Radical sovereignty and control society: Images of late modern sovereignty in Rebeyrolle’s Le Cyclope

Abstract

In this contribution it is argued that the late Paul Rebeyrolle’s (1926–2005) painting Le Cyclope (1987) subtly weaves together two images of sovereignty (conceived here as ‘control over emergence’), producing a third which expresses a vision of sovereignty as grounded in creative capacity. In Rebeyrolle’s Le Cyclope, control over emergence is achieved in and through creation. As such this French painter’s work attempts to show a way out of the predominant late modern desire for and will to sovereignty which is all about the radical, relentless and unrelenting flight from law and code. Such a radical and absolute imaginary, it is argued here, is bound to strand itself in paradox, and, ultimately, in the loss of all ‘control over emergence’. The paper also explores the relevance of Rebeyrolle’s images of late modern sovereignty for ‘control society’, in particular for phenomena such as ‘edgework’ and ‘precautionary cultures’.