Article:

Das Bild als Handlung? Zum Verhältnis der Begriffe »Bild« und »Handlung«

Pictures can on the one hand be defined in terms of functions or, on the other hand, described in terms of properties. Defining pictures functionally means assuming that pictures cannot exist independently of functions attributable to them. Linked with this is a principle of semantic actions that can be called ›pictorial acts‹ and that are determined conceptually. Describing pictures phenomenologically presupposes that pictures exist independently of functions attributable to them. Against the background of this concept of a picture, one may hypothesise that ›presentational acts‹ can be carried out with pictures being visible but without being conceptually determined.