Quaderni di Venezia Arti

In my End is my Beginning

Dialectical Images in Times of Crisis

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Abstract
The volume comprises a selection of papers presented at the 6th Postgraduate International Conference organized by the Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage of Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (Venice, 9-11 October 2024): In my End is my Beginning. Dialectical Images in Times of Crisis.

Both in the past and the present, humanity has been witnessing the collapse of its own identity, sociopolitical system and cultural order, as well as their restoration. In this imbalance, Ernesto De Martino acknowledges the roots of crisis, elaborating how the end of the world represents the culmination of the issue of existence, caught between the risk of downfall and the quest for redemption. At that moment, an apocalypse happens to reveal when a specific order needs to be replaced by new symbolic formations that correspond to the changed Zeitgeist. The vitality of an apocalyptic thinking, which continually transforms and produces new images of the crisis, leads us to consider a dimension in which the clash between the past and the future creates a generative power. In this liminal space between different meanings of ‘crisis’ and their translation into images, it is fundamental to consider what Walter Benjamin conceptualized as a dialectical image, a fragment wherein “what has been comes together in a flash with the now to form a constellation” (Arcades Project, 1999, 462).

The 6th Postgraduate International Conference was aimed at investigating the liminal space between different meanings of ‘crisis’ and ‘apocalypse’, discovering how, through multiple processes of translation into images, these notions reveal new, unexpected beginnings. This volume therefore investigates the image as a representation of this dialectical moment.

Keywords Speculative fiction • Cronotophe • Crisis • Estrangement • Novel • Dichotomy • Performative • Eszter Salamon • Schizo-image • Legibility • Rebirth • Utopian imagination • Choreography • Décoration • Christianisation of Scandinavia • War • Cyberflâneur • Centre Pompidou • Mediated memories • Textiles • Nalini Malani • Olympics • Renaissance • Eggleston • Nature • Authoritarianism • Skog tapestry • Titian • Polyhedra • Allegorical-palimpsest • Pregnant posthuman • Years of Lead • Social imaginaries • Crisis imagery • Trauma • Embodied reflexivity • Hazard • Visual culture • Presence • Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea • Self-portrait • Apocalypse • Giorgio Vasta • Language • West • Capitalocene • Montage • TITANE • South Asia • Petromodernity • Photo archive • 18th-century art • History • France • Theatrical • Dialectical image • Aretino • Hauntology • Identity • Death • Remains • Image • Eco-art • Landscape • Allegory • Style • Literature • Germano Celant • Digital media • McCarthy • Mythological machine • Seesaw • Thirteenth century • End • Dialectical • Placenta politics • Flash • Photography • Monads • Systemic crisis • Anachronism • Anticlimax • Beginning • Bonnard • Figurability • Laurie Anderson • Pagan Scandinavia • Luigi Coppola • Curatorial • Marzia Migliora • Valeska Gert • Body • Perspective • Le Boxeur • Memory • Fashion

Thema codes ABA • JBCC9 • JBFF

Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-878-1 | e-ISBN 978-88-6969-878-1 | Published Dec. 11, 2024 | Language en

Copyright © 2024 Asia Benedetti, Angelica Bertoli, Andrea Golfetto, Maria Novella Tavano. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.