‘Bildseendet föds i fingertopparna’. Om en ekfras för den digitala tidsålder has been published in the new journal Ekfrase. Nordisk tidskrift för visuell kultur 2010:1
The article is in Swedish but please vide abstract in English below.
‘A Visual Sense is Born in the Fingertips’. Towards a Definition of Ekphrasis for the Digital Age
This article aims at rethinking the concept of ekphrasis with a special focus on how digital technology shapes, transforms and reconfigures the dynamic relationship between word and image. According to Ruth Webb in her Ekphrasis, Imagination and Persuasion in Ancient Rhetorical Theory and Practice (2009), the ancient and rhetorical practice of ekphrasis and the concept used in modern literary criticism belong to fundamentally different systems. The ancient definition emphasizes enargeia and the impact on the listener. The visual referent is less important. The modern definition of the term, developed for the analysis of written texts, engages with the visual mainly as referent. In this article the significance of the ancient definition of ekphrasis is re-examined through digital art and electronic literature. It is argued that the ekphrasis of the digital age, with its emphasis onenargeia and on the viewer/reader/user-bodily interaction with the work of art convey an aesthetic of tactility. Also discussed is how deeply rooted the notion of ekphrasis is in print based texutality.
