georges didi huberman, confronti... - lensbased.net

xxviPreface to the English EditionThanks to Panofsky’s warnings, we know better just how the historianof art engages, at every instant, his reason and his ‘‘scientific’’desire for verification: we know better just how we need not be afraidof knowledge. But despite Panofsky’s exorcisms—and thanks to therisks taken before him by Aby Warburg—we also know how weneedn’t be afraid of not knowing. We must, in this history, have thecourage to confront both parties, both ‘‘pictures’’: both the exorcistand the dybbuk itself. Both the veil that makes thought possible andthe rend that makes thought impossible.Georges Didi-Huberman