Nieświadomość ekranu albo zatarcie materialności
Screen Unconsciousness or the Obliteration of Materiality

Summary/Abstract: As we often hear, what is at stake in the transition from a paper book to a digital tool isa transformation from the material world to the virtual world and from the Symbolic tothe Imaginary. The tacit assumption behind these both claims is that the materialand the virtual constitute two opposing dimensions, and that the virtual is synonymouswith the immaterial. In this text, drawing on the writings of Byung-Chul Han, JacquesLacan, and Giorgio Agamben, I argue that both these assumptions are false. First, I attemptto determine what the screen’s mirror is. What is the screen-mirror that no onesees even though everyone constantly looks at it? Is the function of the mirror to doubleor to annihilate the seer? Second, I ask a question about who is seen on the screen.Is the spectacle of the projected world seen, or are we instead drawn, sucked intothe screen’s interior? Third, and finally, I consider the problem of the screen’s materialityand its obliteration. Is the magic of digital devices not about staging the disappearanceof their own materiality? And is the description of this invisible materiality limitedto describing the conditions of representation, presentation, or disclosure of the image?The answers to these three questions are intended to lead me to formulate theses aboutwhat I call the “screen unconscious.”

• Details
• Contents