The title page of the site, depicting a sequence of four mushroom clouds, can be read in three distinct ways:
1) As Memory--The clouds are identical in almost every respect, the chief difference being that the cloud to the extreme left is set against a dark background, which becomes lighter with each succeeding image. Similarly, as the event fades from memory, its impact becomes increasingly diffuse, difficult to pick out from the surrounding context.
2) As the Beautiful: Walter Benjamin talks about the allure of the decontextualized image, the temptation to perceive beauty when looking at pure, abstracted form (e.g., Leni Reifenstahl's photographic images of Nazi Party rallies). The cloud, removed from its familiar context, possesses a seductive appeal, mingling Eros and Thanatos in a single instant of destruction.
3) As Narrative: The series of clouds represents the passing of the master narrative, the necessity of assembling "little stories" (in the manner of a film strip, with images in succession) in the postmodern era. These "little stories" may contribute to a larger whole, but only in a self-conscious fashion, recognizing the gaps between images, the limitations of the information presented.
These variant readings indicate the enormous difficulty of constructing authority in the postmodern era.
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