Imaginations: Journal of Cross-Cultural Image Studies / Revue d’études interculturelles de l’image understands itself as an academic journal dedicated to “cross-cultural and intersecting epistemological fields that have at their root a determined focus on the role and power of the image in contemporary culture and in cultural communications” (Editors). As an open-access, online, peer-reviewed journal that follows established processes of editing and review, the timelines of publication do not always do justice to the rapid ebbs and flows of contemporary visual culture or the sometimes unconventional formats of engagement with the cultural texts of contemporary visual culture apposite for the practices we are interested in. The Elicitations section of the journal is meant to address these epistemological considerations by complementing regular issues of the journal with think pieces about visual culture, reviews, interventions, and other forms of timely engagements that are ineluctably academic yet do not fit into the established parameters of journal articles (and their publication timelines). We therefore publish Elicitations on a rolling basis but have also come to realize that in a landscape of aggregation and multiple distribution of journal issues, not having Elicitations collected into a single issue does not give them the same kind of lasting visibility and archiving as our regular issues. We have therefore decided to publish annually a catalogue of Elicitations that collect them into a single issue.
This catalogue collects Elicitations published during 2024. In “Bimbos and Bombs: The Barbenheimer Phenomenon,” Cate Alexander and Camille Intson engage with the memes, public discussions, and situated analyses of the simultaneous 2024 theatrical release of two blockbusters: Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. Marko Vučković uses visual arguments to challenge Marcello Vitali-Rosati’s canonical critiques of authorship in “If One Has the Floor, Does One Also Need to Dance?”, an Elicitation that itself elicited a response from Vitali-Rosati, namely, “Who is the Writer?” Lindsay Freeman draws our attention to a visual genre that is rarely in the spotlight: miniatures. “Small Elegies for America” explores, through a close analysis of the works of Michael Paul Smith, Thomas Doyle,and James Casebere, how these small-scale artworks mobilize the nostalgia inherent in the genre to address the complexities and challenges of contemporary American life. Finally, in “Video Art and Collective Memory in Turkey,” Merve Captan analyzes how time and collective memory are represented in the video art of Ali Kazma, Halil Altındere, Erkan Özgen, and Seza Paker.
As a compilation, these Elicitations demonstrate the range and importance of visual culture in contemporary media and the need for timely interventions and provocations. We look forward to receiving more Elicitations over the next years.
Works Cited
Editors, Managing. “After Imagining/ Après l’imaginer: Imaginations.” Imaginations: Journal of Cross-Cultural Image Studies, vol. 1, no. 1, Dec. 2010, p. 1.