Multistable figures or Kippbilder combine reversibility and irreversibility in an interesting way. While the so called first aspect change introduces an irreversible split, all subsequent aspect changes can be understood as an endless chain of reversible changes. And it is exactly because of this complex combination of an eventful moment and an undirected repetition of the same, Luca Di Blasi argues in his paper ‘Splitting Images. Understanding Irreversible Fractures Through the Aspect Change’, that Kippbilder can provide an interesting model for understanding better dramatic, existential, even religious events and their consequences. After discussing the specificity of the Rubin vase and its aspect changes and focussing then on the distinction between first and further aspect changes, Di Blasi suggests the productive potential of the multistable figure as model for eventful events in discussing the conversion of Paul and his hōs mē (‘as if not’).
Keywords: aspect seeing; gestalt psychology; multistable figures; multistability; religious studies; splitting (psychology)
Title
Splitting Images
Subtitle
Understanding Irreversible Fractures through Aspect Change
Author(s)
Luca Di Blasi
Identifier
Description
Multistable figures or Kippbilder combine reversibility and irreversibility in an interesting way. While the so called first aspect change introduces an irreversible split, all subsequent aspect changes can be understood as an endless chain of reversible changes. And it is exactly because of this complex combination of an eventful moment and an undirected repetition of the same, Luca Di Blasi argues in his paper ‘Splitting Images. Understanding Irreversible Fractures Through the Aspect Change’, that Kippbilder can provide an interesting model for understanding better dramatic, existential, even religious events and their consequences. After discussing the specificity of the Rubin vase and its aspect changes and focussing then on the distinction between first and further aspect changes, Di Blasi suggests the productive potential of the multistable figure as model for eventful events in discussing the conversion of Paul and his hōs mē (‘as if not’).
Is Part Of
Place
Vienna
Publisher
Turia + Kant
Date
2014
Subject
aspect seeing
gestalt psychology
multistable figures
multistability
religious studies
splitting (psychology)
Rights
© by the author(s)
This version is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Bibliographic Citation
Luca Di Blasi, ‘Splitting Images: Understanding Irreversible Fractures through Aspect Change’, in Multistable Figures: On the Critical Potential of Ir/Reversible Aspect-Seeing, ed. by Christoph F. E. Holzhey, Cultural Inquiry, 8 (Vienna: Turia + Kant, 2014), pp. 67–87 <https://doi.org/10.37050/ci-08_04>
Language
en-GB
page start
67
page end
87
Source
Multistable Figures: On the Critical Potential of Ir/Reversible Aspect-Seeing, ed. by Christoph F. E. Holzhey, Cultural Inquiry, 8 (Vienna: Turia + Kant, 2014), pp. 67–87
Format
application/pdf

References

  • Agamben, Giorgio, The Time That Remains: A Commentary on the Letter to the Romans, trans. by Patricia Dailey (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2005)
  • Badiou, Alain, Saint Paul: The Foundation of Universalism (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2003)
  • Benjamin, Walter, Abhandlungen, in Gesammelte Schriften, ed. by Rolf Tiedemann and Hermann Schweppenhäuser, 7 vols (Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp, 1991)
  • Di Blasi, Luca, ‘One Divided by Another: Split and Conversion in Pasolini’s San Paolo’, in The Scandal of Self-Contradiction: Pasolini’s Multistable Subjectivities, Traditions, Geographies, ed. by Luca Di Blasi, Manuele Gragnolati, and Christoph F. E. Holzhey (Vienna: Turia + Kant, 2012), pp. 189–207 <https://doi.org/10.37050/ci-06_11>
  • Fortuna, Sara, Wittgensteins Philosophie des Kippbilds: Aspektwechsel, Ethik, Sprache (Vienna: Turia + Kant, 2012)
  • Goppelsröder, Fabian, Zwischen Sagen und Zeigen: Wittgensteins Weg von der literarischen zur dichtenden Philosophie (Bielefeld: Transcript, 2007) <https://doi.org/10.14361/9783839407646>
  • Kornmeier, Jürgen, Wahrnehmungswechsel bei mehrdeutigen Bildern – EEG-Messungen zum Zeitverlauf neuronaler Mechanismen (Freiburg: Fakultät für Biologie der Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, 2002)
  • Liska, Vivian, Giorgio Agambens leerer Messianismus (Vienna: Schlebrügge, 2008)
  • Luhmann, Niklas, ‘The Paradox of Form’, in Problems of Form, ed. by Dirk Baecker (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999), pp. 16–26
  • Malevich, Kasimir, ‘From Cubism and Futurism to Suprematism: The New Realism in Painting’, in Art in Theory 1900–1990: An Anthology of Changing Ideas, ed. by Charles Harrison and Paul Wood (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1992), pp. 166–76
  • Martin, Lillien J., ‘Über die Abhängigkeit visueller Vorstellungsbilder vom Denken. Eine experimentelle Untersuchung’, Zeitschrift für Psychologie und Physiologie der Sinnesorgane, I. Abteilung. Zeitschrift für Psychologie, 70.3–4 (Leipzig: Johann Ambrosius Barth, 1914-15), pp. 212–75
  • Rubin, Edgar, Synsoplevede Figurer: Studier i psykologisk Analyse (København: Gyldendal, 1915)
  • Spencer-Brown, George, Laws of Form (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1979)
  • Taubes, Jacob, Die politische Theologie des Paulus: Vorträge, gehalten an der Forschungsstätte der evangelischen Studiengemeinschaft in Heidelberg, 23.–27. Februar 1987 (München: Wilhelm Fink, 1993)
  • Wittgenstein, Ludwig, Philosophical Investigations (Philosophische Untersuchungen), trans. by G. E. M. Anscombe, reissued 2nd edn (Oxford: Blackwell, 1997)
  • Žižek, Slavoj, The Puppet and the Dwarf: The Perverse Core of Christianity (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2003) <https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/5706.001.0001>
  • Žižek, Slavoj, The Parallax View (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2006) <https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/5231.001.0001>

Cite as: Luca Di Blasi, ‘Splitting Images: Understanding Irreversible Fractures through Aspect Change’, in Multistable Figures: On the Critical Potential of Ir/Reversible Aspect-Seeing, ed. by Christoph F. E. Holzhey, Cultural Inquiry, 8 (Vienna: Turia + Kant, 2014), pp. 67–87 <https://doi.org/10.37050/ci-08_04>