7
Image and Poetics
theory
An image prompts us to enter into an emotional relationship with a topic and triggers the mechanism of interpretation. It represents a kind of cipher. Through symbolic association, we encode information into it. This information, as a rule, does not carry a factual load but conveys sensations. An image is not literal, an image is subjective, so it can evoke completely different readings from different people.
The process of deciphering an imaginative key is always individual and relies on a personal store of knowledge and lived experience. Thus, no single reading can be considered erroneous. Moreover, the very act of interpretation engages the viewer, prompting them to search for associations and corresponding memories.
The process of deciphering an imaginative key is always individual and relies on a personal store of knowledge and lived experience. Thus, no single reading can be considered erroneous. Moreover, the very act of interpretation engages the viewer, prompting them to search for associations and corresponding memories.
7.1
Your Images Shouldn’t Be in Google
Being a symbolic puzzle, an image creates a mystery—it should surprise. If it turns out to be excessively obvious and straightforward, it will not cause the necessary stop of attention in the viewer. Passing by, a person must overcome a moderate but tangible barrier. In one of the sessions with students, we tried to find at least one formal criterion for a good image. How can one distinguish an expressive solution from an empty picture if perception is always personal and subjective?
Then we proposed, albeit a crude, but memorable rule: your images shouldn’t be in Google. What does this mean? If you type the word "love" or "lightness" into a search engine, under the "images" tab, the system will provide a standard set of associations. For example, for the query "lightness"—feathers, dandelions, ballerinas.
The same thing happens with neural network image generators like Midjourney: they are trained on huge arrays of visual data from the internet and reproduce already established templates. A query for "lightness" will again yield ballerinas and feathers.
Why are such images not suitable for us? A search engine or a neural network shows mass-accepted visual codes—universal, neutral, often cliché, and detached from cultural or social context. Such universality does not provide the necessary friction. It is the element of surprise and slight ambiguity that triggers the process of interpretation.
Then we proposed, albeit a crude, but memorable rule: your images shouldn’t be in Google. What does this mean? If you type the word "love" or "lightness" into a search engine, under the "images" tab, the system will provide a standard set of associations. For example, for the query "lightness"—feathers, dandelions, ballerinas.
The same thing happens with neural network image generators like Midjourney: they are trained on huge arrays of visual data from the internet and reproduce already established templates. A query for "lightness" will again yield ballerinas and feathers.
Why are such images not suitable for us? A search engine or a neural network shows mass-accepted visual codes—universal, neutral, often cliché, and detached from cultural or social context. Such universality does not provide the necessary friction. It is the element of surprise and slight ambiguity that triggers the process of interpretation.
example
Your images shouldn’t be in Google
theory
Of course, the question immediately arises about the permissible degree of incomprehensibility and mystery. How complex and deep can an image afford to be? There is no single universal rule that guarantees the successful reading of an image. However, there is an understanding that if the exhibition design proceeds sequentially and without gaps, that is, the system of images is created in a seamless sequence of processes (described in Chapter 9), the logic and integrity of the concept will make the images readable. The integrity of the goal, the routes, and the thematic levels creates a legend-space, within which each part is read in conjunction with the others. The data, navigation, visual language, and other components of the exhibition begin to interact synergistically.
7.2
Image and Context
An image allows for the transmission of states, endowing facts and data with the additional context of sensory experience. A system of images helps create an environment in which the objects presented in the exhibition acquire an emotional fabric. An object in an exhibition, by itself, is just inanimate matter. At the same time, it has the superpower to move and transform in time and space. An object can be a witness to an event, bear the trace of physical impact, contain a documentary inscription, or be the embodiment of a rare craft tradition.
ram case
Chapter of the exhibition "Will it Disappear or Transform" "Daughter of Kachu of son of Gammad of son of Kachu"
How did we turn a still life into "living nature"?
All his life, Kachu Gammadov collected an amazing collection of ethnographic items in his home. Kachu died long ago, but his daughter Maisat continues his work: she preserves and adds to the collection, shows it to people, and dreams of turning the house into a real museum. In this chapter of the exhibition, we wanted to show not only the objects themselves and their history but also the story of succession—Maisat's attitude towards the tradition her father started. How to show this?
How did we turn a still life into "living nature"?
All his life, Kachu Gammadov collected an amazing collection of ethnographic items in his home. Kachu died long ago, but his daughter Maisat continues his work: she preserves and adds to the collection, shows it to people, and dreams of turning the house into a real museum. In this chapter of the exhibition, we wanted to show not only the objects themselves and their history but also the story of succession—Maisat's attitude towards the tradition her father started. How to show this?
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One day during the expedition, we noticed Maisat washing one of her father’s old plates in the sink. Water flowed down her hands, and her hands carefully rotated the plate under the stream. This observed interaction between hands and object gave us an image for the exhibition. In one of the installations, we showed ten video still lifes. In them, Maisat’s hands moved between the stationary objects from her father’s collection. The still lifes were accompanied by her voice—she told stories from her childhood related to these objects. Maisat’s voice became an important intonation of this chapter—in it, we heard the very attitude of a daughter dreaming of continuing her father’s work.
theory
Through the creation of context, we expose the non-material and non-obvious values of the material in the exhibition. Experience, state, atmosphere, feelings—all these cannot be touched, but it is very important to convey them to the viewer so that knowledge becomes lived experience.
Non-material and non-obvious values are concepts that describe the relationships and states of the exhibition’s characters: to each other, to events, to time, to other people.
A person lives through all deep experiences and revelations with their body. If you can prompt the viewer to experience the exhibition with their body—you have won. Bodily experiences are fixed in consciousness—like beacons to which a person returns even after a long time.
Images, expressed in color, light, architecture, texts, pictures, and sounds, form an expressive language addressed to the physical and emotional body of the viewer.
Non-material and non-obvious values are concepts that describe the relationships and states of the exhibition’s characters: to each other, to events, to time, to other people.
A person lives through all deep experiences and revelations with their body. If you can prompt the viewer to experience the exhibition with their body—you have won. Bodily experiences are fixed in consciousness—like beacons to which a person returns even after a long time.
Images, expressed in color, light, architecture, texts, pictures, and sounds, form an expressive language addressed to the physical and emotional body of the viewer.
example
The set of physical and emotional sensations that arise in the viewer in this room becomes a metaphor for the experience of a prisoner in a camp: fear, cold, darkness, the impossibility of escape, the unattainability of light and hope. These experiences, caused by the architecture, bring the viewer closer to understanding what people went through in Auschwitz. It is not about a literal reproduction of suffering, but about conveying an emotional fragment capable of becoming a springboard between the viewer and a historical era in which they were not a direct participant.
One of the rooms in the Jewish Museum in Berlin is built without electric light. It is a space with a high ceiling, concrete gray walls, and floor. Finding themselves in it, a person primarily experiences two sensations: it is cold and dark here. Then comes a feeling of one's own insignificance—due to the overwhelming height of the ceiling. High up, at the top of the vault, a narrow slit is left, through which dim, diffused light penetrates during the daytime.
theory
The viewer’s movement in the exhibition space can be imagined as a performance happening to them, and then the exhibition itself becomes a complete work of art. We are concerned not only with the story told, which we talked about in the sixth chapter, but also with its poetics. Figurative language allows for a brighter and more expressive transmission of emotions to the viewer, and thus—establishes a connection with the content. Emotional engagement directly affects the quality of information assimilation.
Sensory effects of imaginative storytelling:
7.2.1
help to endow inanimate objects with physicality and context;
3
build a tangible contact and involvement with events and experiences.
2
1
trigger the mechanism of interpretation and promote dialogue with the viewer;
example
The memorial on the Danube embankment in Budapest was unveiled on April 16, 2005, in memory of the Hungarian Jews killed during the Holocaust by members of a local fascist organization. People were shot at the water’s edge, forced to take off their shoes beforehand—at that time, shoes were considered valuable and suitable for resale.
The memorial consists of 60 pairs of cast-iron shoes—men's, women’s, children’s. They are scattered along the bank—as if their owners disappeared, and only the shoes remained. The figures are made in life size. Thanks to this, a person walking along the embankment involuntarily compares their own feet with this empty trace—the commensurability of the body and the object activates bodily recognition.
This simple physical correlation triggers an emotional engagement that requires no additional explanation. Through bodily resonance, a contact with the tragedy arises.
The memorial consists of 60 pairs of cast-iron shoes—men's, women’s, children’s. They are scattered along the bank—as if their owners disappeared, and only the shoes remained. The figures are made in life size. Thanks to this, a person walking along the embankment involuntarily compares their own feet with this empty trace—the commensurability of the body and the object activates bodily recognition.
This simple physical correlation triggers an emotional engagement that requires no additional explanation. Through bodily resonance, a contact with the tragedy arises.
theory
7.3
The image as a code allows for the unfolding of large layers of information in a more compressed form. Considering the peculiarities of modern information consumption, it is important for us to save the viewer’s time in order to use their attention as effectively as possible.
The image, being an associative rather than a direct statement, allows for the construction of a narrative on sensitive topics in a more delicate language. You might ask: won’t such delicacy interfere with preserving the seriousness and significance of the problem? Here, a harmonious combination of informativeness and poetics is indeed important—one in which we do not lose meanings but preserve space for the protagonists and viewers. Thanks to this, we do not violate the intimacy and privacy of their feelings and experiences.
Conciseness
Functions of the Image
Ethics
ram case
"Dreams behind the Hijab"
The basis of the visual series was still lifes with objects. The project's subjects—women who wear the hijab—were revealed through images of simple things. We asked each of them to assemble a still life of six items found in her home. Each item became an image of one of the concepts: faith, family, home, occupation, childhood, dream.
The basis of the visual series was still lifes with objects. The project's subjects—women who wear the hijab—were revealed through images of simple things. We asked each of them to assemble a still life of six items found in her home. Each item became an image of one of the concepts: faith, family, home, occupation, childhood, dream.
The subjects assembled the still lifes by themselves, without our participation. The researcher was absent from this process, and the object became a mediator between the heroine and the viewer. This created a sense of seclusion and internal dialogue, in which the woman had the opportunity to choose exactly what she was ready and wanted to share. Figurative expression allows for leaving fragments of silence and understatement—this provides greater potential for observing ethics in relation to the project's protagonists.
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Later, each woman told a story about the object and explained why it became an image of one of the concepts, for example, home. Through the images of beads, a sprig of mint, a radio receiver, or a piece of bread, we learn her story, character, and sense of the world.
theory
7.3
With the help of an image, we involve the viewer in the process of solving a puzzle, creating conditions for a game and inviting dialogue. Due to its nature, the image becomes an interactive element, open to interpretations. The viewer ceases to be a passive observer and takes on the role of a co-participant in the narrative. At the same time, we leave them freedom and the right to reflect, without dictating or imposing specific assertions.
Engagement
Functions of the Image
example
"I would like to bring art to improbable places, create projects so huge with the community that they are forced to ask themselves questions."
JR
JR
As in his other works, the street photo-artist JR literally demonstrates the significance of a social problem. The project Déplacé·e·s is a series of installations that disseminate information about the millions of refugee children around the world.
For each installation, JR and his team traveled to places where families sought refuge due to war, climate change, or social instability. With the help of the local community, they created an image of a refugee child on a 45-meter tarpaulin. By placing such art objects in a real environment, the author solves three tasks at once:
For each installation, JR and his team traveled to places where families sought refuge due to war, climate change, or social instability. With the help of the local community, they created an image of a refugee child on a 45-meter tarpaulin. By placing such art objects in a real environment, the author solves three tasks at once:
- Works with the aesthetics of public space
- Raises the agenda literally to a scale that is impossible to ignore
- Supports and builds a connection between the community and its heroes
theory
7.3
The poetic and picturesque quality that an image adds to a project plays an important role when working with sensitive topics. This is not about the aestheticization of violence or pain, but about the possibility of influencing the viewer’s attention in a non-traumatic way. Aesthetics allows, through artistic attraction, to lower the barrier of rejection when perceiving a complex topic.
Aesthetics
Functions of the Image
example
Despite the difference in the typology and volume of the material, the project managed to observe all the features of stylistic unity.
method
Illustrations of the method
It turned out that a vase, a tea set, a Christmas ornament, a stone, a book—appearing in the stories of our protagonists and researchers—were capable of containing all the tension of the story in a concentrated form.
things in common
In the title (Things in Common) and concept of the project, we set the theme of material objects. The method of narrative chains, described in the previous chapter, helped not only to build plot lines of different levels but also to identify symbolic objects endowed with semantic and emotional weight for the entire research as a whole.