The Image Is Dead, Long Live the Image! Disappearance and Evolution in Visual Culture

Abstract

This contribution critically investigates the recurring theme of the ‘death of the image’ in contemporary thought, relating diagnoses of crisis that have marked its status to the persistent proliferation of images in present-day society. Drawing on a theoretical genealogy that spans philosophy, visual studies, and media theory, the article identifies four levels at which the disappearance of the image manifests itself: technical, political, functional, and semiotic. These ‘declarations of death’ are not, however, understood as the definitive exhaustion of the image, but rather as signals of an evolution –understood in a biological sense– of its role and value. From this perspective, the crisis of the image opens onto a process of regeneration grounded in the ethical nature of the gaze, which addresses the viewer in terms of responsibility and critical awareness. The image thus survives as an unstable and mutable form, capable of adapting to media contexts and renewing its potential for meaning.