Twelfth International Conference on The Image

Abstract

The majority of images produced today are products of computational tracking technologies, thus equipping intelligent systems with the means to gather, merge, and display visual data in real-time without human intervention or perception. Such images have been dubbed Operative images, connoting that they are images whose sole purpose is to facilitate non-human operation. Any interaction between such images and humans is perfunctory and takes place irrespective of such images’ intended function and purpose, namely mediation between sensors and processing units. The operative image thus heralds the emergence of an operative order of the world characterised by a universal method, the image processing programme. This new world finds its ideal expression in the autonomous electronic processing logic of guidance systems. However, discussion on operative images tends to revolve around the autonomy of weapons systems such as drones and ‘kill robots’. It rarely focuses on civilian systems. These are equally designed to produce images exclusively for non-sentient entities or ‘vision machines’ that are controlled by computer programmes and in like manner neither comprehend, feel or empathize. Such systems are routinely used to guide us on our morning drive, perform on our bodies when we are undergoing surgery and protect us from various kinds of discrimination. These settings are equally composed of epistemic, ethical and pragmatic dilemmas. If operative imaging systems increasingly make various human decisions and actions redundant, how should we perceive this new form of quasi-agency? Should we attempt to define autonomy and agency in and for operative imaging systems?