THE GHOSTS OF IMAGE: FROM WRITERS’ MUSEUMS TO THE MNEMOSYNE ATLAS

Abstract

In this paper we aim, by opening up to exploration the possible definitions or aspects of the concept of image, to demonstrate that the state of emotion and the truth described by Gilles Deleuze as the ideal essence of signifiers of art is in fact manifested in the image. As samples in visual culture of embodiement of art signifiers as conceptualized through literature in Deleuze’s book Proust and Signs, we employ critical close analysis to Orhan Pamuk’s Museum of Innocence in Cukurcuma and Aby Warburg’s Bilderatlas (Memory Atlas). The rationale behind this selection is motivated both by their thematic similarities with Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time and by the qualities of the relationship they establish between memory and image.The in-depth interview conducted with the art director of the museum, Kıymet Daştan puts forth a qualitative resarch value.

Özet

Bu yazıda, imge kavramının olası tanımlarını -ya da imgenin hallerini- araştırmaya açarken Gilles Deleuze’ün sanat göstergelerinin ideal özü olarak betimlediği duygu ve hakikat durumunun aslında imgede tezahür ettiğini göstermek amaçlanmaktadır. Deleuze’ün Proust ve Göstergeler kitabında edebiyat üzerinden kavramlaştırdığı sanat göstergelerinin görsel kültür alanındaki yansımaları için örneklem olarak Orhan Pamuk’un Çukurcuma’daki Masumiyet Müzesi ve Aby Warburg’un Bilderatlas’ı (Bellek Atlası) ele alınacaktır. Araştırmanın bu iki eseri seçme nedenini, hem Marcel Proust’un Kayıp Zamanın İzinde eseriyle olan tematik benzerlikleri hem de bellek ve imge arasında kurdukları ilişkinin niteliğinde görmek mümkündür. In this paper we aim, by opening up to investigation the possible definitions or aspects of the image, to demonstrate that the state of emotion and the truth described by Gilles Deleuze as the ideal essence of signifiers of arts is in fact manifested in the image. As samples in visual culture of embodiement of art signifiers as conceptualized through literatüre in Deleuze’s book Proust and Signs, we consider Orhan Pamuk’s Museum of Innocence in Cukurcuma and Aby Warburg’s Bilderatlas (Memory Atlas). The choice of these works is motivated both by their thematic similarities with Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time and by the qualities of the relationship they establish between memory and image.