Semiocapitalism, Spectacle, Eikonomia, and the Function of Art
Semiocapitalism, Spectacle, Eikonomia, and the Function of Art

Summary/Abstract: The paper discusses the contemporary notion of the collectible masterpiece, which is understood not simply as a visual metaphor that embraces a specific late-capitalist sociopolitical order, but also as the visual equivalent of a long-lasting debate on the iconicity of power. Drawing on Giorgio Agamben’s research into the conflation of the image and the notion of divine providence, as well as on his account of the theological-economic paradigm of power and sovereignty (the notion of oeconomy), the article analyses the apparently secularized image-production of the historical Avant-Garde. It argues that the notion of the masterpiece, which founds the appreciation of art in modernity (with an emphasis on recent developments), embodies specific theological concepts that were already present during the iconophilic Western word order resulting out of both the Byzantine and Calvinist iconoclasm. The article proposes a pre-modern archaeology of the society of spectacle, as well as illuminating the startling dominance of semiocapitalism’s iconicity.

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