Idolatry and the Civil Covenant of Photography:

مرکز و کتابخانه مطالعات اسلامی به زبان های اروپایی

منو

" Idolatry and the Civil Covenant of Photography: "
Roger I. Simon

Document Type	:	AL
Record Number	:	1069745
Doc. No	:	LA113374
Call No	:	‭10.1163/187180010X547639‬
Language of Document	:	English
Main Entry	:	Roger I. Simon
Title & Author	:	Idolatry and the Civil Covenant of Photography: [Article] : On the Practice of Exhibiting Images of Suffering, Degradation, and Death\ Roger I. Simon
Publication Statement	:	Leiden: Brill
Title of Periodical	:	IMAGES
Date	:	2010
Volume/ Issue Number	:	4/1
Page No	:	46–56
Abstract	:	Exhibiting perpetrator photographs of suffering and death presents a series of curatorial problems for museums and galleries. Unlike photojournalist images taken to inform a social conscience, the initial creation and circulation of such photographs have historically been implicated in the violence they depict. Beyond skepticism as to photography’s capacity to arouse a moral impulse, exhibitions of perpetrator photographs have been criticized for promoting voyeurism and extending suffering through the reiteration of images of human degradation. I consider how a problem central to Jewish theology might speak to such curatorial concerns, specifically the question of what constitutes the practice of idolatry. In this context I explore issues related to the ethics of visuality, developing the implications of Leora Batnitzky’s reading of Franz Rosenzweig’s cultural writings for my own concerns regarding the museological practice of public history. Exhibiting perpetrator photographs of suffering and death presents a series of curatorial problems for museums and galleries. Unlike photojournalist images taken to inform a social conscience, the initial creation and circulation of such photographs have historically been implicated in the violence they depict. Beyond skepticism as to photography’s capacity to arouse a moral impulse, exhibitions of perpetrator photographs have been criticized for promoting voyeurism and extending suffering through the reiteration of images of human degradation. I consider how a problem central to Jewish theology might speak to such curatorial concerns, specifically the question of what constitutes the practice of idolatry. In this context I explore issues related to the ethics of visuality, developing the implications of Leora Batnitzky’s reading of Franz Rosenzweig’s cultural writings for my own concerns regarding the museological practice of public history.
Location & Call number	:	‭10.1163/187180010X547639‬