W.J.T. Mitchell

Offending Images

Lecture given at the symposium "Image Wars and Image Floods"

W.J.T. Mitchell

W.J.T. Mitchell

netzspannung.org

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Abstract

The title of this talk is deliberately ambiguous: some images are, of course, offensive to some people, but what about the reverse situation, when people set out to offend an image? What does it tell us about the nature of images that it makes sense for people to destroy, disfigure, banish or otherwiese punish and "offend" them? What are the various ways of offending images? This paper will explore outbreaks of iconoclasm and offensive images in contemporary culture, from the Sensation show at the Brooklyn Museum to the destruction of the World Trade Center to the emergence of cloning as a subject for public debate.

Artists / Authors

Date(s)

Organizer

Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie Karlsruhe (ZKM) and Graduiertenkolleg "Bild-Körper-Medium" at the Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe (HfG)

Location

Medientheater des ZKM, Lorenzstrasse 19, 76135 Karlsruhe, Germany

URL

» http://on1.zkm.de/zk…ries/storyReader$2691

Comment

The symposium "Image Wars and Image Floods" focuses on themes from the "iconoclash" exhibition which presents image conflicts both in historical situations and in the contemporary world.

Submission

, Nov 4, 2003

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