Philosophy, Art, and the Specters of Jacques Derrida By Gray Koc ...

Exposures

—Jacques Derrida

Everything is exposed. There is no inside that is protected from the glare of the sun’s effulgent radiation, no place of refuge from contamination. Everything is, and always has been, exposed to decay, forgetfulness, and obliteration. Every instant is a disappearing. But because every instant is exposed to exposure, to absolute finitude, there is the possibility of inscription: a curlicue, a testament, an arabesque, a digital image. The flesh is tattooed by the hand of death, which is nothing. The nothing notates itself on the exposed skin of the world. That should be enough to get started.

Exposure is an orientation—the house, for example, has a southern exposure—and a part of the historical process of the development of images. Everything, without exception, is exposed: this is the first principle. But within, as it were, this exposure, individuals can arrange