The sociohistorical universe of the klitsch images

Abstract

This paper presents a sociological analysis of visuality, proposing an historical movement between the photographic device, the kitsch society and the horizon of digital capitalism. A terminological shift is attempted from the photographic click, the kitsch as socio-esthetic mechanism and the digital click. The argument begins with the works of Walter Benjamin, Susan Sontag, Roland Barthes and Vilém Flusser; then it reviews the notion of kitsch; finally, it introduces the concept of
klitsch, a neologism that would explain the functionality of capitalism’s visuality in an era marked by programming and digital network hyperlinks.