“the torch” #41 – Visualize – Customize – Iconize?

The question is on and can no longer be avoided: Can that conflict between substance and surface in our digital age finally be resolved, if not all form is empty to begin with? To copy to produce and in turn have it copied again by somebody else (or even oneself for that matter) – the endless cycle of self-consumption and self-repetition is a topic that has been addressed many times before. It comes with various deep and difficult implications and provides ample incentives for debates profound or shallow, just as it makes for sleepless nights among that precariously idiosyncratic breed of artists, and some filmmakers among them. But does it really have to be that way? What exactly is telling in a picture? Where does that quality stem from, and how can it be meaningfully defined? Isn’t there a lot of usable substance in the stereotype, the cliché, as well? And, lastly, what is the common ground of our (post)modern world – its view and representation – anyway? “The Torch” features these burning questions: here.

(pic©mo)