Invisible and in-visible. Performative images of terror
Invisible and in-visible. Performative images of terror

Summary/Abstract: Contemporary visual art seems to proclaim that a picture always has the final say. Therefore, it is worth analyzing the regime of picture production and distribution, especially those images which gain the status of an icon. However, the specificity of our times and the media forces us to deal with tragedy-based icons, which are produced by international terrorism on the one hand [the collapse of the Twin Towers in 2001], and the international antiterrorist coalition on the other [Barack Obama and his coworkers watching operation Geronimo; photos from Abu Ghraib]. By paraphrasing the Austinian Speech acts, the aforementioned icons may be classified as performative pictures, and as such they are often analyzed by curators’ projects as well as by individual artists.

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