Beyond the Image On Visual Culture in the Twenty-First Century

Today, we do not believe in images anymore. This incredulity is, in part, the product of technology. From brainrot to deepfakes, from NFTs to sloppy content, the function of the image is not representation but only the reproduction of capital.

In the twentieth century, the machine automated the hands of workers; in the twenty-first century, it automates the eyes of consumers. The conveyor belt is upgraded by scrolling. In the age of electronic reproduction, the gaze is replaced by the stare of Internet users.

Yet, as the medium is pushed to its limit by capitalism, it reverses its characteristics. Another relationship with the medium–beyond post-truth and deepfake–is designed anew into digital culture. From the Kardashians to Donald Trump, from Pepe the Frog to Paris Hilton, the nihilism of the image is trending right now. Beyond the Image is an attempt at the revaluation of visual culture in the age of video monetization and artificial intelligence. Soon enough, the same eyes that are filled with the glow of the screen are also starting to see beyond it.