Dalla sacra icona all' "icona del nostro tempo"

A relation of similarity connects the two pictorial texts Christ Acheiropoietos and Black Square, an “icon of our times” (Kazimir Malevich). This relation itself is iconic, being a homological relation, of the genetical and structural order. The text by Malevich refers to the sacred icon and to other sacred icons, above all in the sense that it responds to the genre they represent, in a relation of “responsive understanding”, to use Bakhtin’s terminology. In this responsive relation —distanced, mediated, delayed— this text becomes other, capable of signifying on its own account, autonomously, independently from that to which it refers and to which it resembles, independently from whether it exists or not. This is why it is an icon, in the sense described by Charles S. Peirce and his sign typology. The relation between Christ Acheiropoietos and Black Square concerns the fact that these works, one “sacred”, the other “profane”, share in the characteristics of the icon as understood by Peirce.