Looking Through Images: A Phenomenology of Visual Media

Images have always been seen as mere appearances, but Emmanuel Alloa proposes a rethinking of images as irreplaceable agents of our everyday engagement with the world. He reconstructs the earliest Western media theory and argues for a historically informed phenomenology of images that explains why they are not simply referential depictions but reactivate the power of appearing.

\n Format: Paperback / softback
\n Length: 408 pages
\n Publication date: 05 October 2021
\n Publisher: Columbia University Press
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Images have always elicited a range of ambivalent reactions, from fascinated gazes to iconoclastic repulsion. However, they have seldom been regarded as legitimate sources of knowledge. For a long time, they were perceived as mere appearances, placeholder for the real things or deceptive illusions. Today, the traditional critique of the spectacle has given way to an unconditional embrace of the visual. Nevertheless, we still lack a comprehensive theoretical understanding of how images function.

In his book, Emmanuel Alloa delves into the historical trajectory of Western attitudes toward the visual, aiming to propose a significant reevaluation of images as indispensable agents of our daily engagement with the world. He explores how notions of images and their powers have been constructed within Western humanities, art theory, and philosophy, developing a novel genealogy of both visual studies and the concept of the medium. Alloa reconstructs the earliest Western media theory, Aristotle's concept of the diaphanous milieu of vision, and the subsequent erasure of this concept in the history of science.

Through this historical exploration, Alloa argues for a historically informed phenomenology of images and visual media. He challenges the notion that images are merely referential depictions, offering windows onto the world. Instead, he posits that images possess a dynamic quality, constantly reactingivate the power of appearing. As media of visualization, they enable the manifestation of things that would not be visible except through these very material devices.

By examining the complex relationship between images and their beholders, Alloa's book offers a fresh perspective on the role of images in shaping our understanding of the world. It challenges us to reconsider our assumptions about the visual and to recognize the profound impact that images have on our lives. Whether we view them with fascination or repulsion, images continue to exert a powerful influence on our perception, cognition, and emotional experiences.

\n Weight: 586g\n
Dimension: 156 x 234 x 25 (mm)\n
ISBN-13: 9780231187930\n \n