“The third part of the Eye/Machine cycle structures the material around the concept of the operative image. These are images that do not describe a process, but rather are part of a process. Already in the 80s, cruise missiles used a stored image of real landscapes, then took a current image during flight and, finally, the software compared the two images. A comparison between idea and reality, a confrontation between pure war and the impurity of the current. At the same time, this confrontation is a montage and montage always deals with similarity and difference. Many of the operative images showed colour orientation lines, with the purpose of representing recognition work. The lines tell us categorically what is important in these images, and with this same categorical form what is not important. Superfluous reality is rejected – a constant renunciation that provokes opposition.” Harun Farocki
