Image, Medium, Body: a New Approach to Iconology

Abstract

The author proposes a new kind of Iconology, not limited to the artistic images, which takes into account the appearance of the images from a phenomenological and pragmatic view, indicating that images happen in culture. Under this approach, the internal and external representations, or mental and physical images, may be considered as faces of the same coin. No visible images reach us unmediated. The mediums are essential in shaping and creating images. The bodies (ie, the brain) function as a living medium that makes us perceive, project, or remember images and that also enables our imagination to censor them or transform them. Image, medium and body constitute a triadic constellation, which demands careful consideration. The history of the visual media, is the history of culture. Digital images usually address our bodies imagination and cross the border between visual images and virtual images, images seen and projected images.