Infoclastia and Electroclasty: A New Theory of Image Destruction in the Digital Age

This essay proposes two new concepts for contemporary iconoclasm: 'infoclastia' (the destruction of meaning through an excess of images and signs) and 'electroclasty' (the interruption of the digital energy-semiotic flow). The author argues that traditional iconoclasm, which attacks individual images, is obsolete in an age where power resides in the continuous flow of digital content. Drawing on thinkers from Plato to Baudrillard, Stiegler, and Colamedici, the text traces the evolution of the image from a symbolic window to a luminous, self-dissolving flux. The essay references historical examples such as the destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan, the toppling of Saddam Hussein's statue, and Black Lives Matter protests, as well as artistic practices from Kandinsky and Malevich to Wolf Vostell's TV Dé-coll/age. The term 'infoclastia' has already been registered by Treccani. The essay concludes that the ultimate iconoclastic gesture may be an attack on digital infrastructure itself, cutting the root of the semiotic flow.