Francesco Zucconi is Assistant Professor at the IUAV University of Venice, Italy. He has been a Lauro de Bosis fellow at Harvard, USA, and a Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellow at the Centre d’Histoire et de Théorie des Arts, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris, France, where he remains an associate member. He has written a number of books and articles on the theory of cinema, image theory and contemporary visual culture. Translated by Zakiya Hanafi, Independent Scholar, USA

“This book presents a useful and compelling analysis of how art history can be mobilised alongside contemporary visual culture in the service of humanitarian communication and sheds light on the potentials and challenges of drawing on the historical legacy of classical painting.” (Tijana Stolic, Contemporary Political Theory, July 13, 2020)“Francesco Zucconi has produced a wonderful study that considers how Caravaggio’s paintings have been involved in the politics of the humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean. … I, for one, will certainly be following with great interest where the methodological displacement of the archive of art history will take him next.” (Matthew D’Ambrosio Griffith, Journal of Italien Cinema & Media Studies, JICMS, January, 2020)

• 1. Introduction.- 2. Humanitarian Archeology.- 3. Unstill Life.- 4. Pathos, Survival, and “Quasi Immanence”.- 5. On the Limits of the Virtual Humanitarian Experience.- 6. Caravaggio on Lampedusa.- 7. On Displacing.