This article proposes to explore Jean Baudrillard's unique play of verb tenses and the way he uses this play of tenses to create a highly exaggerated metaphysical play. In this way, the paper will indicate how Baudrillard's views and concepts nearly always involve play with the temporal frame of reference or the subversion of linear time. This essay will further analyze how Baudrillard contrasts the mode of "disappearance" from that of the "ceasing to be" of death, and on this basis to better understand his controversial critiques of the current status of art and its relation to history. Lastly, the paper turns to Baudrillard's critiques of photography, expounding once again on this case as a mode of "disappearance."
Keywords
Jean Baudrillard, play of tenses, disappearance, art, photography