The devouring eye

Abstract

ABSTRACT This essay discusses the positing of the eye in Georges Bataille’s work in an attempt to connect Bataille’s thought with Horst Bredekamp’s notion of the image act. The image act attributes an active nature to images and places them in the sphere of entities capable of acting upon the configuration of our reality. This paper begins by first describing the conceptual framework of critical iconology and then traces its overlap with the work of Georges Bataille. This tracing is achieved through the understanding of Bataille’s subversive use of images, as read by Benjamin Noys. The work proceeds by arguing for a movement away from reading Bataille exclusively under the concept of transgression, and suggests introducing the concept of oscillation. Reading Bataille as such, critical iconology and Bataille’s critical dictionary meet. The paper concludes by engaging with Bataille’s Story of the Eye, as this is read under critical iconology.