Abstract

Whether or not we think that Marshall McLuhan’s prophecy regarding the end of the Gutenberg galaxy and the advent of the civilization of the image has come true in the era of sophisticated computer-enhanced imagery, it seems indisputable that images play a central role in our existence. We are constantly bombarded and inescapably surrounded by images. Publicly accessible and reproducible images are a singularly effective way to find and exemplify a visual representative for what they picture, or to convey a message. Their main virtue is simplification: they not only select significant aspects in the representation of something concrete and individual, while at the same time isolating it from its particularity, but also they idealize and make what they represent general enough that virtually anyone can recognize and relate to it. Only thus can we explain their often spellbinding effect and their popular appeal.