This focus is about the power of images, because images are very powerful. They shape who we are to ourselves and others, what we believe in, as well as our dreams and our fears. This has always been. Modern technologies and social media and networks, however, have enormously increased the speed and reach of communication across the globe and, with it, of the transfer and share of images. *Borrowing from Sionaidh Douglas Scott, I interpret the concept of images broadly in this focus, as encompassing not only the “high” art of famous artists and galleries, but also the commonplace and the workaday – advertisement, photograph, cartoon, “such images as are all around us”. The power of images is cross cutting. It knows no disciplinary boundaries. And it is multifaceted. Also, images are never the same, but change constantly over time. It would be an impossible exercise to capture the power of images in all its dimensions and with a full historical and geographical account. The collected contributions seek, however, to shed light on the role played by images as well as the imaginary surrounding, and the narrative accompanying, them in art, history, law and the literature accompanying them. The authors – each, a leading young or senior scholar in his or her respective discipline – were asked to choose and identify in their thematic areas of expertise, one particular topic or aspect thereof to show the relevance of image: How and where they originate and consolidate over time, and how and to what extent they transform the reality of things and become themselves a part of the reality of the world we live in. The result has been tremendous. The contributions show diverse and powerful ways in which images affect, play an important role or even determine what we recollect as history, the works we read, admire or despise and the rules and procedures (both national and international) we are subject to: In other words, what we recognize as history of an individual or a group of individuals, or a people or a nation, one’s sense and reality of national and international justice, the normativity and effectiveness of international law, our fictional and artistic universe.

Editorial: The Power of Images through Law, Art and History

A Ciampi
2019-01-01

Abstract

This focus is about the power of images, because images are very powerful. They shape who we are to ourselves and others, what we believe in, as well as our dreams and our fears. This has always been. Modern technologies and social media and networks, however, have enormously increased the speed and reach of communication across the globe and, with it, of the transfer and share of images. *Borrowing from Sionaidh Douglas Scott, I interpret the concept of images broadly in this focus, as encompassing not only the “high” art of famous artists and galleries, but also the commonplace and the workaday – advertisement, photograph, cartoon, “such images as are all around us”. The power of images is cross cutting. It knows no disciplinary boundaries. And it is multifaceted. Also, images are never the same, but change constantly over time. It would be an impossible exercise to capture the power of images in all its dimensions and with a full historical and geographical account. The collected contributions seek, however, to shed light on the role played by images as well as the imaginary surrounding, and the narrative accompanying, them in art, history, law and the literature accompanying them. The authors – each, a leading young or senior scholar in his or her respective discipline – were asked to choose and identify in their thematic areas of expertise, one particular topic or aspect thereof to show the relevance of image: How and where they originate and consolidate over time, and how and to what extent they transform the reality of things and become themselves a part of the reality of the world we live in. The result has been tremendous. The contributions show diverse and powerful ways in which images affect, play an important role or even determine what we recollect as history, the works we read, admire or despise and the rules and procedures (both national and international) we are subject to: In other words, what we recognize as history of an individual or a group of individuals, or a people or a nation, one’s sense and reality of national and international justice, the normativity and effectiveness of international law, our fictional and artistic universe.
2019
Images, Law, Art, History
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11562/999010
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