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Les gestes
Les gestes " [...] réunit une série d'essais qui veulent voir jusqu'où on peut aller en partant du geste à la recherche de l'homme. Il se peut que la direction prise ne soit pas la bonne, ce ne sont que des essais. Mais il montre que l'on peut aller très loin, qu'on peut avoir des surprises " (Vilem Flusser). Si Vilem Flusser a connu une reconnaissance internationale - il est traduit depuis longtemps en plusieurs langues et son oeuvre complète est une référence dans le champ théorique allemand - il est fort peu connu et traduit en France. Les Gestes est l'un des rares livres de l'auteur écrit directement en français. Il synthétise une réflexion qui se développe entre 1948 et 1990 et il apparaît comme un événement majeur dans la réflexion sur les arts visuels.
Ecrire, détruire, faire l'amour ou fumer la pipe : l'existence humaine se manifeste par des gestes. Vilém Flusser les décrit pour poser un certain nombre de questions classiques de philosophie : quelle place occupe l'art dans nos vies, quelle relation au monde et à autrui entretenons-nous ? Ce recueil vaut autant par les gestes abordés que par l'originalité de la démarche, en d'autres termes par le geste de l'auteur. Il ne force pas le trait, mais laisse chacun libre de se reconnaître ou non dans ses propos.
Flusser distingue trois grandes catégories de gestes : les gestes contre le monde (le travail), les gestes vers autrui (la communication) et les gestes comme fin en soi (l'art). Et si chaque geste est une synthèse des trois, l'exemple du travail montre qu'un geste peut en dominer d'autres et en définir la forme. Tout comme il y a une histoire humaine, il y a donc également une histoire des gestes. Ainsi, si l'on ne parle plus du geste de fumer la pipe quand on parle de l'art, c'est que " nous ne vivons pas pour vivre, mais pour changer le monde ". L'art est dans nos existences historiques " un geste de travail (chercher à faire une oeuvre) ou bien un geste de communication (chercher à informer) ". La prégnance du travail traduit une révolution d'intérêt que Flusser évoque longuement à travers le geste de la recherche, geste qu'il considère comme le modèle de tous nos gestes. Ayant pris la place du geste rituel au Moyen-Age, la recherche scientifique ne cherche pas une chose perdue, mais " n'importe quoi ". Visant une connaissance objective, pure et sans préjugé, elle s'est d'abord bornée aux objets inanimés (d'où ses débuts par l'astronomie et la mécanique). Or explique l'auteur, cette façon de chercher est en crise : " la nature bourgeoise est en expansion (.). Elle a avalé, au cours de l'âge moderne, les êtres vivants, l'esprit humain et la société (la biologie, la psychologie et la sociologie ".
Ecrire, détruire, faire l'amour ou fumer la pipe : l'existence humaine se manifeste par des gestes. Vilém Flusser les décrit pour poser un certain nombre de questions classiques de philosophie : quelle place occupe l'art dans nos vies, quelle relation au monde et à autrui entretenons-nous ? Ce recueil vaut autant par les gestes abordés que par l'originalité de la démarche, en d'autres termes par le geste de l'auteur. Il ne force pas le trait, mais laisse chacun libre de se reconnaître ou non dans ses propos.
Flusser distingue trois grandes catégories de gestes : les gestes contre le monde (le travail), les gestes vers autrui (la communication) et les gestes comme fin en soi (l'art). Et si chaque geste est une synthèse des trois, l'exemple du travail montre qu'un geste peut en dominer d'autres et en définir la forme. Tout comme il y a une histoire humaine, il y a donc également une histoire des gestes. Ainsi, si l'on ne parle plus du geste de fumer la pipe quand on parle de l'art, c'est que " nous ne vivons pas pour vivre, mais pour changer le monde ". L'art est dans nos existences historiques " un geste de travail (chercher à faire une oeuvre) ou bien un geste de communication (chercher à informer) ". La prégnance du travail traduit une révolution d'intérêt que Flusser évoque longuement à travers le geste de la recherche, geste qu'il considère comme le modèle de tous nos gestes. Ayant pris la place du geste rituel au Moyen-Age, la recherche scientifique ne cherche pas une chose perdue, mais " n'importe quoi ". Visant une connaissance objective, pure et sans préjugé, elle s'est d'abord bornée aux objets inanimés (d'où ses débuts par l'astronomie et la mécanique). Or explique l'auteur, cette façon de chercher est en crise : " la nature bourgeoise est en expansion (.). Elle a avalé, au cours de l'âge moderne, les êtres vivants, l'esprit humain et la société (la biologie, la psychologie et la sociologie ".
270 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1991
20 people are currently reading
316 people want to read
About the author
Vilém Flusser
87 books167 followersVilém Flusser was a philosopher born in Czechoslovakia. He lived for a long period in Brazil and later in France, and his works are written in several different languages.
His early work was marked by discussion of the thought of Martin Heidegger, and by the influence of existentialism and phenomenology. Phenomenology would play a major role in the transition to the later phase of his work, in which he turned his attention to the philosophy of communication and of artistic production. He contributed to the dichotomy in history: the period of image worship, and period of text worship, with deviations consequently into idolatry and "textolatry".
Flusser was born in 1920 in Prague into a family of Jewish intellectuals. His father, Gustav Flusser, studied mathematics and physics (under Albert Einstein among others). Flusser attended German and Czech primary schools and later a German grammar school.
In 1938, Flusser started to study philosophy at the Juridical Faculty of the Charles University in Prague. In 1939, shortly after the Nazi occupation, Flusser emigrated to London to continue his studies for one term at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Vilém Flusser lost all of his family in the German concentration camps: his father died in Buchenwald in 1940; his grandparents, his mother and his sister were brought to Auschwitz and later to Theresienstadt where they were killed. The next year, he emigrated to Brazil, living both in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
In 1960 he started to collaborate with the Brazilian Institute for Philosophy (IBF) in São Paulo and published in the Revista Brasileira de Filosofia; by these means he seriously approached the Brazilian intellectual community. During that decade he published and taught at several schools in São Paulo, being Lecturer for Philosophy of Science at the Escola Politécnica of the University of São Paulo and Professor of Philosophy of Communication at the Escola Dramática and the Escola Superior de Cinema in São Paulo. He also participated actively in the arts, collaborating with the Bienal de São Paulo, among other cultural events.
Beginning in the 1950s he taught philosophy and functioned as a journalist, before publishing his first book Língua e realidade (Language and Reality) in 1963. In 1972 he decided to leave Brazil.
He lived in both Germany and the South of France. To the end of his life, he was quite active writing and giving lectures around media theory. He died in 1991 in a car accident, while visiting his native Prague to give a lecture.
His early work was marked by discussion of the thought of Martin Heidegger, and by the influence of existentialism and phenomenology. Phenomenology would play a major role in the transition to the later phase of his work, in which he turned his attention to the philosophy of communication and of artistic production. He contributed to the dichotomy in history: the period of image worship, and period of text worship, with deviations consequently into idolatry and "textolatry".
Flusser was born in 1920 in Prague into a family of Jewish intellectuals. His father, Gustav Flusser, studied mathematics and physics (under Albert Einstein among others). Flusser attended German and Czech primary schools and later a German grammar school.
In 1938, Flusser started to study philosophy at the Juridical Faculty of the Charles University in Prague. In 1939, shortly after the Nazi occupation, Flusser emigrated to London to continue his studies for one term at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Vilém Flusser lost all of his family in the German concentration camps: his father died in Buchenwald in 1940; his grandparents, his mother and his sister were brought to Auschwitz and later to Theresienstadt where they were killed. The next year, he emigrated to Brazil, living both in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
In 1960 he started to collaborate with the Brazilian Institute for Philosophy (IBF) in São Paulo and published in the Revista Brasileira de Filosofia; by these means he seriously approached the Brazilian intellectual community. During that decade he published and taught at several schools in São Paulo, being Lecturer for Philosophy of Science at the Escola Politécnica of the University of São Paulo and Professor of Philosophy of Communication at the Escola Dramática and the Escola Superior de Cinema in São Paulo. He also participated actively in the arts, collaborating with the Bienal de São Paulo, among other cultural events.
Beginning in the 1950s he taught philosophy and functioned as a journalist, before publishing his first book Língua e realidade (Language and Reality) in 1963. In 1972 he decided to leave Brazil.
He lived in both Germany and the South of France. To the end of his life, he was quite active writing and giving lectures around media theory. He died in 1991 in a car accident, while visiting his native Prague to give a lecture.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 4, 2024
Después de leer varias cosas de Flusser encuentro que tiene ideas, aunque no se le da muy bien escribir. Es original, sin serlo lo suficiente como para que me entusiasme.
July 23, 2025
"Gesto é o movimento no qual se articula uma liberdade, afim de se revelar ou de se velar para o outro." s2
August 31, 2025
Certainly original and provocative!
I was expecting a more intimate description of gestures, their historicity and cultural specificity, which this provides somewhat. It moves a bit too soon to the polemical, however, such as arguments concerning the redundancy of certain gestures, which are abrupt and unnecessary. For example, writing, and the claim that those who wish to preserve it are simply archaic and absurd, and do so for purely self-centered reasons rather than a genuine sense that the gesture has any enduring importance. Maybe that's true, but it is also based on a limited view of what constitutes writing in the first place (though I understand that providing a rich description of a gesture will require setting clear parameters around what that gesture is or "looks like"). The description focuses mainly on the embodied, physical aspects of writing, and although it makes reference to its immaterial elements (such as the nature of thought that comes to fruition in writing), this is done rather insufficiently in my view.
I was expecting a more intimate description of gestures, their historicity and cultural specificity, which this provides somewhat. It moves a bit too soon to the polemical, however, such as arguments concerning the redundancy of certain gestures, which are abrupt and unnecessary. For example, writing, and the claim that those who wish to preserve it are simply archaic and absurd, and do so for purely self-centered reasons rather than a genuine sense that the gesture has any enduring importance. Maybe that's true, but it is also based on a limited view of what constitutes writing in the first place (though I understand that providing a rich description of a gesture will require setting clear parameters around what that gesture is or "looks like"). The description focuses mainly on the embodied, physical aspects of writing, and although it makes reference to its immaterial elements (such as the nature of thought that comes to fruition in writing), this is done rather insufficiently in my view.
May 21, 2022
This book is way too complicated to read, and I even think the writer took so much time explaining the smoking gesture... I think there was no need to take so many pages explaining that.
On the other hand, some comparison are really interesting, whilst others are not so much applicable nowadays.
On the other hand, some comparison are really interesting, whilst others are not so much applicable nowadays.
October 13, 2018
"Pleasure comes from the gesture, from "acting oneself out"... we are gestures."
Gesture as the pleasure of self, the joy in this devilish freedom to be.
Gesture as the pleasure of self, the joy in this devilish freedom to be.
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June 25, 2022thank you
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 9, 2020
no thanks!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews