Thaddaeus Ropac Announces Harun Farocki Exhibition Exploring 'Operational Images' and Visual Labor
Tom Holert examines Harun Farocki’s views on the function of film and images, referencing a 2014 Berlin Documentary Forum panel where Farocki discussed the early twentieth-century shift of film toward entertainment and education. The text cites Farocki and Hartmut Bitomsky’s 1970 writing on The Division of All Days, which separates film’s roles in reproducing labor power, conveying information, and conferring qualifications. Holert traces Farocki’s sustained interest in operational images from scientific applications such as photogrammetry, microcinema, and industrial motion studies.
The Signal
The essay positions Farocki’s theorization of operational images as a counter to visual culture dominated by signification rather than production. It connects this framework to Farocki’s broader critique of capitalist visuality and references the German title of his text quoting Brecht’s Mother Courage. For collectors and curators the piece supplies historical context on Farocki’s influence in media studies and underscores ongoing institutional interest in his concepts of image labor.
- Artists: Harun Farocki
- People: Tom Holert, Hartmut Bitomsky
- Galleries: Thaddaeus Ropac
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