The inertia of the visible: Idris Khan’s writing images

ABSTRACT

Inertia is a movement, whose dynamic is self-referential: it arrests and returns to itself. I will consider this force, which at the same time is propulsive and negative, in regard to the work of the British artist Idris Khan (b. 1978). I will develop the idea that two visual techniques – blurring and repetition – are the means by which inertia is maintained in the visual field. Blurring and repetition have been often employed in a political way to contest the right of the visible to claim truth: a blurred image is never a scientifically reliable source of information. I will be taking into consideration, among other sources, the already classic text of Eduardo Cadava [2011. “Lapsus Imaginis: The Image in Ruins” in October, Vol. 96 (Spring, 2001), pp. 35–60.]. Relying on Walter Benjamin, Cadava talks about the inherent ruination in the contemporary image, as a trauma of what the visible has been accumulating in recent history. I consider Cadava’s reading inspiring for the understanding of Idris Khan’s work, since inertia in Khan's work functions as a statement of contestation. His works reveal to me an endless movement that defies historical time and doubts the image as legitimate document.

KEYWORDS:

• Ruins
• inertia
• image
• ritual
• self-referentiality

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributors

Marta Jecu is researcher at the CICANT, Universidade Lusofona, Lisbon and freelance curator. She has published in magazines like: E-Flux, Kaleidoscope, Berlin Art Link, Idea Art + Society, Journal of Curatorial Studies, Esse Arts + Opinions and books: Jim Elkins (Ed.): ‘Contemporary Visual Culture Reader’, Routledge, New York, 2012, Iulia Dondorici (Ed.): ‘Rumänien heute’, Passagen Verlag, Wien, 2011, etc. She curated a.o. in 2011 in Lisbon Subtle Construction and edited the volume: Marta Jecu (Ed.): Subtle Construction, Bypass, Malmo, Lisbon, 2011; She curated Open Monument at Kunstraum Kreuzberg Bethanien Berlin, in May–June 2013 and edited OPEN MONUMENT, Revolver Verlag, Berlin. Her volume Architecture and the Virtual appeared this year at University of Chicago Press (US) and Intellect Book (UK).

Notes

1 See, for example, his numerous works in the series ‘every  …  Bernd and Hilla Becher’, which can be regarded as metaphorical images.

2 Throughout his work, Mitchell makes a differentiation between picture and image: a picture is a broad category that includes real or imaginary views and apparitions, whereas images are representations or motives that can be seen in various media.

3 For an analysis of W. J. T. Mitchell‘s term ‘in-disciplined’, see more down.