Splitting Images

Multistable figures or Kippbilder combine reversibility and irreversibility in an interesting way. While the so called first aspect change introduces an irreversible split, all subsequent aspect changes can be understood as an endless chain of reversible changes. And it is exactly because of this complex combination of an eventful moment and an undirected repetition of the same, Luca Di Blasi argues in his paper ‘Splitting Images. Understanding Irreversible Fractures Through the Aspect Change’, that Kippbilder can provide an interesting model for understanding better dramatic, existential, even religious events and their consequences. After discussing the specificity of the Rubin vase and its aspect changes and focussing then on the distinction between first and further aspect changes, Di Blasi suggests the productive potential of the multistable figure as model for eventful events in discussing the conversion of Paul and his hōs mē (‘as if not’).