Abstract
The essay describes the structure and addresses the key questions of the National Center of Competence and Research /iconic criticism/ which is located in Basel. Particularly, it centers on the view that the research unit /literary studies/ has of imagery: the poetic text generates images and simultaneously destroys them. This, the text's genuine iconic Poesis and its textuality which is iconic critical, is what makes a text perform /Bildkritik/. Finally, the descriptions of the unit's projects offer insight into how this thesis is adapted to the individual fields of research.