Editorial. Images for a sentient society

Abstract

In his editorial, Fabio Quici reflects on the role of images in contemporary society, showing how they are not merely visual products but tools capable of changing the way we think, see, desire, and interpret reality. Moving from visual culture to visual sociology, the text investigates the relationship between images, social practices, collective memory and the construction of the imaginary. In an age dominated by the network society and by an unprecedented production of images, “XY” opens a critical reflection on visual proliferation and on the actual comprehensibility of images. Images can generate connections, analogies and new forms of dialogue between knowledge, peoples and cultures, but they require a conscious gaze, able to recognise aesthetic, ethical and social values beyond mere appearance.