This Obscure Thing Called Transparency: Politics and Aesthetics of a Contemporary Metaphor

Transparency is the metaphor of our time. Whether in government or corporate governance, finance, technology, health or the media - it is ubiquitous today, and there is hardly a current debate that does not call for more transparency. But what does this word actually stand for and what are the consequences for the life of individuals? Can knowledge from the arts, and its play of visibility and invisibility, tell us something about the paradoxical logics of transparency and mediation? This Obscure Thing Called Transparency gathers contributions by international experts who critically assess the promises and perils of transparency today.

Contributors: Emmanuel Alloa (University of Fribourg), Loup Cellard (Melbourne Law School), Riccardo Donati (Universita di Salerno), Mark Fenster (University of Florida), Sara Guindani (Universite Paris 7), David Heald (University of Glasgow), Vlad Ionescu (UHasselt/PXL MAD), Dorota Mokrosinska (Leiden University), Herman Parret (KU Leuven), John Pitseys (UCLouvain), Natacha Pfeiffer (Universite Saint-Louis), Philippe Van Parijs (UCLouvain), Bart Verschaffel (Ghent University), Patrick Vandermeersch (KU Leuven), Christophe Van Gerrewey (EPFL).