excerpt
Preface
(excerpt, p. 7)
This project was first conceived in 2005 as an exhibition; when I took it
up again the following year, it met with massive institutional disinterest. It
then morphed into a book, maintaining an essayistic and interventionist—
rather than purely academic—character. This book seeks to surpass the nowdominant
representation of iconoclasm as a pathological phenomenon grimly
situated in the past, or in retrograde cultures. Rather than relegate it to history,
my aim is to historicize iconoclasm to the point where its potential for
the present situation becomes apparent.
That the study of art is intimately linked to that of religion was driven
home in my student days, when Peter van Dael instructed me in medieval
Christian theories of the image and Carel Blotkamp discussed Mondrian in
the light of theosophy. Now circumstances have forced me to “theologize”
to an unprecedented degree; no doubt I have stumbled from time to time,
but I hope that I make good use of the authors who have guided me through
this field, even when I immodestly beg to differ from them. A kind of expanded
art history, this project also encroaches on philosophy and critical
theory, creating an interdisciplinary montage that is born of necessity, not
fashion. The most important interdisciplinary dialog here is with artists.
(...)
