Dancing around the concrete: the gesturality in Into the universe of the technical images, by Vilém Flusser

Abstract

The objective of this article is to outline an interpretation based on the concept of gesturality presented in Into the universe of technical images, a book in which Vilém Flusser focuses on the sphere of media and communication. Under an essay approach, I start from a brief contextualization of the book and, in the sequence, I relate image and gesture from the Flusserian notion of “dancing around the concrete”. The specificity of the concept of technical image is illustrated with the film Blade Runner 2049, from which I describe the perspective of gesturality opened by Flusser in the book reviewed here. Finally, I point out the thesis that technical images are gestures that produce concreteness, since they function as means that allow us to see the world in which we live.