The Iconographic Brain: An Inquiry into the Culture of Brain Imaging

Abstract

In order to delve into the powerful interpellative allure of brain-imaging, I set out from Althusser’s concept of interpellation to understand how subjectivity is produced, and pose the question of where resistance is to be found? Therefore, I examine the status of the image within scientific culture. Drawing on Baudrillard, I probe the dimension of virtuality opened up by brain image culture. This raises the question of whether the digital brain is resisted by the old analogue psyche? After answering in the negative, I examine how the brain image is constructed from a data-gaze, which, in conjunction with an engagement with theories of iconology, culminates in the somewhat unexpected claim that the sought-after resistance lies in the very status of the image itself.