(An)Aesthetics of affect: the Case of Hyper-Realism

A clear- cut separation between the reality of the life-world and the (alleged) “unreality” of the image- world has been traditionally considered as the sine qua non of aesthetic enjoyment. Accordingly, framing devices have been identified as crucial tools capable of ensuring the island- like structure essential to pictures. This structure goes hand in hand with the beholder’s awareness of being in front of “nothing but pictures.” A particular subset of images, hyper- realistic pictures tend on the contrary to conceal their iconic nature: their affective power lies precisely in the ability to blur the threshold between image and reality. Yet both the aesthetic value and the affective power of ordinary hyper-realistic puppets are usually considered minimal, if not non-existent. This essay offers an explanation of how it is that deceivingly life- like pictures, which at first one would be tempted to define as ultra-affective, come instead to be judged as almost non-affective. After focusing on the most common strategies of anaesthetizing hyperrealism, I will show how these very same strategies can be reverted so as to achieve the exactly opposite effect, i.e., to give back to hyper-realistic likenesses their unparalleled affective charge precisely through a process of un-framing.