At a time when digital images multiply endlessly and their circulation exceeds our ability to absorb them, philosopher Thomas Nail offers a radical idea: images are not static objects or mere representations—they are material processes in motion.
In his book Theory of the Image (2019), Nail develops a kinetic philosophy that rethinks the visual from the ground up. Contrary to classical notions that treat the image as a window to the world or a copy of reality, Nail places movement at the very origin of the image. The image is not what we see; it is what moves—a flow of matter that folds, organizes, and affects bodies.
Image = flow + fold + field
Nail’s theory unfolds across three levels:
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The flow of matter: no motion, no image. Images arise from matter’s ability to touch and differentiate itself.
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The fold of affect: when the flow folds onto itself, it creates intensities, sensations. Images do not represent emotions—they are moving affects.
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The field of art: images exist within a dynamic field of circulation. Art is not defined by content or form but by its kinetic arrangement of bodies, techniques, and relations.
Why does this theory matter?
Because it allows us to think beyond the image as representation. Nail gives us a framework to understand contemporary images—digital, algorithmic, technical—through their material dynamics and becoming. His philosophy resonates with thinkers like Bergson, Deleuze, or Merleau-Ponty, but adds a crucial twist: movement as the fundamental unit of analysis.
In this sense, his work is deeply political. To think of the image as flow is also to think about its control, its channels, its blockages. Which bodies move freely in the visual field? Which images circulate, and which are stopped?
Featured quote
“The image occurs first and foremost only because matter is able to encounter itself—to touch itself. And matter is only able to touch itself if it is kinetically differentiated in some way.”
(Thomas Nail, Theory of the Image, 2019)