1st Edition

The Iconology of Abstraction Non-figurative Images and the Modern World

Edited By Krešimir Purgar Copyright 2020
294 Pages 34 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

294 Pages 34 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

294 Pages 34 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

This book uncovers how we make meaning of abstraction, both historically and in present times, and examines abstract images as a visual language. The contributors demonstrate that abstraction is not primarily an artistic phenomenon, but rather arises from human beings’ desire to imagine, understand and communicate complex, ineffable concepts in fields ranging from fine art and philosophy to... Read more

Introduction

Should Abstract Images Have Their "own" Iconology?

Krešimir Purgar

Prolegomena

1. Why Pictures are Signs? The Semiotics of (Non)Representational Pictures

Winfried Noth

Part 1: History and Theory of Abstraction

2. The Founding of Abstraction: Wilhelm Worringer and the Avant-Garde

Anselm Treichler

3. The Iconology of Malevich’s Suprematist Crosses

Marie Gaspter-Hulvat

4. Literality and Non-Referentiality in the Abstraction of Objecthood

Blaženka Perica

5. Representational Abstract Pictures

Regina-Nino Mion

6. What is Abstraction in Photography?

Diarmuid Costello 

PART 2: Philosophy of Abstraction

7. Abstraction and Transperceptual Space

Paul Crowther

8. The Visualization of Temporality in the Abstract Paintings of Barnett Newman

Claude Cernuschi 

9. Rethinking Abstraction Post-Phenomenologically: Michel Henry and Henri Maldiney

Bruno Lessard 

PART 3: Redefining Abstraction—Analog vs. Digital  

10. Visual Music and Abstraction: From Avant-Garde Synesthaesia to Digital Technestaesia

Michael Betancourt 

11. Ecology and Climatology in Modern Abstract Art

Linn Burchert 

12. Digital Abstraction: Interface between Electronic Media Art and Data Visualization

Birgit Mersmann

13. Towards a Transsensorial Technology of Abstraction (Ekstraction)

Clemens C. Finkelstein 

14. Digital Landscapes of the Internet: Glitch Art, Vaporwave, Spectacular Cyberspace

Dario Vuger

PART 4: Abstraction in Science and Technology

15. The Material Site of Abstraction: Grid-based Data Visualisation in Brain Scans

Silvia Casini

16. Reference and Affect: Visual Abstraction in Computation and the Neurosciences

Michael Reinsborough 

17. Reality Effect of (Abstract) Maps in Post-Digital Era

Ana Peraica

Coda 

18. Visualizing the End of Visibility: M87* Event-Horizon Image

Yanai Toister

Biography

Krešimir Purgar is Associate Professor in the Academy of Arts and Culture at J. J. Strossmayer University, Osijek, Croatia.