On Visual Culture in the Twenty-First Century
Today, we no longer believe in images, largely due to technology: from deepfakes to NFTs, the function of the image is no longer to represent, but to reproduce capital. In the 20th century, machines automated workers’ hands; in the 21st century, they automate consumers’ eyes: the conveyor belt becomes digital scrolling, and the gaze gives way to the fixed stare of online users.
However, pushed to its limits by capitalism, the medium transforms. New relationships with images emerge in digital culture, from the phenomenon of the Kardashians and Donald Trump to memes like Pepe the Frog: the nihilism of the image is trending today. Beyond the Image attempts to revalue visual culture in the era of video monetization and artificial intelligence, suggesting that the same eyes immersed in the screen are beginning to see beyond it.
