Ephemeral memories. The paradox of images’ abundance in the age of digital mortality

Abstract

Visual communication has always been one of the primary forms of human expression. Moreover, since the digital revolution, we are leaving in between two phenomena: the so-called société du spectacle directly relying on images as social representation and the information society. More than ever, we are living an abundance of mass picture production thanks to mobile devices, and social network devoted to visual storytelling. Nevertheless, this profusion is dramatically changing the nature of images: from timeless memory-machines to ephemeral experiences to be shared and consumed. Besides, the perishable materiality of digital images and the technological obsolescence risk to erase original documentary sources forever. The paper presents and discusses the paradox the end of mythography – the visual form history storytelling as we know it today – and the cultural creation of the eternal present due to the mortality of digital images.