The Unmoving Face II: Mask and Death

Death runs through this book like a motif, playing an equally large role in genealogy and aesthetics of the mask as in the discourse on pose and coolness. However, I would first like to take a look at the face “as a witness against death” (Belting 2013, p. 215); admittedly not quite in accordance with Beltings idea. When Slipknot bassist Paul Gray died in May 2010, the band and family members held a press conference in Des Moines. The musicians took part without masks. It is one of the “recurring great deaths” (Diederichsen 2014a, p. 135) of pop music, in which the person and their body become particularly pronounced and a space for immediate actuality opens up.