MEANINGS, ELEMENTS AND IMPLICATIONS OF THE INVISIBLE

The word “invisible” has origins in Old French and Latin, a combination of the Latin words “in” (equivalent to the English word “not”) and “visibilis.” Latin “invisibilis” became the English word “invisible," pronounced in·vis·i·ble; inˈvizəb(ə)l/.

This site explores the meanings, elements, and implications of the Invisible. The Invisible is investigated as a concept entangled by the contradictions of our culture, a word in the process of re-inventing itself for an increasing technologically driven and class disparate society. Our focus is on the political, technological, and social forces that subvert the word "visible" and "invisible" into something that serves our Elites, a word manipulated and sold on the market.

Walter Benjamin’s Arcade Project presents a suitable format, an almost endless montage that commented on hundreds of topics including fashion, photography, modes of commerce, art, advertising, and prostitution. Similar to the Project, we do not attempt to analyze headlines or famous events, we focus instead on the hidden, the ignored, and the unobservable. Not as a  pondering, but more a brooding or a gift (if one can identify with a gift what many believe is a curse).

The term "Invisible" has become almost untranslatable. Nevertheless, we might begin with two definitions: 

A. Unable to be seen; not visible to the eye. This is the common, historical definition of invisible. It implies a physical object that one cannot see because of properties of the object itself.

B. Not perceptible or discernible by the mind. This definition differs from A. in that the object referred to may be either: (1) a physical thing; or (2) a mental concept. The emphasis is not on the inherent characteristics of the object itself, but on the receptor’s state of mind.

A proliferations of synonyms exist, some of them illustrate the stresses placed on the word "invisible."