Révélations psychique de la main
- Charlotte Wolff (Minotaure No 6, 1935)
Print of Antonin Artaud’s hand, from a series of sixteen facsimile prints of the hands of contemporary writers and visual artists, done by Charlotte Wolff.
Often regarded as pseudo-science, the reading of a person by looking at the lines of their hand or the length and position of fingers is recurring throughout history. The interesting element is the directness of the gesture,
which claims to not just reflect the past but also to somehow predict the future. If early cave paintings have any such meaning (photo: Cave of the Hands in Argentina 13000-7000 BC) remains to be seen, but fingerprints as an identifier, first in ink and its subsequent implementation in technology makes the debate about data and how it works for us or may turn against us, more urgent than ever.
![]()
Often regarded as pseudo-science, the reading of a person by looking at the lines of their hand or the length and position of fingers is recurring throughout history. The interesting element is the directness of the gesture,
which claims to not just reflect the past but also to somehow predict the future. If early cave paintings have any such meaning (photo: Cave of the Hands in Argentina 13000-7000 BC) remains to be seen, but fingerprints as an identifier, first in ink and its subsequent implementation in technology makes the debate about data and how it works for us or may turn against us, more urgent than ever.
