Even though,
though. one
that the Byzantines did not
art, this is only true
could argue thaI
nol aim to present an autonomous an.thb
BY'tantil\e$ did not aim to free art
an from discursive
to a certain eXlent.
extent. Indeed the Byzantines
philosophy, but they did aim 10

to free the icon from individual narratives and aesthetic
considerations. 10eir
pu.rpose was of COUJ5C
Their purpose
course to maintain the icon as a pure form that
So. even if their goals were

"'<'re far distinct
distillCl from the
could potentially present the divine. So,
avant-garde, the Byzantines still targeted art
ones of the modernist avant-garde.
an as isolated from taste,
aesthetic judgment, or logical thought.
A.utonomous an
Autonomous
art does not assume that art has become its own institution. One
/e/Q.J because a priori
priO'i it requires
J"e(juires to be
needs 10
to be careful here. Any institution presents a telos
established in a spe<:ific
certai n rules and thus it also presents a correct
COl"TCCt way
specific S~
structure and certain
of thinking that is contained in TlItionaJity.

rationality. In away,
art, as an institution would pose its
a way, an.
own end 011
fOWld it necessary to
10 turn
tum to
10 the term
tenn virtuality.
virtualily. In a
on itself. This is why I found
214
vlrfuallty is essential in preventing
discussion whose scope is an's
art's autonomy and unity, virtuality
art from losing its mystery and unique character. More specifically, I tried to argue that
anything that is virtual escapes reality as the
(he intelligible narrative and presents reality
real ity as
or disguised
one of potential. This allows for things to
10 be inverted,
inverted. extended, vanished,
vanished. ordisguised
and allows for art 10
to maintain its mischievous and unique character. Additionally,
virtuality
as potentiality,
so free from fixations,
~irfualily II!l
potentiality. and :so
fixations. allows for a creative understanding
UIlderstanding
alllhc
which is after all
the only way one should be thinking of art.
This takes us back to the argument

argwnenl that
thai art is pedagogicalpedagogical - Badiou's fourth
schema nfllie
of the relationship between art and truth. According 10
to this schema.
schema, art presents aII.
art., like the hysteric, challenges
situation in which a truth might oa;ur,
occur, because art,
nly to allow for something new to
10 occur,
oe<:ur.
knowledge. Art breaks fixed ways of thought oonly
and this cannot but be a truth - a truth that
thai is internal
intemalto
lilt, for
fOT it
il occurs in its situation,
to art,
and unique to art,
art. for it belongs only to art and is irreducible
im:ducible to other truths.
troths. This truth
troth is
not
oot knowledge, because knowledge is always static. On the contrary, an
WI artistic truth, as
Wly
fOn::<: and in intuition, in imagination and in
any other truth, is dynamic: it QC(;UfS
occurs with force
perception, and when this truth QC(;UfS

occurs it can only surprise and overwhelm knowledge.
To use Maxine Greene's
Greene 's words, a de-Jamiliarization and
WId a transfiguration occurs when
such a truth occurs.

ligures, no
Nothing is proven by the rules governing the grouping of the figures,
10 some logical conclusion
reasoned hypothesis can guide the spectator to
[ ... J. I[ am suggesting that,
that. if we
with regard 10
to what the painting means [...].
know at least enough to
there may
10 notice what is there to
10 be noticed, [...
[ ... ]]lhere
IlUIy
joumey through it by acts
be (as the picture opens more and more, as we journey
of vision) a transfiguration
transliguration and a defamiliarization of el<perience
experience and of
the visible world. (Greene.
(Greene, 1983-2005,
p.5)
1983-200S, p.S)
215
John Dewey similarly claimed that it is the function
fWlCtion of
of1ll1'lo
art ''to break through the
conventionalized and routine consciousness" (as cited in Greene, 1995, p.21).

crust of oonventionalizcd
p.2 1).
lser ((1980)
1980) had also noticed the potential of the novel, as a work ofarl,
Wolfgang Iser
of art, to not
only break fixed sets of knowledge but also to present us with multiple meanings.
Virrualily. as I(aimed
Virtuality,
aimed to prescnt
present it in this study, always remains in this potential inbetween space that is filled with the proorismos
proorismo$ - the dynamic predisposition towards a
creative process. Virtuality
Virruality is not
n<JI. a condi
tion like actuality and it is certainly not the
condition
opposite of it either. So, in a way, art's potential
potcntial for its own artistic truth assumes
asswncs a space
vinual. It is virtual,
vinual. not because we
where this can happen and this space is always virtual.
cannot experience it,
it. or because it is unreal, but instead because it is filled with potential.
potentia!.
unity .
At the end, this is what achieves art's unity.
an is also pedagogical, in IIa way we also affIrm
affum
If we now agree that a potential art
By:cantine iconography
iCQrlOgraphy or
art are more pedagogical than Byzantine
that contemporary works of an
modem art, because they foster such potential in a far more
man: extended degree. Even
of art - since a personal

though their tendency
endangers the unity
tendenc:y towards
toW3Jds individualism endangcrs
Wlity ofart
narrative can pose an end to the narrative or truth of
art - contemporary works, often
oran
manage to remain more open than previously presented works. Specifically,
Sr-ifically, when it
iCQrlOgraphy, the unity
Wlily that is achieved in the universality of
comes to Byzantine iconography,
spirituality is lost in the constructed narrative of religion. When it comes to modem art,
the universality thaI

that the artists
anists so intensely sought out is lost in their discourses
disoourses that
ended up being as rigid as the ones they fought against.
art instead presents us with a void that is similar to Badiou's void.
Contemporary an
In the space of their work, contemporary anists

artists most often present an indifference
216
towards didacticism. They are not looking to teach us or challenge anything other than
themselves. ThUll,
Thus, when art becomes a process ofself-e:<ploration,
of self-exploration, it ceases to be
didactic. In
[n the oolltnl(lictory
$Uddenly not
nol
contradictory schema of oontemporary
contemporary art, individualism is suddenly
presenting an
art with aII Ie/OS
te/os but rather with aII beginning -an arche. In the lack of any
didactic references, contemporary art is left with a space, a void that

thaI can be filled
lilled with
imagiBation. This recalls of Samuel Beckett's Waiting/or
Wailingp Godot.
GoOOI. In Beckett's play
imagination.
Estragon and Vladimir, two vagabonds, are caught in a desperate but well defended
thaI of waiting for Godot. Godol
pattern: that
Godot is a character about which we know nothing
the play. The repetitive act of waiting,

and it remains like that until the end of
orthe
wailing. day after
day, without ever having

1IIIVing the resolution of Gooni'
Godot'ss presence leaves the viewer in wonder
but it also allows her to imagine.
ESTRAGON: He should be here.
VLADIMIR: He didn't say for sure he'd come.
ESTRAGON: And ifhe doesn't come?
VLADIMIR: We'll come back tomorrow.
ESTRAGON: And then the day after tomorrow.
VLADIMIR: Possibly.
ESTRAGON:
on.
ESTRAGON: And so 011.
VLADIM IR: The point

poinl isVLADIMIR:
... ]
ESTRAGON: Until he oomes.
comes. ([...]
VLADIMIR:
think.
VLADIM IR: He
lie said Saturday. ((pause.)
Pause.) I[think.
ESTRAGON:
ES"ffiAGON: You think.
VLADIMiR: I must have made a note of it. (He fumbles in his pockets, bursting
burstiog
VLADIMIR:
with miscellaneous rubbish.)
217
ESTRAOON: (vel)'
[s it not
ESTRAGON:
(very insidious). But what Saturday? And is it Saturday? Is
rnthcr Sunday? (Pause.)
.. . ]
rather
(pause.) Or Monday? (Pause.) Or Friday? [[...]
What'li we do?
VLADIMIR: What'll
[fhe carne
yol,l may be
be: sure he won't
came yesterday and we weren't here you
ESTRAGON: Ifhe
come again today.
VLADIMIR: But you say we were here yesterday.

ESTRAGON: I may be mistaken. (Pause.) Let's
stop talking for a minute, do you
Lei's SlOp
mind?
(Beckett, 1952/n.d.,
(Ik<:kett.
1952/n.d" Act I)
Godol for it allows its spectator

speo;:tator to
10
In a similar manner, contemporary art is like Godot
lake this further, then one could say that the spectators of
imagine. If one wants to take
contemporary an
estrBl'1ged from
art are like Vladimir and Estragon. We, as spectators, are estranged
~Irue" narrative
namtlive of contemporary art, and we are never to
\0 know anything
the Mactual"
"actual" or "true"
iI, beyond its name as such. But "contemporary,"

~contemporary."li
ke "Godot,"
~Godot.M is a name
more about it,
like
nran
Hence. we are left
[en with a void, an
that tells us nothing about what kind of
art this is. Hence,
empty space that

thaI we can potentially fill with the imagination. After all, like the two
vagabonds
vagaboOOs in Beckett's play, what is important
impoManI is exactly the lack, for it
il is this lack that
allows the two men to live in hope and in expectation. The lack allows forevel)'
for every day - of
one. The
all the days during which
wh ich the two men are waiting
wailing for something - to be a new Ont.
Godol means,
means. would
Godot is, or what Godot
appearance of Godot and the explanation of who Oodot
to the potential that

thai Vladimir and Estragon
Estrngon find themselves in. This
simply pose an end 10
is the same lack that
thai we need to
10 preserve in contemporary art,
art. for this lack
tack is what
transfonns contem
porary art into pedagogy. Specifically, a potential
porential space:,
vinuat
space, a virtual
transforms
contemporary
possibility
space, opens up the possi
bility for things to be imagined as new beginnings that eeven
ven in
218
their repctition
repetition they are JKWef
never the S/UIlC,
same. These are
us, break
1heir
I\[( things that will surprise
SUi'fld~ 1JiJ,
bNak our
such, they cannot but be
fixed knowledge and pre-conceived
p!\XOOcciwd understandings and as snch,
"education
educational. A:;
As Badiou (2005) argues ina
in a corresponding
educatkmal.
COl'reSjXloolng manner: "educalitm
(save its oppressive or perverted expressions) has never meant anything but this: to
arrange the forms of knowledge in snclt
such II
a way that some truth may come to pierce
armnge
pieroe a hole
in them" (p.9).
Figwe 69tJw Incredulity

fm:redIJl!(v oj
Figure
69. Camvaggio.
Caravaggio, The
of
St. Thomas,
1601-2
SI1iwmas, 1001-2
Figwc 70.
Iff Christ, Medallion from
from an
Figure
icon fume,
frame, Byzantine,
1000
Uyllll:l:l.irn:. 1100
J 100
('AQlVagg:kl'll incredible
incredihle painting
;minting The Incredulity
1l1fJ(tdulilya(St
60! -2)
Caravaggio's
olSt. Thomas (!
(1601-2)
(Hgurc69)
m;pIl!1Se to Sl
Thrnnas' disbelief]n
(Figure
69) is a response
81. Thomas'
disbelief in Christ's resurrection, a$
as this is
deS!hcd
T'h<:Jmw!, after Christ"
described in the S<:cipturos.
scriptures. St
81. Thomas,
Christ'sfi enoourngemeut,
encouragement, ~hcs
reaches oot
out to
of the erucifixion.
crucifixion. CamVaggiO'fi
Caravaggio's realistic
representation
touch
wounds, ~cnt
reminiscent oithe
tfmch the wourut;"
n:nlhtie ft~\lll
of the scene, us
as Thomas' finger
Christ's flesh is shocking. Th
The
ofthe~
fmger pushes
~ through <-1nist's
spectator is captured by the ffiIlity
reality of the moment and she keeps her
spcctatoc
hct breath waiting for
fot
Thomas to dedI\[(
bis faith. What is
i~ most
fIlO5I. important
importanllfwugh
declare his
though abmrt
about this paintiog
painting is the
ByLantine icon on
em the right {Figure
representation of Christ. Contrnry
Contrary to the Byzantine
(Figure 10),
70),
b\!ffiWl being and the
th<; rtengnitioo
Christ b
is portrayed as simply IIa human
recognition ofits
of its divine nature
rests ooJy
tJ:JQ Wiist's
way, the
tl:m painting escapes
~ its illlnWdi.ntc:
immediate relation
re!ati.o:o
only in the
artist's lllU'ffltive.
narrative. In aa 'way,
Caravaggio's 'W!}fk
work ru:
or the title oithe
of the piece,
to the scriptures. If
ff one is not aware of
ofCamvaggin's
piece. then
th.m
the wwk
religiou.~ painting.
;mintills> In
Iu the
tl:m case ofthe Byzantine icon,
icon.
work CI!II
can be anything but a religious
though, one k:nows.
knows, indefinitely
indefInitely and unqu.:stiooably
unquestionably that the presented
theugh,
prcscut>!d figure is of au
divine nature.
na:rore.
wa
219
~ooth i ngnessH presents us with
wilh. something.
We return once again to the idea that "nothingness"
As IJ have already argued in the discussion about Byzantine iconography,

iconograph.y, the void is IIa
political silence and part of the iconic economy of the production of the icon. In the
abseJJ(:c
ioon presents a presence.
pre5e1lCe. In the works
absence presented in the gol(\en
golden background, the icon
Viola, Ann Hamilton and Laurie Anderson the absence is one of
of Bill Viola.
ofaa unified
narrative
narmtive that simply emphasizes the presence of a very personal story that only belongs
to the artist. The spectator

sptttator of contemporary art is often left with wonder.
However. what a work means is nowadays often confused

oonfu:iCd with the question
que51ion of
However,
art's validity. It has been argued that the lack orany
of any purpose or meaning, and the
exaggeration or exploitation of notions and ideas,
ideas. as well as materials, brings us to
10 an art
thai is dead (Geulen, 2006).
2(06). In her book The
TIre End of
Ari. Eva Geulen (2006) discusses a
that
ofArt,
nwnber of different authors,

authors. including Hegel, Nietzche
Nietzdl<.: and Adorno,
Adorno. who
woo have asserted
number
ilS end. For instance
il\S1ancc she argues that,
that art is moving towards its
Adorno's aesthetic theory unfolds

Wlfolds its stem aporetic
aporclic between a good,
utopian end and the false demise of an;
art; between the ideal ora
of a reconciled
J"e)rK':iled
$O(:iety
$O(:iety
society that no longer has need of art and the distorted reality of a society
inating art has banished the last trace of the individual.
that in elim
eliminating
(Geulen, 2006, p.90)
So, indeed many have argued - and still do - that art is currently either dead or is
approaching its end, because everything can count as art. I would respond with an
US with is whether
arrogant, "So what?". llle
The only problem the abnve
above proposition poses us
~ogical. Probably not. So, at
al the end.
il seems that we get
end, it
everything can also be pedagogical.
10 define what is pedagogical we

caught into a cycle of non-sense, for in our attempt to
return back to zero in order to define what art
an is. I would argue that the latter is simply
220
an irre[cvwlI
irrelevant question, and it is the assUJnal
assumed necessity of this question that
thai dissolves art's
an's
_ feel
fed obliged to
10 name
BWlle art
an as something that makes sense.
unity, because once again we
In order to resolve this I return to
\0 the
me notion of virtuality. If
!faa work presents me
find "something" in its

ilS space,
space. then this is art, and if this is art
an then it
il
with the potential to fmd
is also
abo pedagogical,
pedagogical. because it
il allows me 10
~SQmething." Certainly, I understand
to find "something."
bUlthis
thaI I[like.
Nevertheless. this
this time it is Ii
a cycle that
like. Nevertheless,
that Ir cllClose
enclose my self in a cycle, but
prc:scnlS us with 8l1{)ther

~something", which IJ find in the potential
presents
another question: What is this "something",
art? As
chapters, this "something"
space of an?
ru presented in previous chaplers,
"oornclhing" could be aIi selfknowledge
The two are different. Even though we have
knowkdge truth and/or an artistic truth. 1be
ask. puzzled,
puxded, how selfalready distinguished knowledge from truth, <me
one could easily here ask,
troth - since being knowledge - can also be a truth.

trulh. A self-knowledge truth is
knowledge truth
sclHnowledge truth
lruth has to do with
discernibly different than knowledge or episteme. A self-knowledge
self and irreducible to other truths. It is
our self-understanding and thus
thll$ it is unique to
10 the selfand
also distinguishable from an artistic truth
lruth even though the two might be related. It
11 is in
this argument that I find the deepest pedagngical
pedagogical implications. The assertion that aa work
has the potential for its own truth is probably an obvious one by now, but that the
lhe work
fnr the potential to

10 realize something about the soul, needs
neIs further eltaminalion.
allows for
examination.
A! We Imagine
Im agine an Interpretation:
Interp R tat;on: A Stu
dent of
of Art
Student
As
In these darkened rooms, where I spend
oppressive days,
days. I pace to and fro
to
10 find the windows. -- When a window
opens, it will be a consolation. --But the windows cannot be found, or I[ cannot
find them. And maybe it is best that I do not find them.
Maybe the light will be a new tyranny.
Who knows what new things it
il will reveal.
221
(Cavafy,1992, p.14)
(Cavafy,I992,
Cavaf)r is presenting us with the dilemma of
In his poem Windows ((1903),
1903), Cavafy
opening windows. As he asserts, the light coming from the opening of a window can
potentially cause a distress,

distress. as he does not know what this opening will bring to his life.
The poem becomes a metaphor of the potential
of art to be pedagogical,
lbe
potenlial ofart
pedagogical. by opening a
window to
art
\0 new things and new understandings.
undentandings. Again, I am not here to propose that an
is there to teach us something, 10
to engage us in a lesson with a beginning and an end.
However,
time I reached a self-knowledge truth in the space of
However. I can never forget the fIrst
fll"Sttime
art and the resulted aston

astonishment
ishment this event left me with.
I was nineteen and I was taking a
foundations class in a private art school, on
fotmdations
the side of my undergraduate studies. In
our weekly art theory
lectures, the
one of 0lU"
tbc:ory lc.:lures,
instructor showed works of Sherry Levine
and posed the question whether her work is

art. I looked at the photographs and I
roshed 10
lie looked at
al
rushed
to respond positively. He
me for a second
5CCOnd before he posed another
question. ""What
tell you that her
What if!
if [tell
Figure 71. Sherry Levine,

EwlU Nol,
A/lu Walker Evans
After
No2, n.d.
anistsr Many of my classmates burst into

inlO
pictures are photographs of works of other artists?"
laughter thinking that this was the most brilliant of ideas. I looked around, I am sure with
a bedazzled look on my face and a grimace that only signaled my disdain, clearly
ofbri
Lliance.
opposed to the idea of
brilliance.
222
lIS they stared back
bac k at me in siieoce,
I remember looking at the pictures as
silence, and I was
certai
n that even if they could speak they would still leave me with simply an ironic
certain
laking pictures of
glare. I(was
was furious with the idea that someone was running around taking
herselfas
artworks, declaring herself
as an artist.
artist, while I was struggling to perfect my drawing
skill
s, never confident enough to create art ofm),
easil y be
skills,
of my own. Apparently, I could easily
nol. Sherry
taking pictures of other people's work too. The fact though is that I[did
did not.
!lOt teach me anything about the world per se, but in my soon
Levine did. Her work did not
short
engagcrtll:nl with it I found a self-knowledge

self.knowledge truth.
\n.Jth. I realized that what I thought of as art
engagement
illOOmpIete and naIVe.
regardl ess ofwhcther
il or not,
nol, did pose a
of whether I liked it
was incomplete
naIve. Her work, regardless
pre-fil<ed notions
ootions that immediately related to
10 who I[
potential for breaking through my pre-fixed
wanted to become as an anist.
artist.
[n aaway,
way, OTIC
al lows
In
one is always a student ofm
of art in the interpretations that one allows
oneselflo
real ly have a dialogue with a work of
ofart.
art, as the
oneself to engage with. I could never really
work will never respond back to me. A dialogue requires two agents in order to occur
and the work is always in sile
silence.
nce . This
lbis is
i$ not
II()t to be confused with Plato's understanding
as si
silent.
because they have no internal
of the arts lIS
lem. Plato believed that
!hat works remain silent becaU!SC
truth. This is far
Car from what I have argued here. The work has its own artistic
anistic truth. I
would
also argue though that the work's
WQuld abo
WQrk '$ silence is necessary
neo:;es.sary for interpretations. As if the
"nothingness" for something to occur, it remains
work is a~
aware of the necessity ooff the ''nothingness''
silent never posing its authority, or its truth, oon
n the spectator. So, in the space
space: of art,
an, the
ngage in a two-way process as the "I"
"I ~
spectator is left with openness and a possibility to eengage
engages with the "selr.
"self'. In this way, art once again becomes pedagogical. Art
An allows for
"I" and the "selr'

"self' to take place and in these reflections
one
those discussions between the ~I"
reflcWons orte
223
CQuid
uuth can occur. However, should one also assume
could assume that a self-knowledge
self~knowledge truth
that these reflexive practices could oo;x;U1

occur in any situation and for anyone?
Of wUf$C,
course, one could argue that as onc
one would not expeo::!
expect a newborn to stand up
and start walking, one would also not expect someone with no prior experience with art
to be engaged in
in a reflexive process. I disagree. The degree in which
"tuctl these processes
occur is expected to be different from person to person

pcnlOn and based on the degree of
is. or at least it needs to be, always democratic. It does

knowledge that one has,
has. But, art is,
potentiaL Such argument is of course
COur.le made
not exclude anyone from its vicinity of potential.
simply based on a conviction that art is indeed open to everyone (for I do not have access
to all the cases of individual interactions with works of
o r art).
an). Maxine Greene (n.d.) argues
that
human eonsciousness
consciousness - reaching beyond itself - QlII
can only be released as it
intersubjeclive ",orld.
devises projects in an intersubjective
world. Yes, it demands the
rediscovery of standpoint, of biography in a lived landscape. It demands
the capacity 10
to uncover, to interpret what is presented, to move out in
order to unveil, constantly 10
to unveil,
to disclose. It
unvei l, 10
II demands the exercise,
It demands the realization
of imagination, provoked
proVl)ked by works of art [[...]
... )11
(p.12)
of the
lhe needs for open spaces. (p.
12)
We can relurn
return back to
to better illustrate this
10 Byzantine iconography in order 10
argument. As previously discussed, the icon
cultural
ioon presents its viewer with a social and cullural
narrative and in the icon's
ioon's space, as well as in the liturgy
lilurgy of the church, one participates
The ways in which I naturally
in the performance of culture. 1be
nalurally come to the space of the
icon
of a country that
ioon (as a native ofa
thaI is Christian Orthodox in its homogeneity) are expected
oomes to it.
il. I have
to be different from the ways in which a Catholic, a Muslim or a Jew comes
no interpretations
The icon tells me a certain
ioon, for I know its story. 1be
aTtain narrative
inlerpretations of the icon,
and I learned 10
icon"s cultural
to repeat it every time I[come
come to it. In a certain way the icon's
224
relevance does not

oot al
low me to have any conversations with my self and as such this
\his
allow
space can never be ofpotcntial.
of potential. However, this is not the case for others who come to the
of the icon. Such examples are artists like Max Ernst (Figure 72) or Marc Chagall
space oflbe
(Figure 13).
73). Their paintings are evidence that the artists have been in a potential and
refle~ivc space while interacting with religious iconography,
ioonography, and which resulted in a
reflexive
creative process.
pnxess
Unwever, while the work oran
However,
of art is charged with the potential of a learning process
for the spectator, we should not
nol neglect to refer to the potential itil enhances for the artists
oontempol"lUy artists Bill

themselves as well. As previously presented in the case of the contemporary
Ilamilton and Laurie Ar>derson,

tile work becomes
bec<:lmes a voyage for
Anderson, the space of the
Viola, Ann Hamilton
et1C(Impasses challenges,
challenges. frustrations,
its artist. The work, in its process of becoming, encompasses
il is in this process that the artist
inspirations and ultimately learning for the artist and it
self_knowledge truth. As mentioned earl
ier in this study.
often comes to a self-knowledge
earlier
study, the work
to be IIa space that is open for contemplation and a oonstanl
constant formation
comes 10
fomUl1ion and
transformation of the understanding of the self, of one's limitations, of one's own
questions. The proximity of the creative process is one of
poiesis, one of making of the
ofpoiesis.
tile
self of the artist,

anist, and as such it is also pedagogical, since it brings forward not knowledge
but truth: a self-knowledge truth.
225
iiJ
Figure
Virgin .9p<mking
Spanking IT.!:
the
Figuro 72.
72~ Max Ernst,
E:tmt, Vlrgi"
Chris>
l1!:roe WfI'lW&!",
! 926
Christ Child ikflffe
Before Three
Witnesses, 1926
Figure 74. Theodocos Hodeghitria,

15th C., Corfu, Greece
Figure
73. .Marc
Marc Chagall, WAiN
White Cruaflldoo,
CrucifIXion,
Figuro n
1938
Figure
CrucifIXion, 1550,
Figun: 75.
75- C~
1550.
Athens,
Greece
A'Ihens,G~
""
226
Edutlhon of Excellence:
Eutllt llce: Virtu(e)ality
Virtu{t )ality of Art
Education
Finally, the study and consideration oran
of an artistic and a personal self-knowledge
()C(:1,lr in the potential space of art <in
virtual ity). brings
bri ngs the notion of
(in art's virtuality),
truth thai
that might occur
lIS original Latin definition of

ofvirllU.
the virtual back 10
to its
virtus. 1be
The latter means strength,
TTl8Illiness,
Vin ualis in Latin designates the potential, what
whot;s
lhe power
po ....er
manliness, virtue. Virtualis
is in the
[virtusj
Nevertheless.
ofthe force. In a way, one could talk about virtuality as virtue. Nevertheless,
[virtus] ofl1reforce.
one should not be oblivious to a possible confusion regarding virtue as morality; that is to
thaI which consists of
the potential for moral
mOT1lI behavior. This
Th is would
think of the virtual as that
ofthe
10 the romantic $Cherna

troth
merely take us back to
schema based on which art reveals an ultimate truth
thaI is external 10
0 the divine or the natural.
naturaL As Illiave
that
to art and relates 1to
have already argued,
isjust
theologicaLconsideration
consideratioll of art within the discourse of
this is
just a romantic and 11a theological
philosophy.
So.
an - as a
So, ripped from aa philosophical strand and shaped by its own potential, art
paideia, what the Greeks thought of as the

situation where truths can occur - becomes paideia.
true education of human beings. Greekpaideia
Greek paideio is the education for wile
arete (virtue) that is
the potential for excellence. Excellence,
does not
score high in
Excellence. docs
nol refer to
10 the ability to
to!lC(lOO
standardize tests,
are described
lests. or to
10 know by heart the events of World history as they an:
descri bed in
textbooks.
eliminate
lextbooks. Such misunderstandings
misWKicrstandings would be disastrous,
disastrous. for they would el
iminate any
potential for a self-knowledge truth. Instead,
Instead. excellence refers to the improvement of the
self through an imaginative act: the creative and constant transformation and questioning
fixed knowledge. Excellence, after all,
measured with numbers, but
all. cannot be
be:!lleaSUUd
bill it
il can
oofffixed
toward:! thought.
be evaluated against an attitude towards
227
an is virtuous not when it is moral or when it presents lIrl

Hence, art
an absolute divine
nature, but instead when it leads to

10 excellence - to the improvement ora
of a way of
o f thought,
and thus to education as it was defined earlier by Badiou.
Badio u. On the one hand, enriched
ways of thinking "arrange the forms

fonns of knowledge in such a way that some truth may
art's space is
occur to pierce a hole in them"
them" (Badiou, 2005, p.9). On the other hand, an's
trotll (artistic and self-knowledge truth)
virtual spe.;ifically
specifically because ooff its potential for a truth
that ultimately leads to virtue, which
whicll is the disposition towards excellence. And
excellence leads to paideia or education,
education. We have indeed enclosed our selve!l
selves in aD cycle.
This can be better explained in the diagram below.
Truths
Event of
ofTrnths
I................
/.---L-------1~
r--oSpace
rCpC
~c-"-'-'Ci~-'Cl
s-,..-''-,I
P::mgOgical
.............
ART
Paideia
Virtuality
....
Potential
Potential
....
....
I .
Education for
Virtue
Vinuallty and Virtue in the Space of Art

An.
Virtuality
An. is the situation where the event of artistic and selfScenario I (Clockwise): Art
knowledge truth occurs. Because of this multiplicity, art becomes pedagogical
pe:d.aj,:ogical in the
Greek sense of
ofpaideia:
Greek
paideia: that which eentails
ntails the education of virtue, as the potential for
excellence. This
lbis potential (or strength) is what was defined as virtuality in the space of
art.
'".
Scenario II (Counlrr-Clockll'm):
(Counter-Clockwise): Virtuality is the space of an
art that is full of potential
for bringing forward an
WI artistic truth. That turns virtuality in its original definition of
paideio the Greek definition of a pedagogical
virtue, which is immediately related to paideia
situation.
228
Certainly, I[ do not
001 delude myself with the assumption
IISSWIlption that suet..
such a theoretical
Wlderstanding o(education
tho: spIX'ifi<;
of education has anything immediate to do with the
specific ways in which
understanding
o(works
an happen. I most
works of art
we learn or with the specific ways in which interpretations of
that I am making a change in the educational system
certainly do not entertain the idea thai
either, by simply proposi

ng that education needs to be the stnIggle
proposing
struggle towards improvement
and towards excellence as a new way of thought. I believe this to
\0 be a well-worn
well-W(lrn
argument that others have already presented before me. However, IJ do hope that
thai in the
agreements and disagreements with
wilh the issues presented here, my work will prove to
10 be
bul rather allows for the elaboration and the
the open space thaI
that does not dictate or teach, but
diroct
a way, as I[ make my allegations I become
direct engagement with the issues at hand. In away,
an agent of thought, wishing to
10 never establish but instead to question. Similarly to Bill
Viola. Ann Hamilton,
Ilamilton, and Laurie Anderson's art, this dissertation also resulted out
OUI nfthe
of the
Viola,
necessity of questions. Thus.
Thus, my study becomes its own example, for in virtuality, in the
~nothing" and the "open"
Mopen" rests the
!he potential
polential and the
!he creative journey.
"nothing"
of an Epilogue
By Way
WlyoraD
I used to dream Ihis
this would be the cnd
end of!hejourncy.
of the journey.
Isn' t this !he
isn' t it strange? Isn't
the way it always is?
But isn't
In my end is my beginning
(MA~, as cited
ciled in Angelopoulos, 1995)
]995)
("A",
This dissertation has been my own Ithaca,

Ithaca. the
thejourney
destinalion but
journey that seeks no destination
simul\alleOusly only relevant
",levanl
simply to find an anislic
artistic truth, irreducible to other truths bul
but simultaneously
to my 0\\011
own research activity, biases, history
culture. However, it is not to assume that
hi story and cu]tucc.
Instead.,]I am hoping that like in any journey this work is

it resists re-configuration. Instead,
multiple ports to which one needs to stop in need for rest. Only to
simply one of the mul1iple
229
begin again the search for something - whatever this might be. Like Odysseus I am
hoping that this
dissertation is
just the beginning for further thought and the staning
starting point
Ibis diSSCTtation
isjust
fai led to pay attention here.
for more in-depth research in the areas that I failed
presenled in my work, but in the process of my writing I
I tried to cherish all ideas presented
realized that this was impossible,
impossiblc, as I had to make choices for the directions II needed to
10
take in each chapter. I told my self that
thaI IJ would try and make it back to those pages that
did. Nevertheless, as I am
seem to be missing my attention, but unfortunately
Wlfonunately I never
ncvcrdid.
reading this work again I realize that there are ideas that derive from my own arguments,
arguments.
r>C(;Cssarily intended to address when I1 begun this
thisjoumey,
that I did not necessarily
journey, but these are
ideas that interest me deeply. These
'These could potentially serve as starting points for further
resean:h:
research:
a) The telos
of Byzantine
of Religious Western
.)
'~/M of
Byualiae Iconography and
. ad the beginning orReligiouJ
Wesltm Art
There is a certain relationship
relationshi p between Byzantine iconography and the work of artists
such as EI Greco and Camvaggio.
work The immense
Caravaggio, which I did not mention in my work.
spirituality of the icon inspired religious paintings and ultimately western art. One should
for
pay attention to the ways in which the Iconoclastic dispute served as the staning
starting point for
a lot of religious imagery that ultimately did not retain the rules
rol es of the church. Instead, it
artist's authority in the creative process.
opens the space for a discussion concerning the arust's
b) Between
iktwftn "ekphrasis"
" dI;pbruis" .and
nd exhegisis"
ubegisis"
Institutions of culture such as museums,

museunu, or institutions of higher education such as
universities. eum:ntly
firtd it easy and most certainly appealing to talk about the lock
universities,
currently find
lack of
230
authenticity in works of art. They refer to the disenfranchisement of art, to an's

art's political
Or
ofart.
art. These are issues that I raised - some
or apolitical character, Or
or even to a new em.
era of
more than others - but I did not
001 succeed in immediately addressing. Without necessarily
ne(:essarily
an is coming to be, I[ fmd

find it
il instead
having the answer about what art is today, and what art
challenging to
10 talk about the discrepancies and implications on art's meaning, as these
arise from the gap between the intentions of the artist and the intentions of the
though,]I
philosopher (as the institution that presents or auempu
attempts to explain art)
art).. Even though,
ofphilosophy,
discuss the
to present art
attempted 10
an outside of
philosophy, it
il seems important to diso:U$.S
art. Further research
contradictions between different interpretations of
nrart.
resean::h needs to be done
expression about art's meaning from the point o(view
of view of the artist as the result of expressionekphra$iS
ekphrasis - and from the point of view of the institution that presents it and attempts to
explain it - exhegl.tis.
exhegisis. Questions sucllas
such as the following could be addressed:
artist's expression or is
strive for an explanation (exhegisis) of the anise's
Should we sirive
expression (ekphrasis) beyond any understanding or complete comprehension?
txhegisis? Can the artists explain

What is the relationship between d:phrlUis
ekphrasis and exhegisis?
their expression or is there a situation in which expression, as

lIS ekphrasis,
ekphrlUis, becomes an
explanation in its own right?
How can we even begin explaining some contemporary conceptual art whose
c1laracter
illCOmprehcnsibility?
character or ekphrasis is exactly its own incomprehensibility?
knowledgc about the artwork - where accurate

How does the lack of"aceurate
of "accurate" knowledge
refers to the understanding

Wldcrstanding of the underlying factors
faclOrs that helped
hclped composing a work lead to a consequential lack of meaning? Or, is there a situation in which the work
231
takes its own space after completion and requests (sometimes requires) no labels of
explanation?
Thee Image
as Commodity:
c) Th
e)
Im age
Co mm od il)': Mythologies of Power
Powe r
An extensive discussion oon
n the historicity of images was presented in this study, aiming
to argue the importance of the historical condition in the structure of the work. I[explored
explored
occurrences that influenced the

the iconic economy and looked at the political and social oo.x:urrenccs
production of the Byzantine icon. However, it seems that
thai there is more space for deeper
and more detailed research and analysis concerning the politics of art. Even
E~n though it
was not within the aims of my dissertation, I find the issue important in understanding
undel"Standing the
place ofar!
of art in the general life of peoples.
peoples. Also,
AI$O, even thought
thought!I briefly referred to the
construction of an truth about the image

imuge based on :tOCialllWTtltivC3
social narratives and on the need for aIl
or conditions.
conditions, that contribute to
unity of life, I did not expand in referring to the reasons Of
abom the
the sllifting
shifting ofan
of an image into a commodity. Within this framework, one can talk about
relationship between art and language, language as a means of authority and power, the
an and advertisement,
advcnisemenl. the relationship between
betWCCllarts
relationship between art
arts and politics.
Pla~ or
Co ntempora ry Art
of Utopia in Contemporary
d) Places
10 the idea of the journey

In this research I have referred 10
to the idea of homecoming and to
usc yet another

using examples from Homer's Odyssey and Angelopoulos films. To use
eltample
Ulysses Gaze" ((1995),
1995), Mastroianni, the female
example from Angelopoulos' film ""Ulysses
character.
border. but here we still are.
art.
character, says in one of the scenes: "We've crossed the border,
n:a<:h home?"
homer' One should further
furt]}er
How many borders do we have to cross before we reach
232
art
examine how the idea of the journey or homecoming is depicted in contemporary an
(visual arts, film, literature)
lite rature) especially in times when we refer to trans-nationalism and
The artiS(
artist Mohini Chandra ((1995)
elimination of geographical boundaries.
boWldaries. llle
1995) says about her
work: "For artists such as myself, this choice of multimedia, in the broadest possible
sense of the word is, I believe, highly indicative of the very fluid and amorphous cuhural
cultural
Cilandra uses photography and film for her

position in which we find ourselves" (p.27).
(p.2?). Chandra
interrogation ooff the histories of migration and the consequential shifting of individual and
cultural identity in a post-colonial
post-rolonial era.
ern. As lIltists
artists move from one country to the other
of force the notion

IlOtion ora
of a national identity,
i(\cntity, as well as the
either voluntarily or by means offorce
II rather
understanding of one's relation to self and others, ceases to be a fixed sign. It
alloW!!
allows for an interpretation, which is based on production of knowledge that is merely
personal and which allows for the desire - or the nostalgia - to define one's identity
unresmcted and fluid space.
within a utopian unrestricted
In cooclusion,
conclusion, these are only some of the issues that one could anticipate being generated
in the framework of this study and they certainly do not compose an exhausted list.
H O\>''CVet, I do hope that my work will be a starting point for further discussions about the
However,
arts. Mostly, I wish for this study to become a valuable guide and the beginning for
funher research.
further
233
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250
'50
APPENDIX I
Vin .... l Reality

Rn lity for Computer
Compllt~r Whizzes
Wbiues
Virtual
The term 'Virtual Reality', coined by Jaron Lenoir in 1986,
1986. has been mainly
associated with late modernity and the beginning of the use or
t:hnologies.
of computer technologies.
However, virtual reality has its beginnings almost thirty years earlier in the invention of
virtual memory (1959), a method of QvclC()ming
overcoming the physical limits of aacomputer's
computer's
architecture by making the machine think it had more random-access
rnndom-lIC<'es5 memory (RAM)
it were its
than it actually did 1.l. The computer would use space on a storage drive as if
ifil
own RAM. This led 10
to the use of the term '''vinuar
''virtual'' for anything involving a computer
[n that sense, the term
tenn "virtual
~virtual reality" was
and which was other than what it seemed. In
archilecture, from the memory of
nfthe
used to refer 10
to the specifics nf
of the computer'
computer'ss architecture,
the
machine,
to
a
machine. 10
of storage, such a floppy disc, that
type o(storage,
thaI is not a physical part of the
computer's active memory but whose contents can easily be transferred
thai from the point of view
of the machine, 50
so that
back and forth to the brain oftlle
of the user this storage behaves as if
it were an integral and permanent
ifil
pennanent part
p,26).
of computer memory (Ryan, 2001, p.26).
With the advent of the Internet and more powerful and inexpensive computers
virtual reality worlds have been also
alSO) closely associated with threedimensional,
three-dimensional,
computer-generated
artificial worlds of
computergenerated environments such as those of video games or the anificial
the World Wide Web. Virtual museums and galleries, sites ofintcractiOll
of interaction like MSN or
Facebook. or sites of
Yahoo Instant Messenger, forums of discussion like My Space and Facebook,
entertainment like iTunes are only few of the examples that make a case for the
transformation of previous types of interaction between humans
hwnans and oomputers.
computers, between
as well as between humans
IlUmans themselves.
humans and the image 8$
imagine the expectations from the Internet as a new form of
One can only imagine:
boundless communication and interaction
bOlmdless
intcraction when this was first made
madc available to a wider
audience of users. During the 1980s people were not simply talking about virtual reality
e><actly because of
worlds but alSO)
also about virtual reality communities that were possible exactly
the nature of the World Wide Web to be infinite and to potentially allow for a certain reenactment of self
sel f through a web of connections that are never hierarchical
hieran:hical or exclusive.
discoUT.'le still remains a text
Iext that often cannot escape
Regardless, of the fact that online:
online discourse
the traditional forms of communication and the assumptions behind them it
il was expected
thai these virtual worlds would negotiate conventional discursive elements and free
that
people from stereotypes or identifications (Punday.
2(00).
(Punday, 2000).
Virtuat Reality in Reality: NASA and US Army
Virtual
Specifically, the term "virtual
tluu-dimensional environment created
''virtual reality" as a three-dimensional
through computer technologies, as the artificial, techno-space
teehno-space that allows interactivity,
simulation, and stimulation initially emerged out of space and military operations. The
....'en: developed
deve loped involved techniques oflele-pre$CflCC
Ielcoriginal programs that were
of tele-presence and telerobotics with the objective ofpotcntially
of potentially controlling distant and inaccessible
environments such as space or deep see explorations, nuclear or toxic environments
1S1
251
(Robins, 1996). The attempt was to use

usc the illusion in its
ilS own right
righl and potential. For
illSW1ce, the US space station envisioned that
thai astronauts would control a robot outside
instance,
the station and the robot's camera would be connected 10
to a head- mounted display that
could give astronauts a visualization of what the robot would "see" or record. Thc
The
CQnlrOlIed through dataglovt:
gesture5.
movement of the robot was controlled
dataglove gestures.
The flight simulator is another
anotI>cr example
clCaltlple of the way the computer's
computeT's possibility 10
to
create a three-dimensional environment that
thai imitates real situations was used for military
2txXl), (Figure A, and B).
8 ).
purposes (Heim, 2000),
i;.~
Figure A: "Military Combat Simulator",

Released: 1990s (Manovich, 2001, p.209)
Inferior cockpit of
Figure B: Interior
ofaa modern
flight simulalQr
simulator C
Wikipedia11
n::plicate, or simulate, the

!he experience of
A flight simulator is a system that tries to replicate,
l
possiblc',. The creation of the flight
flying an aircraft as closely and realistically as possible
simulator was initially funded by the military for purposes
pwposes of
ofmore
more effieiC111
efficient pilot training
decision making process of pilots
and for upgrading pilots' licenses by analyzing the <kcision
under pressure or difficult situations (Robins, 1996; Heim,
Hcim, 2000).
2(00). Currently, flight
simulat~
indusby not only for pilot training but
simulators are extensively used by the aviation industry
development. Additionally,
also for disaster simulation and aircraft
Ilireraft development
Additionally. similar virtual
bef<m the actual
environments are used in arehitture,
architecture, to simulate model building before
surgical simulations for training medical students (Robins,
physical construction or for 5IJ1gicai
1996).
Virtual
VirtulI Reality
Rtllity as Entertainment
Entertlinment
Based on the military applications for the creation of three-dimensional
environments through computer software, the entertainment industry used the same
CUJTendy using the head mounted
applications to create video games. Some of them are currently
display and the glove in order to control movement
movemcnt in the computer generated world.
Beyond the irony of the fact that the same mil
military
itary applications which are potentially
viole~ are also used for entertaining the
used for war and for sustaining warfare and violence
availability
average teenager,
teenager. the wide avai
lability of these technologies raises questions regarding
our relationship with technology. Specifically, these technologies raise questions
ofpersonaJ
regarding the formulation of
personal and cultural identities within our own close
proximity to the worlds
W(lrlds of the game.
These three-dimensional
three.oimcnsional environments, made possible due to specific computer
ofaltemative
software allow for the creation of
alternative environments or ideal cities, such as in the
of SimCity or the Sims. In these cases, the user creates and adopts alternative
case ofSimCity
and takes over certain roles. Usually,
identities that inhabit these cities and.
Usual ly, these games are
users. allowing
strategic games and they do not include any type of interaction between users,
252
"2
the freedom,
absolute control
freedom, or the illusion if you will, of
ofabsolutc
oontrol over the virtual
vinual world.
world, Ones
gets
setting the rules and the structures that best serve hislher goals or
gelS to be a small god, setling
needs thaI
that are often times not mel
met in the real reality of everyday life.
to be real or
In these games,
games. the locations,
locations. cities, situations or identities need not
00110
or the
existing in real life situations, an element that adds to the degree of freedom --or
illusion of freedom if you will - that users have in constructing their own worlds. After
all, if one needs
"IX'ds to re-construct
re-wnstruct his or her identity it is possible that
thai the re-constructed one
all.
to be based on the existing identity and the wished one that is defmed
do:fined by social or other
Sometimes, simulation games can and do reflect situations from reality, such
stereotypes. Sometimes.
as the government
goVentnH:OI simulation games in which case the processes
proces.ses of imitating everyday
reality roles is expeo;ted
expected to be more apparent. In these games, the user attempts
attemptS to
\0
simulate the government or political system of currently existing nations
BIllions such as the
United States or United Kingdom or Canada. The user suddenly attains the power to
course of political
events, make potentially important
change the COUI'SC
pol itical and social evcnls,
importallt decisions and
tile influence that these
lhe$e decisions have in the "life"
~lifcH of the
tile character ofthc
vinual
watch the
of the virtual
world. In any case, in the
tile games described above the user does not necessarily
nec"'sarily interact
of making decisions that
with others in these
Ihe$e environments but does have the power ofmakJng
ultimately change the life of the virtual characters of
ofthe
the game. Most importantly, and
of being a
essential to the fas<;ination
fascination with sueh
such games, the user has the flexibility
Oexibility ofbcing
powerful entity without assuming the responsibilities that similar power in dec
decisionisionmaking processes potentially has in real life situations, since a mistake in the virtual
world can always be erased from the memory of the machine by a simple click.
In the c.ue
case of MUD (Multi User Dungeons) or MOOs
M()(A (MUD Object Oriented) the
to the specific program
game is designed in a way that allows
the
user
to
be
connected
alloW$
create their own character, similarly
Intemct. Individuals ereate
si milarly to the previously
p'viously
through the Internet.
case the users
and exist in these
described games but in this CWJe
UOO1":I move und
the"" worlds simultaneously
to other characters/users. MUDs are usually Tolkien type of adventures where the MOOs
are more social and do not require the user to engage in battle or confrontations. In either
case the user gets the chance to communicatc
communicate with other users who also inhabit this space
of users to visit the same program/environment over and over
and due to the tendency ofusers
habils. The most
again. users get to know the usual visitors of the game, as well as their habits.
again,
~ of
oflhe$e
significant characteristic of
these worlds is that users have again a certain degree
suggests. there is a certain
control over the identities they construct. As Robins (1996) suggests,
degree ofinterpretational
of interpretational ambiguity, not 1M"C<"SS'rily
necessarily because it frees identities from the
previously. identities are rather
",ther regenerated in
social discourse - for as it was mentioned previously,
",ther because it exactly allows
a similar manner in which they exist in real reality - but rather
offannation
for an alternative temporary perspective from which systems of power and of
formation
of identity can be understood.

Revisiting The Virtual in Art's Potential (2007)

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E VIRTUAL IN ART'S POTENTIAL:

Approved by the Committee

t\Ay 1 ..4 2001

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the degree

All rights reserved.

copyright material had to be removed, a note will

Copyright 2007 by ProOuest

o Copyright Elena A. Stylianou

the Degree of Doctor

KAY 1I 4,4 2007

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the degree

environments. This dissenation

ofmodemity (Cubism, Dadaism,

art to truth ultimately supports

juxtaposed against Byzantine iconography. These works raise simi

Ihose who never

I will be indebted and forever grateful

Dr. Judith Burton,

for the endless supportive

Khora ....... . .. . ............... .

PersptXtivc as the Metaphor of the

The Truth of Art and the Art

Chlpttr IV: The Politics

The Iconic Economy: An Achievement of Social Equilibrium.....................

started, I can say with certainty

neighborhood all seemed amazingly large and full ofmonslers

the indefinable line between the two? And why,

between imaginary and true is one that is found in the

During the five years I have been in the United Slates,

IlC)lt, the emptiness in between trips, that allows me to

in-between. I reshape the notion ofhome

So, how does one even begin to

started my dissertation that a

journey as much as IJ did.

INTRO DUCT ION

This dissertation is the result of the intuition that virtuality

comfort. Simultaneously, an interplay between my past and my

iconography during the iconoclastic dispute and contemporary works or

see the possibility 10

perfOfTl1ance. while reading a literary work or watching a play, one realizes

So, I embarked on my intellectual

qllestions than I could ever imagine

virlumiry. as a potential space for meaning and truth.

il becomes a lake where

surface or shadows in the depth of it where there is another

granted, building the foundation

are both based on predetermined

perceiving and interacting with Our

interaction with art, were not further analyzed.

tile artist, or the historical and social moment in which they

and the work

c) The notion of "truth" can be negotiated through the question of

work of art, as the degree in which truth is internal to an,

between philosophy, art history and critical theory. Specifically, I[ use

\bose limits will remain

''real'' and the "true"

"virtuality" in its historical context, in order to argue for its perennial

This study is nol

elements or beauty that

constantly remain aware of them.

For the purposes

necessary for images to not only become Ihe

into the human condition