From the Image Regime to the Regime of Visuality. Painting and Representation in the Context of Operational Images

Abstract

This paper examines four works of contemporary Chilean art that depict the graphical user interface through painting. The analysis suggests that interface painting can be understood as an artistic critique of operational images (Farocki, 2015) within the current visual regime, proposing that this practice rearticulates the aesthetic experience of the subject through a contemplative relationship with the image in the context of representation. The methodology combines visual analysis of the selected works with a review of specialized literature.

Firstly, our approach focuses on defining the concept of the interface, understanding it as a key point of tension to differentiate between the image regime and the visuality regime. Secondly, it explores the critical potential of the aforementioned pictorial exercise, considering it as an interruption of the dominant informational flow in the contemporary visual context. The paper concludes by establishing a relationship between the current visuality regime and asignifying semiotics, suggesting that the reviewed artistic practices offer an aesthetic critique that allows reflection on the post-representational context dominant in our contemporary visual order.