Immagini a portata di mano. Thermal imaging e visualità aptica

Abstract

Starting from an image that evokes the memory of touch, the essay explores the relationship between vision and tactile sensation through thermal imaging, investigating how this visual technology enables us to ‘touch’ with our sight. The essay aligns thermal imaging with the concept of haptic visuality, setting it apart from optical visuality and demonstrating that it aims to re-materialise reality as something tangible for visual perception. The analysis highlights several key differences that distinguish haptic vision from optical vision, including factors such as proximity versus distance, surface versus depth, and sensoriality versus recognizability. In the concluding section, the essay suggests that a certain degree of oculocentrism is also present in the postphotographic context of thermal imaging.