Immaginario collettivo e iconografia della rivolta nella storia contemporanea = Collective imagination of riot: iconography of uprisings in contemporary History

Abstract

Collective imagination of riot: iconography of uprisings in contemporary History. The purpose of this article consists in finding recurrent iconographies in urban riots during Contemporary History. After a brief description of what can be considered a riot nowadays, it analyzes visual material that represents the most known social protests in contemporary History. From the French riots in 1830 and 1848 to the most recent events such as G8 Summit of Genoa, banlieues riots, Arab Spring, and so on. To do so, the paper is supported by a lot of different visual sources: paintings and newspaper's illustrations, photos and digital media. In fact, this iconographic research also deals with new media’s images, such as videogames, social media, Google. The focus of this paper is to find and analyze the recurring patterns of urban riots’ representations, that can be found through centuries and different visual materials. From the already mentioned traditional media to the new digital ones, any urban riot has common elements which are interesting to explore and deeply analyze.