PAUL VIRILIO
French
Paul Virilio is one of the most influential theorists
working today in terms of his writings on aes-
thetics, politics, technology, and war. A highly
unconventional and idiosyncratic thinker, his back-
ground lies in the interrelated fields of architecture
and urban planning, but his work often involves a
panoramic sweep, displaying references to cinema,
literature, history, philosophy, and photography.
Born in Paris in 1932 to a French mother and
Italian father, Virilio was raised in the port city of
Nantes. In 1939 he witnessed the GermanBlitzk-
riegfirsthand and the traumatic effects of war have
become an insistent theme throughout his work.
His first major book,Bunker Archeology (1975/
1994), was a lengthy photo-essay (published to
accompany an exhibition) that documented the
imposing fortified structures left behind after the
war along the northern coast of France. Virilio
took these photos between 1958 and 1965, and
the text combines aspects of military history, poetic
description, and critical treatise.
Virilio dreamt of becoming a painter when he was
young, and in the aftermath of the Second World
War he attended the renowned art studios of Mont-
parnasse, and befriended many artists during this
period. In addition, Virilio assisted in transforming
the works of several Modern artists—including those
of Henri Matisse—into stained glass after a period of
studies at L’Ecole des me ́tiers d’art. Toward the end
of the 1950s Virilio also undertook studies at the
Sorbonne under the philosopher Maurice Merleau-
Ponty, and thus became influenced by phenomenol-
ogy. In 1950 Virilio became a Christian convert, and
influenced by such priests such as the Abbe ́Pierre,
who spoke up for the poor he began working on
behalf of the homeless, a cause to which he still
devotes much of his time.
Virilio went on to study architecture, and in 1963
formed the group (with Claude Parent) called Archi-
tecture Principe, and became president and editor of
their journal. Virilio’s architectural proposals involved
the unconventional premise of the ‘‘oblique function,’’
or to quote the author, ‘‘the end of the vertical as an
axis of elevation, the end of the horizontal as perma-
nent plane, in favor of the oblique axis and the
inclined plane.’’ The sole structure which in its realiza-
tion corresponded to these notions was the church of
Sainte-Bernadette in Nevers (1963–1966). Following
the events of May 1968 in Paris, Virilio became Pro-
fessor at the E ́cole Speciale d’Architecture, and later
its Director (1975) and President (1990).
Virilio records his ideas in a highly evocative and
deceptively straightforward manner, often camoufla-
ging the depth and intensity of his thought. Particu-
larly in recent writings, Virilio tends as much toward
the poetic as the analytical. He has commented, ‘‘My
books are very visual...if I can’t see it, I can’t write
about it.’’ A self-described ‘‘art critic of technology,’’
Virilio frequently envisions a future nearly over-
whelmed by the mediated image, and his is a much
darker, dystopian vision than that of say, the influ-
ential media theorist Marshall McLuhan.
In a 1987 interview Virilio remarked ‘‘images have
become munitions. Their delivery and their impact
have the same speeds as the impact of a bullet. The
arms of the future will resemble a TV more than a
mortar.’’ Much of Virilio’s work retains an apoca-
lyptic tone, and certain aspects more closely resem-
ble that of literary iconoclasts such as William S.
Burroughs or J.G. Ballard. Moreover, in marked
contrast to the post-structural thinkers of his genera-
tion with whom he is often too easily associated,
Virilio’s work is generally more concerned with
visual imagery than linguistic phenomena.
One of Virilio’s primary interests is in ‘‘dromol-
ogy,’’ or the study of speed, addressed in hisSpeed
and Politics(1977/1986). In this text Virilio presents
a compelling historical narrative of how military
strategies became shaped by the development of
transportable weaponry, eroding the significance of
fortified cities. He comments ‘‘the violence of speed
has become both the location and the law, the
world’s destiny and its destination.’’ Virilio’s on-
going explorations of the conditions of violence,
destruction, and militarism characteristic of the
twentieth century have recently gained renewed cur-
rency as the events of September 11, 2001, have
made many of the discussions in his previous works
seem eerily prescient.
In theAesthetics of Disappearance(1980/1991) Vir-
ilio writes of the significance of developments in
chronophotography and the cinema in shaping mod-VIRILIO, PAUL