Animism and other essays
On photography and cinema (2023), by Margarida Medeiros
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.34629/cpublica.907Keywords:
animism, image ontology, photography, cinema, phantasmagoriaAbstract
Animism and other essays, by Margarida Medeiros, is an essential work for reflecting on photography and cinema as technologies shaped by affects, drives, and invisible forces. Through nine essays and an appendix, Medeiros proposes an undisciplined reading of media, questioning the ontological and political limits of technical images. The concept of animism, central to the volume, functions as a theoretical tool to understand the sensitive vitality of images, challenging rationalist and anthropocentric perspectives. The book revisits and updates debates on indexicality, the document, phantasmagoria, transparency, and portraiture, offering a sharp critique of academic productivism and the disciplining of knowledge. With a critical and essayistic style, Medeiros presents a reflection on images as forms of resistance and thought.
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