Figures of Migration: Intertextuality in Michelangelo’s Night

Migration is a central feature of contemporary culture, bringing to our attention—among other things— certain problematic aspects of the concept intermediality. It may be asked if the concept is at all relevant in relation to such cultural phenomena. Below, it is argued that a return to Julia Kristeva’s original concept of intertextuality could be the way forward. Discussing the example of Michelangelo’s sculpture Night, it is argued that the specific work must be interrelated not only to the multimedia context of the Medici chapel but also to political and personal experiences of migration in the artist’s own time and cultural sphere. Such perspectives, however, demand the consideration of psychological and political contexts that are commonly absent in intermedia studies. The Kristevian concept of intertextuality, on the other hand, allows for intermedia phenomena to take place in relation to the full complexities of art, life, and culture.