Proceedings Self-Negating Images: Towards An-Iconology † Andrea Pinotti Department of Philosophy “Piero Martinetti”, Università Statale di Milano, 20122 Milano, Italy;
[email protected] † Presented at the International and Interdisciplinary Conference IMMAGINI? Image and Imagination between Representation, Communication, Education and Psychology, Brixen, Italy, 27–28 November 2017. Published: 13 December 2017 Abstract: Recent developments in image-making techniques have resulted in a drastic blurring of the threshold between the world of the image and the real world. Immersive and interactive virtual environments have enabled the production of pictures that elicit in the perceiver a strong feeling of being incorporated in a new and autonomous world. In doing so, they negate themselves as “images-of-something”, as icons: they are veritable “an-icons”. This kind of picture undermines the mainstream representationalist paradigm of Western image theories: “presentification” rather than representation is at stake here. My paper will address this challenging iconoscape, arguing for the necessity of a specific methodological approach—namely, an-iconology. Keywords: an-iconology; image theory; media archaeology; presence; representation; immersivity; interactivity; avatar; embodiment; immediacy 1. Introduction The contemporary scenario of image production and consumption is characterized by an ever- increasing blurring of the distinction between image and reality. Immersivity and interactivity in virtual environments are able to elicit