Visuality and Parrēsia: Ai Weiwei’s countervisual re-enactment of Alan Kurdi’s image
Autor(a) principal: | |
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Data de Publicação: | 2023 |
Tipo de documento: | Artigo |
Idioma: | eng |
Título da fonte: | Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
Texto Completo: | http://hdl.handle.net/10451/56794 |
Resumo: | As an intervention in the study of visuality and countervisuality (Mirzoeff 2011), underscoring its connection to democracy and parrēsia (Foucault 2010), this article examines Ai Weiwei’s re-enactment of Alan Kurdi’s image in 2016. The instant and expandable polemics that characterized the reception of the re-enactment built on the unethicalness – even blatant inappropriateness – of a celebrity’s appropriation of (the graphic representation of) a dead child’s body. Building on the role of the Chinese celebrity artist-activist as a public intellectual, this article advances a way to rethink the re-enactment beyond the idea of shock and away from controversy, analyzing it as an indictment of two interrelated ‘crises’: the European refugee ‘crisis’ and the inadequate response to the influx of refugees in 2015, and the ‘crisis’ of democracy more broadly, considering that respect for human rights is integral to democratic governance. To make a case for the re-enactment as a form of countervisuality, I deploy Barthes’s theorization on the punctum and studium of photographs. The contention is that Ai’s re-enactment of Nilüfer Demir’s photo – and the controversy surrounding it – actualizes the punctum and studium of the precursor image to function as a denunciation of the ‘crises’ of our present moment. |
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Visuality and Parrēsia: Ai Weiwei’s countervisual re-enactment of Alan Kurdi’s imageAi WeiweiRefugee crisisMigration studiesPostcolonial theoryPostcolonial studiesVisual culture studiesPublic intellectualsDemocracyAs an intervention in the study of visuality and countervisuality (Mirzoeff 2011), underscoring its connection to democracy and parrēsia (Foucault 2010), this article examines Ai Weiwei’s re-enactment of Alan Kurdi’s image in 2016. The instant and expandable polemics that characterized the reception of the re-enactment built on the unethicalness – even blatant inappropriateness – of a celebrity’s appropriation of (the graphic representation of) a dead child’s body. Building on the role of the Chinese celebrity artist-activist as a public intellectual, this article advances a way to rethink the re-enactment beyond the idea of shock and away from controversy, analyzing it as an indictment of two interrelated ‘crises’: the European refugee ‘crisis’ and the inadequate response to the influx of refugees in 2015, and the ‘crisis’ of democracy more broadly, considering that respect for human rights is integral to democratic governance. To make a case for the re-enactment as a form of countervisuality, I deploy Barthes’s theorization on the punctum and studium of photographs. The contention is that Ai’s re-enactment of Nilüfer Demir’s photo – and the controversy surrounding it – actualizes the punctum and studium of the precursor image to function as a denunciation of the ‘crises’ of our present moment.Taylor & FrancisRepositório da Universidade de LisboaMendes, Ana Cristina2023-03-23T15:58:24Z20232023-01-01T00:00:00Zinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10451/56794engMendes, AC. 2023. “Visuality and Parrēsia: Ai Weiwei’s Countervisual Re-enactment of Alan Kurdi’s Image”. Visual Studies. 38: 1–12.1472-5878https://doi.org/10.1080/1472586X.2023.2181210metadata only accessinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessreponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãoinstacron:RCAAP2023-11-08T17:04:12Zoai:repositorio.ul.pt:10451/56794Portal AgregadorONGhttps://www.rcaap.pt/oai/openaireopendoar:71602024-03-19T22:07:04.925628Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãofalse |
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv |
Visuality and Parrēsia: Ai Weiwei’s countervisual re-enactment of Alan Kurdi’s image |
title |
Visuality and Parrēsia: Ai Weiwei’s countervisual re-enactment of Alan Kurdi’s image |
spellingShingle |
Visuality and Parrēsia: Ai Weiwei’s countervisual re-enactment of Alan Kurdi’s image Mendes, Ana Cristina Ai Weiwei Refugee crisis Migration studies Postcolonial theory Postcolonial studies Visual culture studies Public intellectuals Democracy |
title_short |
Visuality and Parrēsia: Ai Weiwei’s countervisual re-enactment of Alan Kurdi’s image |
title_full |
Visuality and Parrēsia: Ai Weiwei’s countervisual re-enactment of Alan Kurdi’s image |
title_fullStr |
Visuality and Parrēsia: Ai Weiwei’s countervisual re-enactment of Alan Kurdi’s image |
title_full_unstemmed |
Visuality and Parrēsia: Ai Weiwei’s countervisual re-enactment of Alan Kurdi’s image |
title_sort |
Visuality and Parrēsia: Ai Weiwei’s countervisual re-enactment of Alan Kurdi’s image |
author |
Mendes, Ana Cristina |
author_facet |
Mendes, Ana Cristina |
author_role |
author |
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv |
Repositório da Universidade de Lisboa |
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv |
Mendes, Ana Cristina |
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv |
Ai Weiwei Refugee crisis Migration studies Postcolonial theory Postcolonial studies Visual culture studies Public intellectuals Democracy |
topic |
Ai Weiwei Refugee crisis Migration studies Postcolonial theory Postcolonial studies Visual culture studies Public intellectuals Democracy |
description |
As an intervention in the study of visuality and countervisuality (Mirzoeff 2011), underscoring its connection to democracy and parrēsia (Foucault 2010), this article examines Ai Weiwei’s re-enactment of Alan Kurdi’s image in 2016. The instant and expandable polemics that characterized the reception of the re-enactment built on the unethicalness – even blatant inappropriateness – of a celebrity’s appropriation of (the graphic representation of) a dead child’s body. Building on the role of the Chinese celebrity artist-activist as a public intellectual, this article advances a way to rethink the re-enactment beyond the idea of shock and away from controversy, analyzing it as an indictment of two interrelated ‘crises’: the European refugee ‘crisis’ and the inadequate response to the influx of refugees in 2015, and the ‘crisis’ of democracy more broadly, considering that respect for human rights is integral to democratic governance. To make a case for the re-enactment as a form of countervisuality, I deploy Barthes’s theorization on the punctum and studium of photographs. The contention is that Ai’s re-enactment of Nilüfer Demir’s photo – and the controversy surrounding it – actualizes the punctum and studium of the precursor image to function as a denunciation of the ‘crises’ of our present moment. |
publishDate |
2023 |
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv |
2023-03-23T15:58:24Z 2023 2023-01-01T00:00:00Z |
dc.type.status.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion |
dc.type.driver.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
format |
article |
status_str |
publishedVersion |
dc.identifier.uri.fl_str_mv |
http://hdl.handle.net/10451/56794 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10451/56794 |
dc.language.iso.fl_str_mv |
eng |
language |
eng |
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv |
Mendes, AC. 2023. “Visuality and Parrēsia: Ai Weiwei’s Countervisual Re-enactment of Alan Kurdi’s Image”. Visual Studies. 38: 1–12. 1472-5878 https://doi.org/10.1080/1472586X.2023.2181210 |
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metadata only access info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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metadata only access |
eu_rights_str_mv |
openAccess |
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv |
application/pdf |
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Taylor & Francis |
publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Taylor & Francis |
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv |
reponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação instacron:RCAAP |
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Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação |
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RCAAP |
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RCAAP |
reponame_str |
Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
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Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
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Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação |
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