IMAGE, LANGUAGE

Abstract

In this text, Georges Didi-Huberman responds, in letter-form, to the critical reflections about his work formulated by Jacques Rancière in “Images Re-read: Georges Didi-Huberman’s Method.” Didi-Huberman disagrees with Rancière’s analysis that images are “passive” and that the words which accompany them are “active.” Instead, he agrees with Merleau-Ponty’s view, which postulates that any analysis of images that seeks to disentangle its elements will render the image unintelligible. In opposition to Rancière’s presentation of his work, Didi-Huberman argues that his method is one of tracing the mutually entangled implications of images. Furthermore, Didi-Huberman challenges Rancière to articulate what exactly “the sensible” means when he uses the phrase “distribution of the sensible.” While Rancière distrusts the reliance on pathos and emotions when it comes to analysing images, Didi-Huberman argues that “the sensible” will always involve the body with all its pathos, emotions and gestures.

Keywords:

• Jacques Rancière
• montage
• emotions
• politics of images
• the sensible

disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

The publisher wishes to thank Les Presses du réel for permission to publish this translation of text that appeared originally in Penser l’image III. Comment lire les images?, edited by Emmanuel Alloa and published in 2017.

1 Editors’ note: this is a reference to Rancière’s presentation during the Images–Passions–Languages. On the Work of Georges Didi-Huberman conference held in Paris, 11–13 June 2013 (National Library of France/Jewish History and Art Museum/German Center of History and Art). The written version of the presentation, “Images Re-read: The Method of Georges Didi-Huberman,” is published in this present issue.

2 Editors’ note: the Soulèvements exhibition was on display in Paris at the Jeu de Paume from 17 October 2016 to 15 January 2017. It then travelled to La Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain, to the Museo de la Universitario Nacional de Tres de Febrero, Buenos Aires, Argentina, to the Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City, Mexico and to La Galerie de l’Uqam/Université du Québec à Montréal, Montreal, Canada.