Seeing is Believing: The Politics of the Visual

Several thousand times a day we assimilate visual imagery at speed, a process accelerated in the digital world. The book explores the complex and reciprocal dynamic between world and image in our visually mediated society. Everyone 'knows' images can be false or deceptive, but we all live and work in constant denial of this idea and its implications. In a world saturated with media we act as though we are immune to their effects. Seeing is Believing is an invitation to an intimate voyage that is permeable to the world's upheavals. "It is from the tension between these two poles - autobiographical fiction and documentary report - that poetry is generated." (Jean-Luc Godard) This book explores the potential for contemporary forms of artistic practice to create new spaces for active participation in culture and society. The book features six sections - "History/Politics"; "Art/Culture"; "Film/Television"; Products/Possessions"; "The Quotidian/The Strange"; "Verisimilitude/Delusion" - investigating clusters of images to explore differentiated themes of pictorial operation including photography, graffiti, painting, film and television. The sections are formed of fragments, disposable typologies, which offer a provisional and speculative incision into the image flow. Rod Stoneman is the Director of the Huston School of Film & Digital Media at the National University of Ireland, Galway. He was Chief Executive of Bord Scannan na hEireann (Irish Film Board) until September 2003 and previously a Deputy Commissioning Editor at Channel 4. He has made a number of documentaries, and has written extensively on film and television.