Speed Effects: The Image Beyond the Shock Wave

In his essay for artpress, Dork Zabunyan explores the concept of speed within visual culture, challenging the notion that rapid imagery should merely evoke shock. He connects contemporary worries about speed to the Industrial Revolution, drawing on Jacques Rancière's insights into the anxieties of 19th-century elites. Zabunyan distinguishes between negative shock—characterized by physiological numbing, as noted by Serge Daney's 'visuel'—and the positive shock found in the aesthetic lineage from German Romanticism to Eisenstein. Engaging with Gilles Deleuze's film theory, he promotes cinema that examines 'high speeds' and 'lines of flight' without relying on shock. He introduces the term 'vigilambule' to describe an acute awareness of speed's implications, referencing works like Michael Snow's 'Back and Forth' (1969), Stan Douglas's 'Overture' (1986), and Brian De Palma's 'Redacted.'