Immagine della crisi / Crisi dell'immagine. Critica all'egemonia culturale del realismo e diritto all'opacità in Hydra Decapita (2011), un film saggio di The Otolith Group

Abstract

This article reflects on the ways in which the relation between crisis and imaginary is articulated in Hydra Decapita, a 2011 essay-film by the British art collective The Otolith Group. Hydra Decapita is an imaged-based reflection arguing for the biopolitical character of the global economic crisis erupted in 2008 and of its representations in the media. By deploying a Cultural Studies-oriented interdisciplinary approach to the artwork – drawing its methodology from visual studies, critical theory and post-colonial studies – the article interrogates the limits and potentialities of Hydra Decapita’s conceptual kernel and aesthetic language.