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The article offers information on several projects, in São Paulo in Brazil which address questions involving the intersection of environment and image. Topics include negative influence of images exists in tradition of iconoclasm from Byzantium to Protestant Reformation and postmodern destruction of political images; destruction of images under Clean City law; and information on neo-Baroque aesthetic that helps to explain immanent effects of nature-turned-luxury-good.

This article reflects on some depicted intentional acts of iconoclasm undertaken by Isis in Northern Iraq and viewed as online videos. It attempts to consider what makes these moving images compelling to audiences who share an orientation to the protection and preservation of ancient artefacts. In doing so, it prompts a reflection on their circulation as part of stories that get told about cultural heritage, and particularly the simple civilizational oppositions that get set up between 'Western' and 'Islamic' culture. Centring on the significance of the sensation of touch to practices of cultural inscription, it suggests that the Northern Iraq videos animate forms of synaesthesic material engagement that are denied by the modernist technologies of museum culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The destruction of statues representing political figures carries symbolic meanings that are negotiated by the people who attack the statue and the regime that the statue represents. Across the Syrian territory, statues of Hafez Al-Assad symbolized the oppressive Ba'athist regime which shaped Syria's past and present for more than almost half a century. As a result, a cult of personality ensued. This paper analyses the destruction of Hafez Al-Assad statues as a case of iconoclasm, framed by how the Ba'athist regime used elements of the past to glorify the personality cult of Hafez Al-Assad (1971–2000) and later his son Bashar Al-Assad (2000-present), Syria's current president. Drawing on the work of political scientists, the paper will establish how this cult of personality operated, to understand how Syrians living under an authoritarian regime engaged with images of Hafez Al-Assad and on which terms. Furthermore, by considering the re-erection of statues representing Hafez Al-Assad the paper will also discuss unfallism to better describe the process of destruction and re-erection of statues in Syria. The underlying argument of this paper is that the destruction and re-erection of statues in Syria are acts that question the purpose of destroying a statue today, amidst the current climate of removal of statues in different parts of the world as a response to dismantling systems of oppression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban fallism in early revolutionary Russia was a political and aesthetic struggle rooted in imperial Russian civic culture. Few tsarist monuments were taken down in Moscow and Petrograd in 1917 and 1918 despite the violence of the social revolution and near universal hatred for the old regime. This selective iconoclasm occurred because the criteria for removal of statues in those cities reflected the aesthetic agenda of artists, critics, and campaigners from late imperial Russia who convinced Bolshevik politicians to accept their authority in art matters. After the February Revolution in 1917, public proposals for the large-scale dismantling of tsarist monuments received pushback from art professionals who argued that monuments should be protected according to their artistic value, not destroyed for their political representations. The Bolsheviks who took over in October 1917 deferred to such art experts on issues regarding monument demolition. The most recent monuments associated with official narratives and realist aesthetics of the deposed Nicholas II were removed, whilst others were protected as aesthetically desirable. Preservationists thus successfully changed the definition of political art from narrative content to aesthetic form and preserved some statues that political revolutionaries wanted to destroy. Today the Putin government seeks to protect Lenin monuments through a similar depoliticisation of revolutionary content inside a framework of historic preservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The residents of Dublin, Ireland have developed a robust commemorative infrastructure throughout the city since the early eighteenth century. A prominent site in this landscape is at the centre of O'Connell Street (Sackville Street from the late 1700s to 1924). Today, the Spire of Dublin (2003) is located at this site. But it projects an ambiguous connection to both the city's and the country's factious history. Two other statues previously stood on the site, both commemorating British imperial military figures: the Blakeney Monument (1759) and Nelson's Pillar (1808). Both works were intentionally destroyed in acts of urban iconoclasm. An analysis of the changes in the monumental public art on this site over the centuries demonstrates that iconoclasm has been a factor in shifting Irish attitudes toward the British and themselves, Irish associations with power and memory, and a potent symbol in Dublin's urban landscape. This is established by using an expanded conceptualisation of iconoclasm that incorporates a series of post-fall responses to a monument and its site's physical state and context over time, the site's continued symbolic meanings, and the site becoming home to new monumental or other symbolic expressions. The result illustrates that this site has been significantly inscribed into British imperial and Irish national iconography regardless of the monument or public sculpture it has held. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In March 2015, an activist movement 'Rhodes must fall' from the University of Cape Town initiated a new form of global socio-political protest, which spread in cities worldwide and was characterized by spatial practices of occupying, modifying and pulling down monuments in public space. Presenting key theoretic points of this special feature in City, this introduction explores the phenomenon of 'urban fallism'–the ways in which the action of contesting, transforming and/or removing a monument from urban space operates as a means of political struggle and as a form of political engagement in urban contexts. It outlines and integrates the contributions to this special feature, which covers a range of historic and contemporary cases in different urban, geographic and socio-political contexts, including: post-colonialism in Africa and the Americas; post-communism and post-imperialism in Europe and Asia; and wars in the Middle East. Drawing on original research and analyses from the fields of archaeology, history, art history, heritage studies, architecture, urban design, and sociology, the papers in this special feature highlight how the fall of monuments operates as a tool for political resistance against marginalization, discrimination and exclusion, a catalyst for democracy and social justice, and a means of dealing with contested heritage. As such, contributions of this special feature speak about the urban politics of race and identity and raise questions about the role of collective memory in the struggle of opposing and/or marginalized social groups for their right to the city and their place and recognition in society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Arte y Políticas de Identidad is the property of Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Murcia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This exploratory, mixed-methods study uses semi-structured interviews to identify the sources of interference that news photographers encounter and then, using survey research, assesses these interferences' prevalence. It also uses interview and survey data to identify photographs that photographers are prevented from taking and ones taken despite interference. In so doing, the study illuminates how the constraints photojournalists encounter shape their work and, ultimately, the types of images missing from the mass media. Men and women, and freelancers and staff photographers, encounter different types of obstructions. Anxieties about public visibility, and the desire to control images, predict higher rates of interference. News scenes, police activities, accidents, and private spaces were among the most common scenes photographers were prevented from photographing. Taken together, this study contributes to Shoemaker and Reese's hierarchy of influences model, by explicating the extra-media and individual sources of influence that shape photojournalistic practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we map heritage destruction in Myanmar's Rakhine state. We outline the historic and contemporary political context in Myanmar explaining the background of the Rohingya Muslim ethnic group and addressing the contribution of religion and political change to anti-Rohingya discrimination and violence in Myanmar. We trace patterns of heritage destruction as legal and/ or illegal iconoclasm and specify the key elements of heritage destruction in Rakhine state. Our analysis focusses on the use of heritage destruction in Rakhine state as a tool of genocide, and we suggest that heritage destruction in Myanmar's Rakhine state ought to be understood as part the authorities' policies of genocide against the Rohingya. We conclude the article with a call for UNESCO to act to extend its 'Unite4Heritage' campaign to include the destruction of heritage by state actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bibliographic-documentary study in the interstitial zone of visual communication and religiosity in Brazil. It address questions about the possibility of understanding Brazilian Protestantism as iconoclastic. The answer this question it focus on the events surrounding the building of the most famous statue in Rio de Janeiro, Christ the Redeemer, and in the political context of beginning of Brazilian Republic. It is from an analysis that we engage the discussion on the relation between religion and society in Brazil. The research strategy focuses on discursive and argumentative discourse pro and against the building of the monument. The discourse analyses of this religious dispute reveal a struggle for the social and political redefinition of the country; they also reveal iconoclasm in the Brazilian Protestant speech. The description of the iconoclastic operation by David Morgan (2005) provides the theoretical basis for the analysis. Another authors help to understand the Brazilian context, as Alberto Klein, Norval Baitello e Malena Contrera, besides authors of the Anthropology and Sociology of Religion. We conclude that Brazilian Protestantism does have in itself, an iconoclastic perspective. We also consider that the lack of separation between the public and the religious spheres of past are still relevant to understand today's social context in that country; and, finally, we affirm that visuality perfumes a central role in Brazilian religious practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Hispania: Revista Española de Historia is the property of Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of MATRIZes is the property of Universidade de Sao Paulo, Programa de Pos Graduacao em Ciencias da Comunicacao and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Destruction of cultural heritage and artworks e.g. by terrorist groups has significant psychological effects for individuals and communities. This article outlines how the negative psychological effects of iconoclasm and arts destruction may be rooted in the human social brain. The proposed neurocognitive mechanisms include: (1) associative learning mechanisms (memory-reward links), (2) neuroendocrine mechanisms (oxytocin and prolactin reward links) and (3) social touch mechanisms (CT cutaneous mechanoreceptor-reward links). Iconoclasm and arts destruction are a threat to the stability of human psychological systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gaston Bachelard (1884–1962) occupies a unique position in the history of European thinking. As a philosopher of science, he developed a profound interest in genres of the imagination, notably poetry and novels. While emphatically acknowledging the strength, precision and reliability of scientific knowledge compared to every-day experience, he saw literary phantasies as important supplementary sources of insight. Although he significantly influenced authors such as Lacan, Althusser, Foucault and others, while some of his key concepts ("epistemological rupture," "epistemological obstacle," "technoscience") are still widely used, his oeuvre tends to be overlooked. And yet, as I will argue, Bachelard's extended series of books opens up an intriguing perspective on contemporary science. First, I will point to a remarkable duality that runs through Bachelard's oeuvre. His philosophy of science consists of two sub-oeuvres: a psychoanalysis of technoscience, complemented by a poetics of elementary imagination. I will point out how these two branches deal with complementary themes: technoscientific artefacts and literary fictions, two realms of human experience separated by an epistemological rupture. Whereas Bachelard's work initially entails a panegyric in praise of scientific practice, he becomes increasingly intrigued by the imaginary and its basic images ("archetypes"), such as the Mother Earth archetype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Black Lives Matter movement has inspired the eradication of symbols and icons associated with oppressive systems around the world. Statues are being defaced or taken down and films regarded as racially insensitive, withdrawn from streaming services. This has sparked heated debates around the world that may be settled by combining some of the terms and ideas of media ecology and general semantics. Media ecology is instrumental for understanding the nature of these media, and general semantics for understanding people's responses to them. The concept of context runs through the debate and there are calls for contextualizing statues by exhibiting them in museums, and films, by adding prefaces to them. The author proposes a different way to contextualize them, which she believes has the potential of settling the current heated debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista FAMECOS - Mídia, Cultura e Tecnologia is the property of EDIPUCRS - Editora Universitaria da PUCRS and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The Islamic State articulates its claim for legitimate authority through texts, audio messages, and still and moving images. In addition, among the practices employed to classify "genuine" Islam and its boundaries, the destruction of cultural properties has received much international attention. The movement has framed these sites as manifestations of idolatry and, consequently, their obliteration as a legitimate means for socioreligious purification. In this article, I argue that the Islamic State's attacks on these properties are embedded in a comprehensive strategy of spatial, material, ideational, and intellectual purification of the socioreligious landscape. By destroying these sites, the movement targets integral elements of social identities of local and transnational communities and their individual members in order to build a new social framework on their ruins. I suggest understanding these acts as strategic "socioclasm." Visualizations are part of this strategy and help render the Islamic State an effective force because they support the production of images in the minds of both the movement's followers and adversaries, hence attesting to the Islamic State's rise, ideology, and actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ars Adriatica is the property of Sveuciliste u Zadru (University of Zadar) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In 754 emperor Constantine V sought to defame the iconophile opposition by labeling John Damascene an agent of Arab influence. The fathers of Nicaenum II in 787 made a case for justifying external interference in the religious life of the Byzantine Empire. This stance was nuanced in polemical writings of the early 9th century. The author of the Life of St. Stephen the Younger presented external political pressure as internal by making the saint deliver a sermon on the geography of the iconoclast world in which political borders and ecclesiastical jurisdictions were deliberately tempered with. In late 810ies Theodore Studite and Patriarch Nicephorus launched a diplomatic enterprise aiming to increase the political pressure exercised from abroad over the recently reestablished iconoclast regime of Leo V. A close reading of Theodore’s letters and Nicephorus’ writings from exile sheds light on the underlying ideological basis of this trend. Michael II in his turn appropriated his opponents’ stratagem and tried to win over to his side an expanding external power -- the Carolingian empire -- and use it to suppress the iconophile opposition. In spite of the fact that the iconophile diplomatic efforts had negative rebound effects during the reign of Michael II, they were allotted a proper place in Byzantine cultural memory.

Cultural history is currently rediscovering heraldry as a versatile means of communication that was widely employed throughout all parts of medieval society, not least the city. Scholars, however, primarily analyse the urban space as a stage for noble self-representation by means of heraldic communication. This paper argues for a different perspective, that townspeople and other commoners were far from primarily passive observers of heraldry displayed in the city. Four case studies from late medieval London demonstrate public expressions of discontent and protest through forms of heraldic communication which did not rely on display, but instead on the manipulation and destruction of the heraldic signs of kings, princes and other noblemen. Indeed, such heraldic practices of 'non-nobles' suggest that heraldry, in the later Middle Ages, was accessible to all parts of society, and constituted a ubiquitous and powerful aspect of urban visual culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt's "Von Abtuhung der Bilder und Das Keyn Bedtler unther den Christen seyn sollen" were printed as a single tract on January 27, 1522, and headed by a single, dedicatory preface. A rhetorical analysis of both essays shows aspects of Karlstadt's legalistic hermeneutic, with its heavy reliance on the Old Testament, and a notion of "offense" rooted in material-spiritual circumstances that offend God and, consequently, Karlstadt himself. His rhetoric rests upon and sustains a premise that to be faithful is to submit oneself to Scripture, as the law of God, and to fulfill its mandates. His tract is a prophetic summons to the judgment of God's word, to measure contemporary treatment of images and begging according to God's administrative codes in the Old Testament, which are ratified in the New Testament and forever apply to the Christian Church. Karlstadt's prophetic rhetoric describes a "true Christian" differently than Luther's does. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work assesses what happened to liturgical objects from Icelandic churches and monastic houses during and after the Lutheran Reformation, through an examination of written sources, such as inventories and Visitation books, and material evidence in museum collections and from archaeological excavations. The aim of this work is first, to assess the extent and nature of iconoclasm in Iceland and secondly to re-examine traditional narratives of the Icelandic Reformation in the light of material culture.