Specificity of the nature of the image in the socio-cultural space

Among the researchers of the visual, visualization is singled out as one of the universal characteristics of modern culture. This trend is due to the growth of visual artefacts that are rapidly filling the socio-cultural space.Many factors contributed to this, and one of the main ones is the development of media communications.The discourse on visuality went beyond the boundaries of Art Studies, which entailed the study of non-artisticvisuality - the everyday life of visible things. As a result of visual experience expansion, the processes of productionand consumption of visual images have changed, which is reflected in social practices. Terminological difficultiesencountered in the field of visual studies speak to the problems of visual studies institutionalization. Nevertheless,we can distinguish two polar theoretical approaches: according to the first approach, the image is understood as a“cultural” representation mediated by various ideological practices. This approach has been influenced byconstructivism, which is reflected in the interest in analyzing the role of images in the formation of social andcultural meanings. Also, the representational theory of imagery deals with issues related to the view of the observerand its conditioning by various scopic regimes. This paradigm is considered to be subject to emancipation trends.It asserts the change of the concept of a passive spectator, captured by images, to the concept of a spectator, whoactively participates in the creation of visual images. The second approach, which is considered in the article,interprets the image from the phenomenology point of view. The phenomenological approach to visual imageryfocuses on the image-presentation concept, which exists autonomously from the observer, in the mode of semanticclosure, which means that the visual image has its own content that is difficult for the subject to access. The presentedconcept excludes reading the image only as a reflection or representation of the socio-cultural field. It is concludedthat the image theory is undergoing significant changes, and vision and the viewer are becoming more independent.