ABSTRACT
A concern for combination and coherence, much more than a drive towards mimesis and 'phonorealism', oriented Gerard Grisey's evolution. Composers of the so-called 'second generation' of spectral music took another step towards the derivation of compositional techniques from acoustic objects and properties. In a fascinating book related to an exhibition he co-curated, Georges Didi-Huberman discusses the ubiquity of imprint, a basic technical operation characterized by its 'open-ended heuristics', throughout history. Imprint, Didi-Huberman writes, is anachronistic: it defines the older as well as the nearest artistic achievements of humankind- from early prehistory towards contemporary art through Rodin and Duchamp. Imprint generates art works, and at the same time it short-circuits the most basic mediations of artistic craftsmanship. Imprint challenges and undermines the essential concepts have been shaping fine arts for centuries: figuration, representation, mimesis. This is why imprint has always been perceived as the 'dark side' of art, as Didi-Huberman brilliantly demonstrates based on aesthetic and critical discourse since the Renaissance.
