Wiesing: Visibility

Visibility Large

The Visibility of the Image: a History of Formal Aesthetics is an introduction to contemporary image theory, a project in philosophy that seems to have developed especially quickly in Germany.  The argument is that although many of the people and ideas that were once  prominent in formal aesthetics have fallen into obscurity, they in fact had the same grasp of images that underpins recent developments such as abstract images, collage, and video clips.  The book traces the development of a specific value, namely the visibility of the image, a quality quite distinct from any reference it may make or any aspect of its construction.

The cover reproduces a wonderful collage by Silke Rehberg.