I was recently asked, what is the role of media in this kind of instrumentality of representation in order to control our thoughts, our hopes and our actions?That is a good question and quite relevant in this century!First, let us deconstruct –or rather allow this to deconstruct itself—the notion of media representation. If we are to put […]
LANGUAGE, THOUGHT, AND OTHER THOUGHTS
Philosophers have been debating the relationship between thought and language. Does one cause the other? And the proverbial chicken and egg debate; does language come first or thought? Now, relating this to visual culture, one wonders how thoughts may be represented in the brain. Are there words, sentences, and phrases? Or are there images, symbols, […]
HEIDEGGER’S HAMMER
Martin Heidegger once said, we only know a hammer when it is broken (see his pioneering book, Being and Time). I have been thinking about the arts, a bit. Given the visual nature of the arts—and here I am making the assumption that literature is a form of visualization of the literary artist’s imagination, transmitted by […]
THE VERY IDEA OF (VISUAL)CULTURE IN 21st CENTURY
Does the very idea of culture encompass all humanistic experiences and/or expressions? Mass media, science, religion, sports, fine arts, not so fine arts, poetry, music, graffiti, and so on. Do they belong under the umbrella of culture? If they do, and I’ll argue with sincerity that they do belong there, how are they communicating with […]
TEACHING THROUGH DIALOGUE
Can one teach through dialogue? Plato did it. Presumably, he learned it from Socrates. One’s intuition could respond to this question with an emphatic yes, and be done with it. But, what is dialogue? Two people talking? Several people talking, each taking his or her turn to speak his or her mind? There are of […]