Images nowadays are produced in a dizzying rate and disseminated in a flash, dictating political agendas, affecting social relations and shaping contemporary modes of citizenship. What, then, is the political significance of the visual image? In this seminar we will probe into some of the main political arenas in which the visual image plays a key role in order to characterize each arena and define the image's role within it. We will link the televised dramatic events of September 11, 2001 with the recent masterful productions of ISIS and contemplate the relationship between globalization and terror and their resounding battle in the visual field. We will examine notions such as surveillance, control and spectacle and see how they shape, via the image, the power relations between the individual and the state and between fellow citizens. We will investigate the historical role of the iconic image and trace some of its transmutations in the digital age. We will study the use of visual imagery in the established sphere of representational politics and see if it leaves any room for nonrepresentational political dissent. All the while, we will contemplate different ways of looking at images and inquire whether the gaze, overwhelmed by images, can trigger the body into political action.