The Harun Farocki effect

This retrospective presents, for the first time, a wide selection of militant films produced throughout the 1960s—some of which have been recently restored. The exhibition takes as its starting point those works on the “operative image,” that is, “images that—as the author himself would say—are made neither to entertain nor to inform.” In the wake of the first Gulf War, video surveillance and the technologies of war implemented through visual devices became the subject of extensive research by Farocki. So much so that Farocki anticipated this era in which images are not only produced by machines but also interpreted by them.

The Harun Farocki Effect brings together one of the most dazzling critical trajectories of the 20th century. At once critical, educational, and understated, Farocki’s work has pioneered a form of museum experience that transforms visitors into active agents. The combination of installations and works within a continuous space produces what the artist himself called “soft montage”: a montage in which, while we are viewing one work, we begin to see others out of the corner of our eye. The exhibition is complemented by screening programs, workshops, and activities for children and their families, as Farocki—despite his reputation as a challenging artist—offers us a cinema that is clear and accessible.