Fragmentation, simultaneity and overstimulation characterize our present-day world. Events appear in a flood of short messages, shared screenshots, or TikToks. The images in such media are fast, fluctuating, affective – they lead to stress and are stressed in themselves. This volume examines the phenomenon of media overload from an interdisciplinary perspective and proposes a new interpretative model for the visual cultures of our (digital) age with the concept of Zerstressung. Examining (resistant) image and knowledge practices, glitches, the Anthropocene era, and cultures of remembrance, the chapters discuss Zerstressung as an aesthetic as well as a political concept. New aesthetic as well as (image)-theoretical perspectives on stress Examining visual overburdening in digital cultures Establishing the idea of Zerstressung as an aesthetical, political and analytical figure