Mark A. Halawa: Angst vor der Sprache. Zur Kritik der sprachkritischen Ikonologie
Barbara Laimböck: Heilkunst und Kunst. Ärztinnen und Ärzte in der österreichischen Malerei des 20. Jahrhunderts. Eine sowohl künstlerische als auch tiefenpsychologische Reflexion
Martina Sauer: Ästhetik und Pragmatismus. Zur funktionalen Relevanz einer nicht-diskursiven Formauffassung bei Cassirer, Langer und John Michael Krois
A. Peter Maaswinkel: Allsehendes Auge und unsichtbare Hand: Zur Ästhetisierung neoliberaler Ideologie am Beispiel des European Council
Maria Schreiber: Als das Bild aus dem Rahmen fiel. Drei Tagungsberichte aus einem trans- und interdisziplinären Feld
When Gottfried Boehm proclaimed the iconic turn twenty years ago, he initiated much more than an increased interest in iconological issues. In fact, his notion of the iconic turn is inextricably interwoven with a fundamental critique of language. According to Boehm, bringing about an adequate understanding of iconicity requires the recognition of an essential dichotomy between word and image. This essay seeks to explain why Boehm’s iconology, by fostering such a dichotomy, is perpetuating the ancient Paragone dispute in a highly unproductive fashion. Moving on from this point of criticism, the essay works out the extend to which Boehm founds his theory of iconicity on an utterly one-sided conception of language. It also shows why Boehm’s language critical iconology amounts to a decidedly puristic idea of iconicity that is not only based on a deep-seated fear of language but also highly questionable.
The 20th century is called an age of contradictions. It was accompanied by psychoanalysis, working on the borderline between conscious and unconscious. In the 20th century the art of painting focused on the contradiction between visible and hidden meanings, too. This poster shows a selection of paintings and portraits created by Austrian artists, some of them physicians themselves. It demonstrates, that art is pursuing the same issue as psychoanalysis.
Ernst Cassirer as well as his followers the American philosopher Susanne K. Langer and John M. Krois postulate a non-discursive and functional relevance of forms. Exposed by the arts this assumption proves to be valid for all kinds of life (man, animals, and plants) as well as the machines (technics). Herein, the nearness to pragmatism becomes obvious. But the significance of symbolic meaning man is putting forth depends not only on relational-logical actions but vital-affective (emotional) aspects. In conclusion the notion of aesthetics changes too. Its relevance for actions shall be shown by the following research work.
The critical analysis of political pictures requires several approaches. Accordingly, the customary Family photos and the logo of the Council of the European Union are discussed from the viewpoint of the natural sciences as well as of human sciences and culture history. The fact of the inspiration of religious symbols is relativised and supplemented by the thesis of a secular metaphysics. Emblem and appearance of the Council turn out to be consistent with the ideological background they represent.
Based on a review of three conferences I attended, this paper is shedding light on current key issues in interdisciplinary research on image, iconicity and related practices. I will focus on (1) the relevance of technologies in the context of photography and visualization, (2) artistic research and (3) the art of research, or how various modes of generating knowledge persist within a trans- and interdisciplinary field. Throughout disciplines, a theoretically informed and historically-culturally situated analysis of pictures is required to get deep into specific contexts, focus on iconicity’s mutual relation with materiality/mediality and keep in mind the linking of (mental) images and (material) pictures. A discussion on how these demands are considered in various methodic ways seems to be desirable, but has not yet taken place.
Wohl jeder wissenschaftliche Autor wünscht sich eine ausführliche Besprechung seines neuesten Buches in einer der führenden Tageszeitungen. Was als Megarezension kürzlich einer nicht mehr ganz so aktuellen Publikation widerfahren ist, mag künftige Autoren indes eher das Fürchten lehren. Horst Bredekamp hat auf einer Handvoll von ihm entdeckten Zeichnungen vor Jahren ein weitreichendes Gedankengebäude errichtet, das jetzt, da sich die Zeichnungen als Fälschung erwiesen haben, in sich zusammenzubrechen droht. Mit gefährdet ist ein ganzer Stab an Jungakademikern, die zu beweisen angetreten waren, dass ihr Meister recht hat. Welche Effekte ist diese üble Betrugsaffäre zu zeitigen imstande? Welche Schlussfolgerungen sind aus ihr in Hinblick auf die aktuelle und künftige Situation der Bildwissenschaften zu ziehen?
