Marina Grzinic 
Hysteria: Physical Presence and Juridical Absence & 
AIDS: Physical Absence and Juridical Presence 
Derek Ja rman , Blue (1993) 
In the fo l lowing essay I will examine the terms »presence« and its coun-
te rpa r t »absence« f r o m two perspect ives. 1 First, f rom a historical perspective, 
as historical cons t ruc t ions si tuated within the f r amework of con tempora ry 
discourses, pract ices , and applicat ions. My question is how this b inary pair 
(which has p l ayed one of the key roles in post-structuralist theory) is to be 
conce ived today and to wha t extent it differs f rom that of the 19th century? I 
will a p p r o a c h these b ina ry te rms within the discursive contexts and represen-
tat ional systems of the 19th and 20th century in order to bet ter grasp the roll 
they play, the assumpt ions they have fostered, and the belief systems they 
have con f i rmed . W h a t is i m p o r t a n t is to de te rmine to wha t scope were / a r e 
the represen ta t iona l polit ics of p resence /absence used in the past and present . 
1 Cf. Abigail Solomon-Godeau, »Who is Speaking Thus? Some Questions about Docu-
mentary Photography«, in Lorne Falk and Barbara Fischer (Eds.), The Event Horizon, 
The Coach House Press & Walter Philips Gallery, Banff and Toronto 1985, pp. 195-
196. 
Filozofski vestnik, XVII (2/1996), pp. 45-63. 
Marina Grzinic 
Second, I will app roach the duality of p re sence and absence semiot ical ly , as 
par t of a larger system of visual and rep resen ta t iona l c o m m u n i c a t i o n , as b o t h 
a condui t and an agent of ideologies, as a sign sys tem which conta ins a con-
t ingency of visual and signifying codes which in turn d e t e r m i n e r ecep t ion 
and instrumental i ty. The »aesthetics and poli t ics of p r e s e n c e / a b s e n c e « is (if 
we refer to Victor Burgin) f u n d a m e n t a l l y c o n c e r n e d with the ar t icula t ion of 
representa t ional politics.2 If we are t rying to answer these ques t ions we h a v e 
to ask what is the »real of represen ta t ion«? 3 W e can claim tha t the b i n a r y 
terms of absence /p re sence funct ion to rat i fy and a f f i rm the c o m p l e x ideo-
logical web that, at any m o m e n t in historical t ime, is pe rce ived as real i ty tout 
court. This is also the reason why there is an initial a f o r e m e n t i o n e d r e f e rence 
to semiotics. Accord ing to Ju l ia Kristeva, »what semiot ics had d i scovered is 
the fact that there is a general social law, tha t this law is the symbol ic d imen-
sion which is given in language and that every social pract ice offers a specific 
expression of that law«.4 Kristeva »links semiotics to the social. She calls societal 
law the ' symbol ic ' , which is deeply e m b e d d e d in language ; the task of semi-
otics is to s tudy the various social pract ices wh ich express this social law«.5 
Thus, the func t ion of semiotics is to »establish a h e t e r o g e n e o u s logic of signi-
fying pract ices and locate them by way of their subject in the his tor ical ly 
de te rmined relat ions of product ions« . 6 
To grasp the politics of represen ta t ion of p r e s e n c e / a b s e n c e I will relo-
cate it within the discursive contexts and r ep resen ta t iona l systems of two 
illnesses: hysteria and AIDS, each of these r ep re sen t ing the illness par excel-
lence of a specific century (19th the fo rmer and 20th the latter). These il lnesses 
funct ion, as I in tend to show, not only in re la t ion to the dual i ty of p re sence 
and absence, but m o r e o v e r th rough specif ic ways of their r ep resen ta t iona l 
politics, as a par t of a larger v i sua l -communica t ion and social system. T w o 
other impor t an t implicat ions are presen t in m y decis ion as to why hys ter ia 
and AIDS were chosen. First, I chose hys ter ia because of the associat ion of 
2 This term was suggested by Abigail Solomon-Godeau when she referred to Victor 
Burgin's essays »Looking at Photographs« (1977) and »Photography, Phantasy, Func-
tion« (1980). Cf. Solomon-Godeau, op. cit., p. 197. 
3 Ibid., p. 199. 
4 The Kristeva Reader, Toril Moi (Ed.), Oxford University Press, Oxford 1986, p. 25. For 
a helpful account on Kristeva's general approach to semiotic issues, see Heinz Paetzold, 
The Discourse of the Postmodern and the Discourse of the Avant-Garde, Jan van Eyck 
Akademie, Maastricht 1994, pp. 58-70. 
5 Paetzold, op. cit., p. 58; cf. also Julia Kristeva, Pouvoirs de l'horreur. Essai sur l'abjection, 
Editions du Seuil, Paris 1980. 
6 The Kristeva Reader, p. 32. 
46 
Hysteria: Physical Presence andJuridical Absence & A I D S . . . 
this il lness to w o m e n - hyster ia e m b o d i e d the ma ins t r eam male image of a 
w o m a n , 7 while A I D S is over t ly connec ted to another discr iminat ion main-
s t ream image, to tha t of homosexua l s . Both illnesses are used to describe 
fan tasmat ic and marg ina l i zed cor respondences , acknowledging also specific 
his tor ical condi t ions . Second , because of my interest to analyze the binary 
t e rms of p r e s e n c e / a b s e n c e in connec t ion with the way in which these terms 
c o r r e s p o n d with a specif ic represen ta t iona l strategy, one represent ing the 
h u m a n b o d y (i.e. r ep resen ta t ions of historically, gender and class-determined 
bodies) . Hyster ia , the illness of incongruence of image and thought , was rec-
ogn ized as an illness only th rough mak ing visible the w o m a n ' s hysterical 
b o d y . AIDS , the disease par excellence of our times, because of specific repre-
senta t ional t echn iques prac t iced in the media for the general public , coin-
cides with n e w m e d i a technologies , virtual env i ronments a n d / o r cyberspace. 
All of t h e m a p p e a r to be insisting on and fostering the erasure of the body . 
M y thesis is that the mass m e d i a techniques of representa t ions of AIDS are 
fos ter ing the absence of the »real« sick body , similarly to the way con tempo-
ranei ty is fos te r ing the d i s e m b o d i m e n t of the subject within new med ia tech-
nologies . N e v e r or ra re ly is it possible to see film documenta r ies of persons 
suf fer ing f r o m or dy ing of AIDS. This process has gone so far today that one 
of the theoret ica l op t ions of investigation of the politics of representa t ion of 
our p resen t is to f ind ways of put t ing the body back into the picture. 8 
In the last pa r t of this essay I will try to synthesize different interplays 
b e t w e e n p r e s e n c e / a b s e n c e a n d hys te r i a /AIDS by using the semiotic square, 
a t echn ique of discursive analysis deve loped by A . J . Gre imas . T h e semiotic 
square was des igned to disclose the implicat ions inheren t in such b inary rela-
t ionships , thus he lp ing to m a k e explicit the »hidden« meanings which »stabi-
lize« and genera te s ignif icance. 
I. Hysteria: Physical Presence andJuridical Absence 
T h e first pa r t of the title of this essay refers to a formula t ion which ap-
pears in N o r m a n Bryson ' s s tudy The Logic of the Gaze. T h e r e Bryson is inter-
p re t ing the work of T h e o d o r e Gericault , who, in the beg inn ing of the 19th 
cen tu ry (1822-23), s tudied the inf luence of menta l states on the h u m a n face 
7 Cf. Luce Iragaray, This Sex Which is Not One, Cornell University Press, Ithaca 1985. 
8 Cf. N. Katherine Hayles, »Embodied Virtuality: Or How to Put Bodies Back into the 
Picture«, in Mary Anne Moser and Douglas MacLoed (Eds.), Immersed in Technology: 
Art and Virtual Environments, The MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass. &London 1996, p. 4. 
47 
Marina Grzinic 
and bel ieved that the face accurately r evea led the inne r charac te r , par t icu-
larly in demen t i a and in cases of instant dea th . H e m a d e studies of inmates in 
hospitals and institutions for the cr iminal ly insane, whe re he himself spent 
t ime as a pat ient . Bryson claimed that if the historic p u r p o s e of the por t ra i t 
genre is to record a precise social posi t ion, a par t icu lar ins tance of status in 
the h ierarchy of power , then Gericaul t ' s por t ra i t s of insane peop le , f r o m the 
first m o m e n t , exhibi ted a contradic t ion. For Bryson the por t ra i t of the insane 
is, therefore , an impossible object, a ca tegor ica l scandal , since the insane are 
those who h a v e been displaced f r o m any social h i e ra rchy , w h o c a n n o t be 
located on a social map , and whose por t ra i t s consequen t ly c a n n o t be pa in ted . 
Bryson conc luded that Gericaul t fused the categories of pr ivi lege and social 
void, society and asylum, and physical p r e s e n c e and jur id ica l absence . 9 
M a r t i n C h a r c o t ' s p h o t o g r a p h s of t h e h y s t e r i c a l p a t i e n t s t a k e n at 
Salpetriere hospital (1877-80) had the same p u r p o s e . 1 0 Because the under ly-
ing pa thology of hyster ia is invisible, C h a r c o t d o u b t e d tha t hyster ia was a 
disease at all. In contrast to Pierre J a n e t , one of the early explorers of hyster ia 
who bel ieved that paralysis occurred in the hyster ic because he was unab le to 
fo rm an image of his l imbs and the re fo re was u n a b l e to m o v e them, C h a r c o t 
thought that hysterics were unab le to obl i tera te the pre-exis t ing images of 
paralysis. For both , hyster ia was a p r o b l e m of r ep resen ta t ion - the incongru-
ence of image and thought , a disease occas ioned by a p r o b l e m of r epresen ta -
tion. To anchor this mobi le disease C h a r c o t enl is ted the aid of p h o t o g r a p h y . 
With pho tog raphs of the hysterics C h a r c o t a t t e m p t e d to m a k e visible this 
disease that could not be acknowledged excep t t h rough b e h a v i o u r or repre-
sentations. " J u s t like Charcot ' s photographs , Gericaul t ' s previous studies func-
t ioned »as the institution of the subject , in this case of the insane persons , 
within the visible«.1 2 
This institution of the subject within the visible was d o n e accord ing to a 
precisely chosen representa t iona l m o d e of the e p o c h - p h o t o g r a p h y - there-
fore using modes and techniques that o v e r d e t e r m i n e d visibility in a m o r e 
general way within the per iod discussed. T h e categor ies of absence and pres-
ence are therefore in a dual relat ion to the inst i tut ion of the subject within the 
visible. J o a n Copjec points out that hyster ia , an illness of the imagina t ion , 
9 Cf. Norman Bryson, Vision and Painting: The Logic of the Gaze, Yale University Press, 
London and New Haven 1983, p. 143. 
10 Cf.Jo Anna Issak, »Mapping the Imaginary«, in The Event Horizon, p. 137. In this first 
section of my essay I am following and reconsidering Issak's thesis about hysteria 
and representation from her essay »Mapping the Imaginary«. 
11 Ibid., pp. 137-138. 
12 Ibid, p. 139. 
48 
Hysteria: Physical Presence andJuridical Absence & AIDS... 
J e a n Mart in Charcot , »Attitudes Passionelles: Menace« from Iconographie 
photographique de la Salpêtrière, 1877-80. 
t h rea tened knowledge , and in confusing categories of real and unreal illnesses, 
t rue pe r cep t i on and false images, m a d e the physician a potent ial victim of 
t r ickery and decep t ion , cast ing doub t on his senses tha t were the founda t ion 
of his k n o w l e d g e . 1 3 T h e issue therefore was no t only to discover the relat ion 
b e t w e e n r ep resen ta t ions and hysteria, but to use the mos t appropr ia te regime 
of r ep resen ta t ion for this k ind of instaurat ion. 
C h a r c o t w h o was an a d h e r e n t of Gericaul t ' s theories , learned f rom his 
works, such as the Insane Woman, Envy (1822-23), »not how malicious mis-
chief or envy would man i fes t itself on the h u m a n face, bu t what the photo-
g raphs taken at Salpetr iere hospital 50 years after Gericault should look like«.14 
13 Cf. Joan Copjec, »Flavit et Dissipati Sunt«, October 18 (Autumn 1981), p. 23. 
14 Cf. Isaak, op. cit., p. 142. 
49 
Marina Grzinic 
W h e n looking at Gericault 's Envy series, the art h is tor ian G a r d n e r a rgued 
that Gericault 's Insane Women had a pecul ia r h y p n o t i c p o w e r as well as an 
astonishing authentici ty in the presenta t ion of the psychic facts. For G a r d n e r 
The Insane Women are ano ther example of the increas ingly realistic core of 
Romant ic paint ing. The closer the R o m a n t i c invo lved himself wi th na tu re , 
sane or insane, the more clarity he ga ined, thus m o v i n g closer to the »truth«. 
Increasingly, this would m e a n for pa in t ing the opt ical t ru th , as well as t ruth 
with regard to »the way things are«.1 5 W h a t C h a r c o t l e a r n e d f r o m Ger icaul t 
was not the »authenticity in presenta t ion of psychic fact«, b u t the Renais-
sance not ion of the artist who is inst i tut ing the visible wi th in a ra t ional ized 
system of percep tua l codes . 1 6 Pho tog raphy , then be ing theor ized as bo th the 
ou tcome and in the service of posi t ivism - object ive , u n m e d i a t e d , actually 
impr in ted by the light rays of the original f o r m - was the ideal represen ta -
tional m o d e to be used in br inging the disease into a discursive const ruc-
t ion. 1 7 
In summar iz ing Charco t ' s and Ger icaul t ' s me thodo log ie s , I wou ld con-
clude first that a physical presence was no t a ques t ion of au thent ic i ty in the 
presenta t ion of psychic facts, but was, in the 19th century , a process of insti-
tuting the visible within a rat ionalized system of pe rcep tua l codes . In the case 
of Charco t this was a Renaissance no t ion ; of the artist as a quantifier wi thin 
the m e d i u m of pho tography , the latter b e i n g theor ized as b o t h the p r o d u c t of 
and subord ina te to positivism. If the r e f e rence to hys ter ia is u n d e r s t o o d to be 
a bl ind spot in the positivist genealogy of illnesses, then we can theor ize Char -
cot 's a t tempt through the way he tr ied to b r ing someth ing , which prev ious ly 
had not been subject to the rules of visibility, in to the system of »presence« 
and representa t ion . J o A n n a Isaak argues tha t C h a r c o t was do ing this t h r o u g h 
his reference to Renaissance paintings, utilizing Renaissance pe rcep tua l codes, 
such as l inear perspective. Linear perspec t ive was used to facil i tate imper -
sonal object ive statements p roduc ing ident ical m e a n i n g s wi thin all viewers, 
referr ing to the cumulat ive and repea tab le effects . 1 8 It is unnecessa ry to go 
into detail concern ing the Renaissance pe rspec t ive system. H o w e v e r , I would 
like to add, as Isaak implies, that perspect ive was ex t r eme ly useful to Europe -
ans who n e e d e d to develop a visual l anguage of and for the p r o p e r t y of newly 
discovered territories. 
15 Cf. Louise Gardner, Art Through the Ages, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York 1980, 
p. 737. 
16 Cf. Isaak, op. tit., p. 142. 
17 Ibid., p. 139. 
18 Cf. Samuel Edgerton, »The Renaissance Artist as Quantifier«, in Margaret A. Hagen 
(Ed.), The Perception of Pictures, Vol. I., Academic Press, New York 1980, p. 182. 
50 
Hysteria: Physical Presence andJuridical Absence & A I D S . . . 
But this was h a p p e n i n g in the 19th century, so wha t are these processes 
like today? I will m a k e a paral le l be tween the categories of absence /presence 
and d i f fe ren t systems of represen ta t ion with regard to AIDS, the disease par 
excellence of our t ime, a t t empt ing in this way to chart the process of the institu-
t ion of the subjec t wi thin the visible. AIDS also presents the p rob lem of ho-
m o g e n o u s r ep re sen ta t i on and depict ion - the incongruence of both the im-
age and the gaze. In the case of AIDS, in opposi t ion to hysteria, the underly-
ing pa tho logy of the disease is horr ib ly visible, and the whole process of 
representa t ion and visibility therefore operates differently, trying to erase and / 
or concea l the consp icuous na tu re of the disease. The »identification« of the 
specta tor with a sick pe r son or with the AIDS disease is t ransferred to a me-
t o n y m y , whose p u r p o s e is to h ide the presence of the »real« sick body. Those 
pe r sons w h o are affl icted with AIDS are, in general , l is tened to ra ther than 
l o o k e d at. 
A n artistic ar t iculat ion of the above thesis is the feature film Blue di-
rec ted by D e r e k J a r m a n in 1993. For 75 minutes a b lue screen is shown in 
f ron t of the specta tor . It is the sole image throughout the film, which provides 
a canvas for the aud ience , l is tening to evocative words, music and sounds. 
T h e r e are va r ious ways of d isplaying the text in the f i lm: inner speech, 
repet i t ious p r e o c c u p y i n g phrases , or unconscious spoken thoughts . 1 9 But my 
interest he re lies no t in a sociological read ing or re interpreta t ion of the text in 
the f i lm, b u t in the represen ta t iona l system super impos ing and depict ing the 
text in the film on the b lue coloured canvas. 2 0 
In J a r m a n ' s f i lm the insti tution of the subject within the visible is pre-
sented by the d i s e m b o d i e d voice of an ill pe rson who is deliriously speaking 
t h r o u g h o u t the fi lm, ancho r ing the disease into the field of discourse. If we 
m a k e a paral le l b e t w e e n this regime and the one depic t ing hysteria, we can 
state that A I D S is r ep r e sen t ed with the physical absence of an actually sick 
19 The text in the film is about AIDS, about dying from AIDS and the inner feelings of 
a sick person knowing exactly that his/her end is near. On the one hand, Jarman 
develops a strong critique about the hospitalization process of a person suffering 
from AIDS, about the amount of drugs needed to slow down not the disease but the 
process of dying, and, last but not least, about the whole societal system (medical, 
social, legal) which is unfavourable to persons affected by AIDS. On the other hand, 
Jarman meticulously describes the whole personal drama of a sick person, especially 
the loss of vision, of becoming blind: »My retina is a distant planet. I played this 
scenario for the last six years. ... My vision will never come back... The virus rages, I 
have no friends now. I lost the sight... I shall not win the battle with the virus....« -
Citation from the film Blue. 
2 0 Jarman: »1 am helpless. I can't see him. Just the sound. In the pandemonium of the 
image I present you the universe of blue.« - Citation from the film Blue. 
51 
Marina Grzinic 
body, yet with a s t rong request t h rough the text in the f i lm for the jur id ica l 
(judicial) p resence and for the legal r ights in d i f fe ren t sect ions of society wh ich 
are crossing or border ing the sick b o d y . A n o t h e r such e x a m p l e is a main-
stream fi lm about A I D S -Philadelphia (directed by J o n a t h a n D e m m e in 1994). 
In it T o m Hanks por t rays a charac ter w h o is a pa le image of a real A I D S 
patient . In spite of hav ing on the level of p re sen ta t ion the absence of an 
»authentically sick body«, we never the less see, on the o ther h a n d , in this 
particular f i lm a clear fight for a jur id ical p r e sence and for the rights per ta in-
ing to jur id ica l proceedings of the pe r sons inf l ic ted with AIDS, especial ly 
homosexua l s . 2 1 
The b ina ry terms of p resence-absence in re la t ion to the r ep resen ta t ion 
of the b o d y and its social counte rpar t in the jur id ica l system cu lmina te in two 
ways simultaneously: through technological in te rvent ions and discursive prac-
tices. It is possible though, to conceive the re la t ion of a social a rea in wh ich 
the collision of bodies and r ep roduc t ion t echno logy (pho tography , film) takes 
place within the politics of power as it func t ions t h rough the jur id ica l system. 
Such a re la t ion is also that be tween the i n v e n t i o n / d i s c o v e r y of p h o t o g r a p h y 
and the logic of the pho tog raph ' s r eg ime of r ep resen ta t ion and hyster ia , on 
the one side, and the invent ion of n e w technolog ies and m e d i a and its re-
gimes of representa t ion and AIDS, on the o ther . W h a t I am p r o p o s i n g he re is 
not to recupera te some not ion of pu re i nves tmen t of the ca tegory of absence 
and its coun te rpar t - presence , but to out l ine the discursive-visual ter ra in in 
2 1 Andrew Beckett (Tom Hanks) is a young lawyer with a splendid career in front of 
him, who is suddenly found incompetent by the law firm for which he works. Beckett 
knows that the real reason is him being gay and having AIDS. Beckett decides to 
fight and to defend his professional reputation and through this the rights of other 
gay people with AIDS. Joe Miller (Denzel Washington), a black lawyer of high repu-
tation, at first decides not to take the case because of his personal prejudices against 
people who are gay and HIV positive, but finally accepts the case. One of the most 
striking conclusions of the trial is, resulting from Miller's way of conducting the affair 
in court, that gay people AIDS are submitted to a double process of injustice and that 
the fight for juridical rights in the case of gay people AIDS is, more generally speak-
ing, also a fight for gay rights against society's strong prejudices. 
Joe Miller: »The people with AIDS are submitted to social death which precedes the 
physical death ... What is it all about? ...About our fears of homosexuals.« The judge: 
»Mr. Miller, justice is blind regarding race and sex in this courtroom!« Miller: »But 
your Honor, we are not living in this courtroom.« - Citation from the film Philadel-
phia. 
This specific situation recalls that modernity as a cultural and social project brought 
about the distinction between law and morality. It makes sense to measure the legal 
and political acts of the state against the criteria of morality, but it is not possible to 
conflate them into one sphere. 
52 
Hysteria: Physical Presence andJuridical Absence & A I D S . . . 
which such issues h a v e func t ioned , bo th in the past and in the present . In 
bo th cases the camera , pho tog raphy and film, p roduce representat ions - iconic 
signs - t rans la t ing the actual into the representa t ional with the categories of 
a b s e n c e / p r e s e n c e . T h e m e a n i n g s ascr ibed to the categories of absence and 
p resence , some t imes inconsis tent , a m o r p h o u s and epis temologicaly vague, 
are cons tan t ly in flux, repos i t ioned and reor iented and involve larger dis-
courses which e n g e n d e r t h e m . T h e p h o t o g r a p h s of incarcera ted hysterics 
c o m m i s s i o n e d by Dr . Cha rco t , »prove and demons t ra te the speculative na-
ture and m o r p h o l o g y of hyster ia«. 2 2 T h e success of pho tog raphy as a tech-
no logy for and of image -mak ing in anchor ing the disease had to do precisely 
with its con f i rma to ry aspects. T h e latter enab led pho tog raphy to succeed in 
the r ap id expans ion and assimilat ion within the discourses of knowledge and 
power . This s t ructura l congruence of different viewpoints (the eye of the pho-
tographer , the eye of the camera , and the spectator 's eye) in pho tography 
c o v e r s the qua l i t y of p u r e , b u t d e l u s o r y p r e s e n c e . 2 3 G a r d n e r spoke of 
G e r i c a u l t ' s i n c r e a s i n g l y rea l i s t i c core of r e p r e s e n t a t i o n , tha t is, of the 
obses ional ly in ten t iona l and representa t ional me thods of acquir ing the opti-
cal t ru th , the t ru th of the way things »were«. W h e n Abigail So lomon-Godeau 
is ana lyz ing the m e c h a n i s m s internal to the media appara tus in question -
p h o t o g r a p h y - she claims tha t the most impor t an t is the »reality effect« and 
that »a fu r the r s t ruc tur ing ins tance lies in the perspect ive system of represen-
tat ion buil t into c a m e r a opt ics in pho tography ' s infancy«. 2 4 Model led on the 
classical system of the single poin t monocu la r perspect ive invented in the 
Rena issance , c a m e r a optics were designed to yield an analogous pictorial 
s t ructure . As Abigai l S o l o m o n - G o d e a u argued, natural vision and percept ion 
have no van i sh ing point , are b inocular , wi thout boundar ies , in constant mo-
t ion and m a r k e d by the loss of clarity in the per iphery . T h e camera image, 
like m u c h of Rena i ssance paint ings, offers a static, un i fo rm field in which 
o r thogona l s conve rge at a single vanishing point . 2 5 »The world is no longer 
an ' o p e n and u n b o u n d hor izon ' . Limited by the f raming, l ined up, put at the 
p r o p e r dis tance, the wor ld offers itself up as an object endowed with mean-
ing, an in ten t iona l object , impl ied by and imply ing the action of the 'subject ' 
which sights i t .«2 6 
2 2 Cf. Solomon-Godeau, op. cit., p. 201. 
23 Ibid., pp. 208-209. 
24 Ibid., p. 209. 
25 Ibid. 
2 6 Jean-Louis Baudry, »Ideological Effects of the Basic Cinematographic Apparatus«, in 
Theresa Hak Kyung Cha (Ed.), Apparatus, Tanam Press, New York 1980, p. 26. 
53 
Marina Grzinic 
Fur thermore , if we consider the act of look ing at a p h o t o g r a p h with 
respect to gender or the opera t ions of the p syche - the c o m p l e x acts of pro-
ject ion, voyeur ism, fantasy and desires tha t i n f o r m our seeing, we cannot , as 
Sa lomon-Godeau argued, a b a n d o n the earl ier , i n n o c e n t belief that the cam-
era presents us with visual facts that are s imply »out there« and which we 
now disinterestedly observe and register. W e h a v e to accept that the re are 
ideological effects inhe ren t to the p h o t o g r a p h i c appara tus , a n d that these ef-
fects inf luence relations, scopic c o m m a n d s , and the conf i rma t ion or displace-
m e n t of subject posit ions. 
In conclusion to the first es tabl ished connec t i on b e t w e e n represen ta -
tion, pho tog raphy and hysteria, we can state tha t the fus ion of physical pres-
ence and jur idical absence in the p h o t o g r a p h s of the hyster ics also offers a 
counter-reading. O n the one hand , this specific inst i tut ion of the subject within 
the visible was possible or was the result of the specific ideological m e c h a -
nisms of the optical t ruth intrinsic to the p h o t o g r a p h i c appara tus . O n the 
other hand , this same appara tus r e in fo rced the pos i t ion of ju r id ica l absence 
of the insane person. As Pierre Bourd ieu c o m m e n t e d , discussing the social 
uses of pho tog raphy : »In s tamping p h o t o g r a p h y with the p a t e n t of real ism, 
society does noth ing bu t conf i rm itself in the tautological cer ta inty tha t an 
image of reali ty that conforms to its own rep resen ta t ion of object ivi ty is t ruly 
object ive.« 2 7 
II. AIDS: Physical Absence andJuridical Presence 
I have p resen ted , re fe r r ing to J o A n n a Issak a n d Abiga i l S o l o m o n -
Godeau , the relat ionships be tween the inven t ion and d iscovery of pho tog ra -
phy, hyster ia and the not ions of a b s e n c e / p r e s e n c e as those of physical pres-
ence and jur idical absence. I shall p r o c e e d to the re la t ionships be tween the 
logic of representa t ion of new technologies and m e d i a and the r ep resen ta t ion 
of AIDS. 
T h e persons afflicted with A I D S show hor r ib le visual signs of bod i ly 
deter iorat ion: the disintegration of the skin, sa rcomas , b l indness and the de-
genera t ion of the b o d y as a whole . J a r m a n has i n c o r p o r a t e d into the f i lm his 
personal bl indness, the consequences of h im dy ing of AIDS , dep ic t ing this 
with the b lue canvas; the zero degree of r ep resen ta t ion . J a r m a n m o v e d f r o m 
the disintegration of film structure to tha t of the v iewer ' s sight. T h e inst i tut ion 
2 7 Cited in Rosalind Krauss, »A note on Photography and the Simulacra«, in October 31 
(Winter 1984), p. 57. 
54 
Hysteria: Physical Presence andJuridical Absence & AIDS... 
of the subjec t ill wi th A I D S within the visible is carr ied out by the absence of 
a »truly sick body« . M o r e o v e r , D e r e k J a r m a n not only re fused to reiterate the 
conven t iona l piet ies s u r r o u n d i n g representa t ions of an H I V positive person, 
bu t b r o u g h t to light, p a r a p h r a s i n g Sally Stein, the h idden agendas inscribed 
in the par t icu lar m o d e of represen ta t ion of our culture and t imes.2 8 In the 
f i lm Blue this is ca r r ied out less by the aid of the m e d i u m used - the film, than 
with the strategically inco rpora t ed logic of the visualization of new media 
and of the reg ime of visibility carr ied out by new med ia technologies. 
In the film Blue, J a r m a n successfully conveys the complexi t ies under-
p i n n i n g i n fo rma t ion systems and various subject posit ions with the way in 
which m e a n i n g and ident i t ies are constructed and endlessly re-negotiated. 
Wi th the ins taura t ion of b l indness in the film as the zero degree of represen-
tat ion, J a r m a n subver ts some of the basic paramete rs of the new parad igm of 
visuality p r o d u c e d by the n e w technology and the posi t ion of the eyewitness 
within it. T o d a y all m e t h o d s of p rov ing a s ta tement d e p e n d on technological 
ins t ruments and tools, and the consti tution of scientific »truth« is, to a pro-
f o u n d degree , m e d i a t e d by technology. 2 9 Pragmat ic acceptance of axioms 
and specific m e t h o d s of p roof have entered a variety of sciences. Scientific 
s ta tements have to be e f fec tua ted and are thus decisively media ted by tech-
nology. P ragmat ic pe r fo rmat iv i ty is the pos tmodern sense of t ruth. 3 0 Lyotard 
emphas izes r epea ted ly the increase of scientific knowledge through its me-
diat ion with technology . T h e whole process of seeing through lies in its me-
dia t ion th rough t echno logy . 3 1 
Let m e clarify this process »of seeing through its media t ion through tech-
nology« by r e tu rn ing for a m o m e n t to pho tog raphy - summariz ing its inner 
pr inc ip le by re ly ing on Paul Virilio, despite the fact that he was not referr ing 
to p h o t o g r a p h y : »Every th ing I see is in pr inciple within my reach, at least 
wi thin reach of m y sight, m a r k e d on the m a p of the 'can ' .« 3 2 Pho tography 
enables the e n c o d i n g of a topographica l m e m o r y by establishing a dialectical 
loop b e t w e e n seeing and mapp ing . As Virilio claims, it is possible to speak of 
genera t ions of vision a n d even of visual heredi ty f rom one generat ion to the 
2 8 Cf. Sally Stein, »Making Connections With The Camera: Photography and Social 
Mobility in the Career of Jacob Riis«, in Afterimage, Vol. 10, No. 10, (May 1983), p. 14. 
2 9 Cf. Paetzold, »Lyotard's Definitions of the Postmodern Status of Knowledge«, in 
Paetzold, op. cit., pp. 14-21. 
30 Ibid, p. 16. 
3 1 Cf. Jean-François Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge, Univer-
sity of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis 1984, pp. 42-52. 
3 2 Paul Virilio, Vision Machine, British Film Institute and Indiana University Press, Lon-
don and Bloomington, Indiana 1994, p. 7. 
55 
Marina Grzinic 
next. But, fol lowing Viri l io3 3 the p e r c e p t i o n d e v e l o p e d by n e w m e d i a a n d 
technologies (which is called the »logistics of percept ion«) , des t royed these 
earlier modes of representa t ion p rese rved in the »1 can« of seeing. T h e logis-
tics of percept ion inaugurates the p r o d u c t i o n of a vis ion m a c h i n e and t h o u g h 
the possibility of achieving sightless vision, w h e r e b y the v ideo c a m e r a or 
virtual t echnology would be cont ro l led by a c o m p u t e r . T o d a y n e w m e d i a 
appara tuses (from virtual reality to cyberspace) confe r u p o n us a whole r ange 
of visual prosthet ics which conf ron t us with an eve r -chang ing pos i t ion ing of 
the subject with h i s /her body along with the systematic »produc t ion« of bl ind-
ness, and of the absence of cer tainty (of the n a k e d h u m a n eye) within the 
visibility of our world. As Virilio would say, the bu lk of wha t I see is no 
longer within my reach. W e have to ask ourse lves : W h a t does o n e see w h e n 
one 's eyes, depend ing on such ins t ruments , are r e d u c e d to a state of rigid a n d 
practically invar iable structural immobi l i ty? H o w e v e r , this is only one side of 
the pa rad igm of the new med ia t echnology . O n the o the r side, in the 20th 
century, the sciences are increasingly p e r m e a t e d with t echno logy . »Techno-
logical ins t ruments and appara tuses ho ld a cent ra l role wi thin scientific re-
search processes. These technological tools, howeve r , cost h u g e a m o u n t s of 
money . Consequent ly , the state and poli t ical inst i tut ions func t ion as impor -
tant and decisive media tors in the a c c o m p l i s h m e n t of scientif ic knowledge . 
T h e process of knowledge is increasingly j u d g e d in t e rms of inpu t (quantity) 
and output (quality). Science is l inked to the system of poli t ical power .« 3 4 
The b l indness of the naked h u m a n eye is thus pa radox ica l ly r e in fo rced 
by the g rowing t endency of using increas ingly sophis t ica ted e lec t ronic tech-
nologies, not only in science, but also in the l ead ing ideological a n d repres-
sive state apparatuses , part icular ly wi thin the legal system and the pol ice. 
Virilio is speaking of hyper-real is t r ep resen ta t iona l mode l s wi th in the pol ice 
and legal systems to the extent that h u m a n witnesses are losing their credibi l-
ity: the h u m a n eye no longer r emains an eyewitness . O n the one side of the 
pa rad igm of new m e d i a technology we are wi tness ing the systemat ic p r o d u c -
tion of bl indness , and on the other , the f r igh ten ing hyper - rea l i sm of a sys tem 
of total visibility, which is part icular ly r e in fo rced in legal and pol ice proce-
dures. T h e t endency of the leading scopic r e g i m e of the n e w m e d i a t echnolo-
gies is to p roduce bl indness while, s imul taneous ly , c rea t ing a whole r ange of 
techniques to p roduce the credibili ty of the p r e s e n c e of objects and h u m a n s , 
instead of t rying to demons t ra te their real exis tence. T o d a y this latter process 
can be illustrated by mili tary and esp ionage strategies: »It is m o r e vital to 
3 3 Cf. Ibid., Chapters 1 and 2. 
3 4 Paetzold, op. tit., p. 15. 
56 
Hysteria: Physical Presence andJuridical Absence & AIDS... 
trick the enemy about the virtuality of the missile's passage, about the very 
credibility of its presence, than to confuse him about the reality of its exist-
ence.«3 5 
Main features which are currently produced by new media technology 
(blindness of the natural human eye, hyper-realism in legal and police proce-
dures and the whole range of techniques for producing the credibility of the 
presence of objects, humans, etc.) are strategically incorporated and subverted 
in the film Blue. With the instauration of blindness in the film via the blue 
canvas as the zero degree of representation Jarman emphasizes this duality. 
The absence of the sick body and, last but not least, of any physical body in 
the film, creates the illusion of total disembodiment, and is paradoxically a 
subversive answer to the constant production of disembodiment through new 
technologies. 
The created illusion of disembodiment thus raises the question, which I 
posed in the beginning of this essay, i.e., »how to put bodies back into the 
picture«?3 6 - As juridical presence! The body of the HIV infected person, an 
»object« already lost, is shaped by its very absence. On the other hand, with 
the text heard throughout the film, which is so detailed in existential, medical 
and legal particularities about the postmodern condition of persons suffering 
f rom HIV, a clear demand for the juridical presence and the rights of those 
afflicted with AIDS within the structures of power in contemporary society is 
made. Through this relationship between the logic of representation of new 
technologies and media and the representation of AIDS, it is therefore possi-
ble to elaborate a different logic of representations of absence/presence as 
were previously proposed in the case of hysteria. Instead of physical pres-
ence and juridical absence, physical absence and legal presence is produced. 
Physical absence and legal presence, as proposed by Jarman, subvert the 
logic of a mass-produced simulated presence on the one side, and a mass 
blindness of the »natural« human eye on the other. 
Looking to the binary pair of presence/absence in connection with the 
film Blue and with the new media/virtual environments, it is also possible to 
argue that the common characteristics of emerging technologies and virtual 
environments are the elimination of duration: the collapse of time into real 
time. In the film Blue these characteristics serve as reminders of the dimen-
sion of time, which as Paul Virilio suggests, is under siege by real time tech-
nologies: »They kill 'present ' time by isolating its presence here and now for 
the sake of another commutative space that is no longer composed of our 
3 5 Cf. Virilio, op. cit., pp. 43-44. 
3 6 Cf. Hayles, op. cit., p. 4. 
57 
Marina Grzinic 
' concrete p resence ' in the world , bu t of a 'd iscrete t e lepresence ' whose en igma 
remains fo rever intact.«3 7 
III. The Experiential Reception of the Image 
If a »bounded image is seen f r o m a d is tance (...) it exists un to itself and 
offers a perceptua l exper ience . Images tha t impl ica te the v iewer in s o m e way, 
however , as is the case with interact ive or i m m e r s i v e med ia , a re u n b o u n d e d . 
T h e y require experient ia l cognit ion. T h e lat ter pu ts the critical v iewer in an 
un tenab le posi t ion: one must assimilate an image to c o m p r e h e n d it, yet it 
must also be d ismant led in order to ref lect u p o n it .«3 8 For D r u c k r e y the dis-
cursive opera t ions of the late 20th century i n fo rma t iona l systems as p r o f f e r e d 
through cyberspace are character ized by go ing b e y o n d ident i ty and m e a n i n g 
format ions to p rov ide a catalyst for agency and the re fo re e m p o w e r m e n t . T h e 
creative potent ia l of d i f ferent visual systems is r e p r e s e n t e d th rough an inter-
face or »connect ions«. 3 9 M e a n i n g and p h e n o m e n o l o g y , r ep re sen t a t i on and 
percept ion are merged . T h e m o m e n t of r e a d i n g an image wi th in such a sys-
tem has the effect »not as a navigat ion of the image , bu t of a l ived m o m e n t , so 
that the eff icacy of an image is equal to the expe r i ence of i t«;4 0 thus it is the 
lived m o m e n t of be ing connec ted which is cha rged with possibil i t ies. »It is 
the passion of this lived m o m e n t of connec t ion b e t w e e n the user , pa r t of the 
real world and the control led system of p red ic t ab le o u t c o m e s e n c o d e d into 
the software of the symbolic , accessed t h r o u g h the h a r d w a r e , which offers 
scope for disrupt ive nihilistic behaviour .« 4 1 T h e film Blue i n t roduces these 
questions of the re-examinat ion of the h u m a n b o d y exper ien t ia l i ty in an age 
of virtuality which is concerned with the a p p a r e n t de-mater ia l iza t ion of expe-
rience. Looking in more detail at the r ecep t ion of Blue's b lue canvas , we can 
argue that it is f r amed as a film screen, b u t due to its insistent and s u s p e n d e d 
3 7 Paul Virilio, »The Third Interval: A Critical Transition«, in Verena Andermatt Conley 
(Ed.), Rethinking Technologies, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis 1993, p. 4. 
3 8 Timothy Druckrey, »The Transient Image«, in A Symposium on the Changing Status of 
the Image, Banff, Canada, November 4 and 5, 1994, quoted in Mary Anne Moser, 
»Introduction«, in Immersed in Technology: Art and Virtual Environments, p. XVIII. 
3 9 I am referring here to Helen Cadwallder's report and evaluation of the presentation 
of Timothy Druckrey's paper »Crash, Crisis, Containment and Cyberia«, at the 5th 
International Conference on Cyberspace, Cyberconf, Madrid, June 1996, in Helen 
Cadwallder, »5th International Conference on Cyberspace«, in Mute, No. 6, London 
1996, p. 4. 
40 Ibid. 
41 Ibid. 
58 
Hysteria: Physical Presence andJuridical Absence & A I D S . . . 
immater ia l i ty , wh ich lasts for m o r e than an hour , the b lue canvas funct ions as 
an immers ive spatial con ta ine r , which slowly forces the viewer into a specific 
interactivi ty, in an immers ion of sight and body . The film confirms Druckrey ' s 
s t a t emen t r ega rd ing the recep t ion of the cinematic image by the viewer that 
has not only the effect of navigat ion by the image, bu t of a lived m o m e n t . 
T h e effect of the image is an exper ience of the encounte r not simply with the 
b lue space, bu t with a p e r s o n who is dying of AIDS, e m b o d i e d th rough his 
p r o p e r exper iant ia l i ty wi th in the b lue canvas in f ront of us. This quest ion can 
be r e p h r a s e d and we can therefore ask how this specific practice of t ex t / 
image re la tes to society? T h e pract ical d imens ion is f o u n d in emphasiz ing the 
pract ical i m p a c t which includes , first and foremost , a s t rengthening of experi-
ence cen te red in pe r sona l subjectivity. T h e r e is a d e m a n d for a »subjectivity« 
which perce ives the cont rad ic t ions within the social b o d y because this sub-
jectivi ty exp lores its o w n desires and drives.4 2 
Impl ica t ions of this shift to the experient ial f rom the perceptual recep-
t ion of the image can be d r a w n f r o m Gianni Vat t imo 's jux tapos ing of Wal te r 
B e n j a m i n a n d Mar t in He idegger . Va t t imo tried to expla in the essence of 
Ben j amin ' s essay »The W o r k of Art in the Age of Mechanica l Reproduc t ion« 
(1936) t h rough He idegge r ' s »The Or ig in of the Work of Art« (1936), empha -
sizing that bo th accen tua te the disorientat ion in the con tempora ry percep-
t ions of ar t as the d i rec t resul t of con tempora ry art works. For Heidegger as 
well as for Ben jamin the essence of technology is the manipula t ion of all 
things. T e c h n o l o g y expresses s imultaneously the comple t ion and the end of 
metaphys ics . Ben jamin as seen through Heidegger , and Heidegger in terpre ted 
via Ben jamin , offers n e w aesthetic concepts that can and will take on the 
chal lenges of a p o s t m o d e r n society which is a society of mass med ia con-
g lomera t ion . B e n j a m i n pu rpo r t ed ly links the exper ience of art within the 
m e d i a society, with the expe r i ence of a »shock«, while Heidegger makes use 
of the t e rm »Stoss« (blow). »Shock« and »Stoss« mi r ro r the urbani te nervous 
and intel lectual f luctuat ions , inconstancies and hypersensit ivity. Vat t imo ar-
gues that in aesthet ics a shift f rom the focus on work to a focus on exper ience 
mus t occu r . 4 3 This is just wha t we are witnessing in the film Blue, J a r m a n ' s 
d i smant l ing of the image , resul t ing in its zero point, causes an over lapping of 
the expe r i ence of a p e r s o n wi th AIDS with the viewer 's exper ience of immer-
sion in the b lue canvas . Ar t offers a privileged posit ion for the exper ience of 
an a l ternat ive count rys ide , of an al ternative wilderness or terrain. 
4 2 Cf. Paetzold, op. cit., p. 63. 
4 3 Cf. Gianni Vattimo, The Transparent Society, Oxford University Press, Cambridge and 
Oxford 1992, p. 58. 
59 
Marina Grzinic 
IV. The Semiotic Square 
In this final section I am using the semiot ic square to r e - examine the 
implicat ions inheren t in b inary pairs by m a k i n g expl ic i t the h i d d e n t e rms 
that help to stabilize mean ing and genera te s ignif icance, and I am, to a large 
extent , re lying on a similar appl icat ion of A. J . Gre imas ' s semiot ic square 
deve loped by N. Kather ine Hayles . 4 4 T h e semiot ic square is a t e chn ique of 
discursive analysis which begins with the choice of a b ina ry pair . P resence 
and absence can fo rm a pai r and the p r i m a r y dual i ty of such a square . T h e 
duality of p resence and absence in the semiot ic square signifies concep t s in 
dynamic interplay with each other ra ther than as i ndependen t ly exist ing terms. 
T h e purpose of choosing the second dual i ty is to de tec t the impl ica t ions con-
tained in the first pair . Since my interest lies in represen ta t ions of the b o d y in 
relation to presence-absence within the jur id ica l ter ra in , I will choose hyste-
ria (its physical presence , jur id ical absence) as the th i rd te rm. T h e fou r th 
te rm is genera ted by taking the negat ive of hyster ia : A I D S (its phys ica l ab-
sence, jur idical presence). 
Since the interplay be tween p resence a n d absence genera tes a specific 
material inscript ion in the social-political con tex t ( through the jur id ica l sys-
tem and o ther apparatuses connec ted with law), the axis connec t ing these 
terms should b e a jur idical (material) inscr ip t ion: 
jur idical (material) inscript ion 
Presence < > Absence 
T h e in terplay be tween hysteria a n d A I D S genera tes d i f fe ren t r epresen-
tational inscriptions, with the axis connec t ing these t e rms f o r m i n g rep resen-
tational regimes: 
representa t iona l regimes 
AIDS < » Hys te r ia 
N o w that both sets of duality are in place , the semiot ic square can be 
used to investigate the implicat ions of the shift f r o m the real effect of pho tog-
raphy to the impact of the virtuality of new m e d i a and t echno logy to d i f fe ren t 
systems of representa t ion , moreover , on to d i f fe ren t ways of inscr ib ing the 
body within the visible and the political context . 
4 4 Cf. N. Katherine Hayles, »Embodied Virtuality: Or How to Put Bodies Back into the 
Picture«, pp. 7-10. 
60 
Hysteria: Physical Presence andJuridical Absence & AIDS... 
These impl ica t ions are m a d e explicit by consider ing the relat ionships 
that connec t d i f fe ren t te rms . 
hyper - rea l 
m u t a t i o n s 
jur id ica l (material) inscription 
P re sence ^ — — — ^ Absence 
f ! \ 
\ 
\ 
\ 
\ / 
/ 
/ 
/ 
I 
r epresen ta t iona l regimes 
/ 
/ 
/ 
/ \ 
\ I 
X I 
s i x 
A I D S < » Hyster ia 
d o c u m e n t a r y 
/ real effect 
T h e d iagonal , connec t ing presence with hysteria, can be labelled »repli-
ca t ion«: 4 5 w h e n p re sence and hyster ia coincide, object and form are uni ted 
wi thou t d i s sonance or separa t ion . This is the rea lm of mimesis , ruled by com-
m o n sense a s sumpt ions a b o u t objects that re ta in their form. T h e diagonal 
connec t ing absence and A I D S can be label led »disrupt ion«. 4 6 Jus t as absence 
d is rupts the a b u n d a n c e of presence , AIDS disrupts the mimesis effect that 
has, until now, b e e n suff icient to anchor the disease within the social field, 
m a k i n g it visible, bu t no t go ing much fur ther than that. T h e vertical axis 
connec t ing absence and hyster ia alludes to the »real« effect of documen ta ry 
p h o t o g r a p h y . W e can label the vertical axis connect ing presence and AIDS 
(as a result of the in te rp lay be tween the axes of juridical mater ia l inscriptions 
with r ep resen ta t iona l regimes) hyper-real mutat ions. W h e n AIDS becomes 
physical ly man i f e s t ed in an image it »disappears«; the image is d i sembodied . 
A I D S is thus capab le of d is rupt ing the establ ished and accepted conformi ty 
of the p h o t o g r a p h i c d o c u m e n t a r y effect of hysteria at any momen t . 
T h e four n o d e s of the semiotic square, according to Hayles, recall the 
four quad ran t s of a Car tes ian g raph which he lp to expla in why the positive 
t e rm of the second pair , hyster ia , is placed on the lower right ra ther than 
lower lef t . 4 7 In Car tes ian grids, the lower right quadran t represents a positive 
x-value c o m b i n e d with the negat ive y-value. W e should recall that hyster ia is 
45 Ibid., p. 9. 
46 Ibid. 
47 Ibid., p. 10. Numerous commentators have pointed this out, including Fredricjameson 
and Shoshana Felman. 
61 
Marina Grzinic 
genera ted by absence of the positive first t e rm - p resence . T h e fou r th te rm, 
AIDS, is p roduced by the negative of the th i rd t e rm, hyster ia , which is al-
ready m a r k e d by negativity. »Thus the four th t e rm represen t s a nega t ion of 
negat ion. Because of this double negat ion , it is the least explici t ly specif ied of 
all the four terms and therefore the mos t p roduc t i ve of new compl ica t ions 
and insights.«4 8 It is f r o m the double (elusive) negat ivi ty of the fou r th t e rm 
that the »new« is likely to emerge , for the fou r th t e rm carries within it the 
most open and critical potent ial i ty . 4 9 
T h e same semiotic square was used by D o n n a H a r a w a y to t ravel to 
Virtual Space: »To get through the ar t i factual to e lsewhere , it wou ld he lp to 
have a little travel mach ine that also func t ions as a m a p « : 5 0 A . J . Gre imas ' s 
»infamous« (Haraway 's term) semiotic square . T h e semiot ic square , so subt le 
in the hands of Frederic J a m e s o n , was used in a m o r e rigid and li teral way in 
her essay jus t to keep four spaces in d i f ferent ia l and re la t ional separa t ion , 
while she exp lo red h o w cer ta in l o c a l / g l o b a l s t ruggles for m e a n i n g s a n d 
e m b o d i m e n t s of na ture occur within t h e m . T h e four reg ions t h r o u g h which 
Ha raway m o v e d were: (A) Real Space or Ea r th ; (B) O u t e r Space or the Extra-
terrestrial; (not-B) Inner Space or the Body; and finally, (not - A ) Vi r tua l Space 
or the SF wor ld . 5 1 Vir tua l Space takes the s ame pos i t ion as A I D S in m y 
semiotic square . 
W h a t can we learn f r o m such an app l ica t ion of the semiot ic square? It 
schematical ly shows possible relat ions tha t can e m e r g e w h e n the jur id ica l 
realm and representa t ion inf luence each o ther , thus p rov id ing a theore t ica l 
f r amework in which such apparen t ly d iverse ideas can be u n d e r s t o o d as dif-
fe rent manifes ta t ions of the same u n d e r l y i n g p h e n o m e n a . T h e devas ta t ing 
effects this interplay be tween A I D S a n d p re sence wi th in the r ea lm of repre-
sentation can have on tradit ional concepts of ident i ty appea r s in d i f fe ren t 
modes , one of them be ing that the physical durabi l i ty of the b o d y is just an 
illusion. O n the one hand , the specific inst i tut ion of the subject within the 
visible established in hyster ia was possible or at least was the result of a spe-
cific ideological mechan i sm of the opt ical »truth« which is intr insic to the 
pho tograph ic apparatus . O n the o ther h a n d , this same appa ra tus r e in fo rced 
the posit ion of juridical absence of the insane pe r son . T h e d i s rup t ion of the 
48 Ibid. 
4 9 Cf. Ibid. 
5 " Cf. Donna Haraway, »The Promises of Monsters: A Regenerative Politics for Inap-
propriate/d Others«, in Lawrence Grossberg, Cary Nelson and Paula A. Treichler 
(Eds.), Cultural Studies, Routledge, New York and London 1992, p. 304. 
5 1 Cf. Haraway, op. tit., p. 305. See also Fredric Jameson, The Prison-House of Language, 
Princeton University Press, Princeton 1972. 
62 
Hysteria: Physical Presence andJuridical Absence & A I D S . . . 
visibility of hysteria by AIDS is therefore as inevitable as the linkage of AIDS 
with death. 
No person in the film Blue, including the narrator, is seen on screen. As 
viewers we are eavesdroppers on a one-sided conversation from a place and 
person totally outside the depicted fictitious space of the film, a space both 
familiar and alien to that occupied by the audience. The viewer's initial 
jouissance or sense of wholeness is disrupted when it becomes evident that the 
camera, not the viewer, controls the gaze. In the film Blue, this is happening 
from the first moment . Throughout the film we are waiting for the point of 
subversion, for the unmasking by the camera - but only the colour blue re-
mains there. Thus the highlighting of the information which the camera con-
trols causes intense displeasure for the viewer. The narrative authority, often 
signified by the soundtrack of a voice-over, is displaced from its naturalized 
associations to the Other by a radical dispersion of narrative space. This radi-
cal decentralization of the narrative space is produced by the absence of a 
visible physical presence. In a traditional narrative form the speaker would 
most likely be shown. The film Blue forces the viewer to ask »who is speak-
ing« and dismantles traditional hegemonic narrative structures. The speaker, 
of whom the film is about, does not emerge as a subject, but is referred to 
indirectly, and is therefore present by his absence, existing as a void in the 
text. Maybe this alternating identification is what Ja rman was implying with 
Blue's extreme immersion into discursivity, which allows people afflicted with 
AIDS not only to be represented, but also to be the ones who will participate 
in the production and articulation and of new meanings concerning their 
own condition. 
63