CRITICAL STRATEGIES - WORK SURVEY HARUN FAROCKI
SCREENING
With a selective outline on his body of film work and the exhibition of a recent installation, Harun Farocki is the central guest of the argosfestival. Backed by a body of work of over eighty films, videos and installations the artist from Berlin has always proved himself capable of containing symptoms of malaise in our society or even anticipating on them. Farocki approaches his subject in a documentary essay style. He observes the way in which surveillance videos record ’real’ life, and he blends in those images with archive fragments, he processes and rewrites shreds taken from current events, creating films of his own with measured detail. His hybrid documentaries run through social, political, ethical and aesthetic topics in which the voice of the maker always resounds. The films are both a meditation on the media and a personal resistance to conventional cinema. Farocki’s installation Auge/ Machine II poignantly questions the alarming visual territory, marked out by the electronic eye in military strategies.
Critical strategies #1 97’
on Sat, 18 Oct 2003 22:00
Can the media oppress traumatising events with their representation? reconstruction of the news coverage surrounding the tearing down of the Berlin wall, Farocki puts forward two possible answers.
Nicht löschbares Feuer (Inextinguishable Fire) by Harun Farocki 25’ 1969
16 mm, b/w, German spoken, English subtitled, 25’, 1969 The filmmaker is sitting at a table, in a formal voice he reads out from the report of a Vietnamese eyewitness on the fighting tactics of the American army. More specifically it discusses a napalm attack on the village of the witness. At the end of the message Farocki says, facing the camera: “When we show you the images of the napalm victims, you will shut your eyes. You will shut your eyes to these images. Then you will shut them to the memory. And then you will shut them to the facts.” In a self-destructive act the filmmaker extinguishes a burning cigarette in his hand. Farocki steers clear from any kind of emotional appeal. His starting point is the following: “When napalm is burning, it is too late to extinguish it. Napalm should be fought where it is produced: in the factories.”
Harun Farocki (1944), born in former Czechoslovakia when it was occupied by the Germans, first studied Theatre science and sociology before he devoted himself to film. After his studies at the Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie in Berlin from 1966 to 1968 he made educational films and politically committed documentaries. As a lecturer he taught in Berlin, Hamburg, Manila and most recently in Berkeley. He made over 90 films, among them many film essays and documentaries, and he published countless articles. Since the nineties Farocki is a frequent guest on film festivals as well as contemporary art exhibitions.
Die Schöpfer der Einkaufswelten (The Creators of the Shopping Worlds) by Harun Farocki 72’ 2001
Video, colour, German spoken, English subtitled, 72’, 2001 This documentary focuses on consumer designers. They represent the optimisation of consumer behaviour shopping malls and superstores. Through examples Farocki shows how these masters of soft persuasion operate. He distances himself from all comments, however, meticulously analysing the invisible manipulation tactics the consumer might be aware of or not. Whether the consumer is satisfied, depends mostly on the degree to which he is left alone, without having to peruse the mechanisms, controlled by marketers, guiding his behaviour.
Critical Strategies #2 101’
on Sun, 19 Oct 2003 22:00
Farocki honours Straub and he attempts to reveal the mechanism behind terrorism: two committed documentary essays in which the personality of the filmmaker predominates.
Jean-Marie Straub und Danièle Huillet bei der Arbeit an einem Film nach Franz Kafkas Romanfragment "Amerika" (Jean-Marie Straub und Danièle Huillet at work on Franz Kafka’s "Amerika") by Harun Farocki 26’ 1983
16mm, colour, German spoken, English subtitled, 26’, 1983 This film is simultaneously a self-portrait of and homage to Jean-Marie Straub, Farocki’s role model and former teacher at the Film Academy. Farocki documents how he rehearses under Straub’s guidance for his part as Delamarche in the film Klassenverhältnisse (1983). Nobody who saw Farocki’s documentary on this sequence, is about to forget these short scenes in the film. The direction methods of Straub and his wife Danièle Huillet are so repetitive and detailed that the actors are requested to rehearse to the point of exhaustion. Straub treats his actors like a theatre director. The fact in itself that this is unusual among filmmakers makes having recorded Straub’s working methods on film worthwhile.
Bilder der Welt und Inschrift des Krieges (Images of the world and the inscription of war) by Harun Farocki 75’ 1988
16mm, colour & b/w, English commentary and subtitles, 75’, 1988 Starting point for this film are the aerial views of the industrial complex IG Farben, shot by the Allied Forces in 1944. Comments and annotations accompanying the pictures show that it was not until some ten years later that the CIA noticed what the Allies had refused to see: the concentration camp of Auschwitz depicted next to the targeted complex. The film is about images are interpreted and more specifically on what we cannot or will not see.
Critical Strategies #3 110’
on Mon, 20 Oct 2003 22:00
Videogramme einer Revolution shows how the expressions of pathos developed during the fall of Ceausescu took on a symbolic shape similar to that of ancient rulers.
Videogramme einer Revolution by Harun Farocki 110’ 1992
Video on 16mm, colour, Rumanian spoken, English commentary and subtitles, 110’, 1992 In December 1989 demonstrators occupied the national TV broadcaster of Rumania for five days to broadcast the revolution live. Farocki’s and Andrej Ujica’s ‘Videogrammes’ show the Rumanian revolution in mode of historiography based on media. In this way the television studio manifests itself as a new historical site. The determining medium in an era always had an impact on history, from theatre to literature. The 20th century is highly cinematic. Because of the increased possibilities in terms of recording time and mobility, the video camera can complete the process of cinematic history.
Harun Farocki (1944), born in former Czechoslovakia when it was occupied by the Germans, first studied Theatre science and sociology before he devoted himself to film. After his studies at the Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie in Berlin from 1966 to 1968 he made educational films and politically committed documentaries. As a lecturer he taught in Berlin, Hamburg, Manila and most recently in Berkeley. He made over 90 films, among them many film essays and documentaries, and he published countless articles. Since the nineties Farocki is a frequent guest on film festivals as well as contemporary art exhibitions.
Critical Strategies #4 98’
on Tue, 21 Oct 2003 22:00
Are there more overlaps than differences between the marketing of products and the commercial praising of persons? Der Auftritt, along with Die Bewerbung, puts forward a challenging, tarnishing answer.
Der Auftritt (The Appearance) by Harun Farocki 40’ 1996
Video, colour, German spoken, English subtitled, 40’, 1996 The head of an advertising agency in Berlin presents his strategy to a potential customer, a Danish optical firm. The suggested logo, Eyedentity, is scrutinized from all sides: it should express both the dynamism and the reliability of the company. This film offers a fascinating and impartial perspective behind closed doors, dramatising each detail with the intention of landing the lucrative contract.
Harun Farocki (1944), born in former Czechoslovakia when it was occupied by the Germans, first studied Theatre science and sociology before he devoted himself to film. After his studies at the Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie in Berlin from 1966 to 1968 he made educational films and politically committed documentaries. As a lecturer he taught in Berlin, Hamburg, Manila and most recently in Berkeley. He made over 90 films, among them many film essays and documentaries, and he published countless articles. Since the nineties Farocki is a frequent guest on film festivals as well as contemporary art exhibitions.
Die Bewerbung (The Interview) by Harun Farocki 58’ 1997
Video, colour, German spoken, English subtitled, 58’, 1997 In this documentary classes are shown during which somebody is taught how to apply for a job. From drop-outs, university graduates, retrained people, long-term unemployed, recovered drug addicts to managers, they were all considered to learn how to promote and sell themselves, how to do ‘self management’. Any overly conspicuous individual trait should be planed down and is designated as wrong. In this film Farocki repeats these mistakes in slow motion and black-and-white, accompanied by the music of Jim Jarmush’s Dead Man. Underlying is the idea of a utopian self in which being different has been corrected.
Critical Strategies #5 107’
on Wed, 22 Oct 2003 22:00
How do we perceive the female individual through the eyes of the mass media? Shaped as the recording of a photo shoot for Playboy and a reflective collage, Farocki presents us with two strategies.
Ein Bild (An Image) by Harun Farocki 25’ 1983
16mm, colour, German spoken, English subtitled, 25’, 1983 In July of 1983 Farocki mounted his camera in the studios of Playboy Magazine to deconstruct a photo shoot. He films the creative process and allows the spectator to join him from his perspective of the photographer who approaches the model with utterly professional dedication. As Farocki puts it: “One might easily imagine that the people who create such an image, the gravity which is supposed to support all of this, carry out their job with great dedication, as if they were splitting uranium.”
Wie man sieht (As you see) by Harun Farocki 72’ 1986
16mm, b/w and Eastmancolor, English spoken, English commentary and subtitles 72’, 1986 This cinematic essay reflects on girls in porn magazines who get named, on the nameless corpses in mass graves, on machines so ugly, that the eyes of the workers need to be protected and on engines, too beautiful to be hidden underneath the hood. Farocki shows the narrow ties between war and peace in the history of labour and how destruction is firmly rooted in objects which are not weapons.
Critical Strategies #6 80’
on Thu, 23 Oct 2003 20:00
Images from surveillance cameras in the Maximum Security Institution California, combined with ‘suicide cameras’ and ‘cinematic bombs’: the electronic eye reduces mankind to a number.
Ich glaubte Gefangene zu sehen (I thought I was seeing convicts) by Harun Farocki 25’ 2000
Video, colour, English spoken, 25’, 2000 Through found footage from a surveillance camera in the Maximum Security Prison of Corcoran, California, Farocki presents a visual representation of the idea of the Panopticon. This idea of a zone which is guarded from all corners was applied by Foucault onto other closed institutions in order to reveal underlying power functions in societies established through discipline. The camera shows how the inner grounds, covered in concrete, where the prisoners could spend half an hour each day in shorts, and mostly shirtless. One prisoner attacks another, and immediately those who are not part of the fight immediately throw themselves to the floor, with their hands above their heads. They know what’s coming: the guard will shout a warning and fire some blanks. The camera and the rifle are juxtaposed as equals; viewing range and shooting range coincide.
Harun Farocki (1944), born in former Czechoslovakia when it was occupied by the Germans, first studied Theatre science and sociology before he devoted himself to film. After his studies at the Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie in Berlin from 1966 to 1968 he made educational films and politically committed documentaries. As a lecturer he taught in Berlin, Hamburg, Manila and most recently in Berkeley. He made over 90 films, among them many film essays and documentaries, and he published countless articles. Since the nineties Farocki is a frequent guest on film festivals as well as contemporary art exhibitions.
Erkennen und Verfolgen (War at a distance) by Harun Farocki 58’ 2003
Video, b/w & colour, English spoken, English Commentary and Subtitles, 58’, 2003 Already in 1942 Germany succeeded in mounting a T.V.-camera onto a long distance weapon. Ultimately this T.V.-bomb was never used. Only in 1991, during the first Gulf War, images were shown to the public, shot with cameras from the nozzle of a missile. Nowhere, however, people could be seen. And yet it is a known fact that many died in this war, also in the target area of these camera bombs. Here the image no longer counts as a testimonial; it is brought directly into the process of production and destruction. Through archival images the filmmaker tries to define between military tactics and industrial production and he sheds a light on the way in which war technology finds its way into everyday life.
Critical strategies #1 97’
on Sat, 18 Oct 2003 22:00
Can the media oppress traumatising events with their representation? reconstruction of the news coverage surrounding the tearing down of the Berlin wall, Farocki puts forward two possible answers.
Nicht löschbares Feuer (Inextinguishable Fire) by Harun Farocki 25’ 1969
16 mm, b/w, German spoken, English subtitled, 25’, 1969 The filmmaker is sitting at a table, in a formal voice he reads out from the report of a Vietnamese eyewitness on the fighting tactics of the American army. More specifically it discusses a napalm attack on the village of the witness. At the end of the message Farocki says, facing the camera: “When we show you the images of the napalm victims, you will shut your eyes. You will shut your eyes to these images. Then you will shut them to the memory. And then you will shut them to the facts.” In a self-destructive act the filmmaker extinguishes a burning cigarette in his hand. Farocki steers clear from any kind of emotional appeal. His starting point is the following: “When napalm is burning, it is too late to extinguish it. Napalm should be fought where it is produced: in the factories.”
Harun Farocki (1944), born in former Czechoslovakia when it was occupied by the Germans, first studied Theatre science and sociology before he devoted himself to film. After his studies at the Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie in Berlin from 1966 to 1968 he made educational films and politically committed documentaries. As a lecturer he taught in Berlin, Hamburg, Manila and most recently in Berkeley. He made over 90 films, among them many film essays and documentaries, and he published countless articles. Since the nineties Farocki is a frequent guest on film festivals as well as contemporary art exhibitions.
Die Schöpfer der Einkaufswelten (The Creators of the Shopping Worlds) by Harun Farocki 72’ 2001
Video, colour, German spoken, English subtitled, 72’, 2001 This documentary focuses on consumer designers. They represent the optimisation of consumer behaviour shopping malls and superstores. Through examples Farocki shows how these masters of soft persuasion operate. He distances himself from all comments, however, meticulously analysing the invisible manipulation tactics the consumer might be aware of or not. Whether the consumer is satisfied, depends mostly on the degree to which he is left alone, without having to peruse the mechanisms, controlled by marketers, guiding his behaviour.
Critical Strategies #2 101’
on Sun, 19 Oct 2003 22:00
Farocki honours Straub and he attempts to reveal the mechanism behind terrorism: two committed documentary essays in which the personality of the filmmaker predominates.
Jean-Marie Straub und Danièle Huillet bei der Arbeit an einem Film nach Franz Kafkas Romanfragment "Amerika" (Jean-Marie Straub und Danièle Huillet at work on Franz Kafka’s "Amerika") by Harun Farocki 26’ 1983
16mm, colour, German spoken, English subtitled, 26’, 1983 This film is simultaneously a self-portrait of and homage to Jean-Marie Straub, Farocki’s role model and former teacher at the Film Academy. Farocki documents how he rehearses under Straub’s guidance for his part as Delamarche in the film Klassenverhältnisse (1983). Nobody who saw Farocki’s documentary on this sequence, is about to forget these short scenes in the film. The direction methods of Straub and his wife Danièle Huillet are so repetitive and detailed that the actors are requested to rehearse to the point of exhaustion. Straub treats his actors like a theatre director. The fact in itself that this is unusual among filmmakers makes having recorded Straub’s working methods on film worthwhile.
Bilder der Welt und Inschrift des Krieges (Images of the world and the inscription of war) by Harun Farocki 75’ 1988
16mm, colour & b/w, English commentary and subtitles, 75’, 1988 Starting point for this film are the aerial views of the industrial complex IG Farben, shot by the Allied Forces in 1944. Comments and annotations accompanying the pictures show that it was not until some ten years later that the CIA noticed what the Allies had refused to see: the concentration camp of Auschwitz depicted next to the targeted complex. The film is about images are interpreted and more specifically on what we cannot or will not see.
Critical Strategies #3 110’
on Mon, 20 Oct 2003 22:00
Videogramme einer Revolution shows how the expressions of pathos developed during the fall of Ceausescu took on a symbolic shape similar to that of ancient rulers.
Videogramme einer Revolution by Harun Farocki 110’ 1992
Video on 16mm, colour, Rumanian spoken, English commentary and subtitles, 110’, 1992 In December 1989 demonstrators occupied the national TV broadcaster of Rumania for five days to broadcast the revolution live. Farocki’s and Andrej Ujica’s ‘Videogrammes’ show the Rumanian revolution in mode of historiography based on media. In this way the television studio manifests itself as a new historical site. The determining medium in an era always had an impact on history, from theatre to literature. The 20th century is highly cinematic. Because of the increased possibilities in terms of recording time and mobility, the video camera can complete the process of cinematic history.
Harun Farocki (1944), born in former Czechoslovakia when it was occupied by the Germans, first studied Theatre science and sociology before he devoted himself to film. After his studies at the Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie in Berlin from 1966 to 1968 he made educational films and politically committed documentaries. As a lecturer he taught in Berlin, Hamburg, Manila and most recently in Berkeley. He made over 90 films, among them many film essays and documentaries, and he published countless articles. Since the nineties Farocki is a frequent guest on film festivals as well as contemporary art exhibitions.
Critical Strategies #4 98’
on Tue, 21 Oct 2003 22:00
Are there more overlaps than differences between the marketing of products and the commercial praising of persons? Der Auftritt, along with Die Bewerbung, puts forward a challenging, tarnishing answer.
Der Auftritt (The Appearance) by Harun Farocki 40’ 1996
Video, colour, German spoken, English subtitled, 40’, 1996 The head of an advertising agency in Berlin presents his strategy to a potential customer, a Danish optical firm. The suggested logo, Eyedentity, is scrutinized from all sides: it should express both the dynamism and the reliability of the company. This film offers a fascinating and impartial perspective behind closed doors, dramatising each detail with the intention of landing the lucrative contract.
Harun Farocki (1944), born in former Czechoslovakia when it was occupied by the Germans, first studied Theatre science and sociology before he devoted himself to film. After his studies at the Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie in Berlin from 1966 to 1968 he made educational films and politically committed documentaries. As a lecturer he taught in Berlin, Hamburg, Manila and most recently in Berkeley. He made over 90 films, among them many film essays and documentaries, and he published countless articles. Since the nineties Farocki is a frequent guest on film festivals as well as contemporary art exhibitions.
Die Bewerbung (The Interview) by Harun Farocki 58’ 1997
Video, colour, German spoken, English subtitled, 58’, 1997 In this documentary classes are shown during which somebody is taught how to apply for a job. From drop-outs, university graduates, retrained people, long-term unemployed, recovered drug addicts to managers, they were all considered to learn how to promote and sell themselves, how to do ‘self management’. Any overly conspicuous individual trait should be planed down and is designated as wrong. In this film Farocki repeats these mistakes in slow motion and black-and-white, accompanied by the music of Jim Jarmush’s Dead Man. Underlying is the idea of a utopian self in which being different has been corrected.
Critical Strategies #5 107’
on Wed, 22 Oct 2003 22:00
How do we perceive the female individual through the eyes of the mass media? Shaped as the recording of a photo shoot for Playboy and a reflective collage, Farocki presents us with two strategies.
Ein Bild (An Image) by Harun Farocki 25’ 1983
16mm, colour, German spoken, English subtitled, 25’, 1983 In July of 1983 Farocki mounted his camera in the studios of Playboy Magazine to deconstruct a photo shoot. He films the creative process and allows the spectator to join him from his perspective of the photographer who approaches the model with utterly professional dedication. As Farocki puts it: “One might easily imagine that the people who create such an image, the gravity which is supposed to support all of this, carry out their job with great dedication, as if they were splitting uranium.”
Wie man sieht (As you see) by Harun Farocki 72’ 1986
16mm, b/w and Eastmancolor, English spoken, English commentary and subtitles 72’, 1986 This cinematic essay reflects on girls in porn magazines who get named, on the nameless corpses in mass graves, on machines so ugly, that the eyes of the workers need to be protected and on engines, too beautiful to be hidden underneath the hood. Farocki shows the narrow ties between war and peace in the history of labour and how destruction is firmly rooted in objects which are not weapons.
Critical Strategies #6 80’
on Thu, 23 Oct 2003 20:00
Images from surveillance cameras in the Maximum Security Institution California, combined with ‘suicide cameras’ and ‘cinematic bombs’: the electronic eye reduces mankind to a number.
Ich glaubte Gefangene zu sehen (I thought I was seeing convicts) by Harun Farocki 25’ 2000
Video, colour, English spoken, 25’, 2000 Through found footage from a surveillance camera in the Maximum Security Prison of Corcoran, California, Farocki presents a visual representation of the idea of the Panopticon. This idea of a zone which is guarded from all corners was applied by Foucault onto other closed institutions in order to reveal underlying power functions in societies established through discipline. The camera shows how the inner grounds, covered in concrete, where the prisoners could spend half an hour each day in shorts, and mostly shirtless. One prisoner attacks another, and immediately those who are not part of the fight immediately throw themselves to the floor, with their hands above their heads. They know what’s coming: the guard will shout a warning and fire some blanks. The camera and the rifle are juxtaposed as equals; viewing range and shooting range coincide.
Harun Farocki (1944), born in former Czechoslovakia when it was occupied by the Germans, first studied Theatre science and sociology before he devoted himself to film. After his studies at the Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie in Berlin from 1966 to 1968 he made educational films and politically committed documentaries. As a lecturer he taught in Berlin, Hamburg, Manila and most recently in Berkeley. He made over 90 films, among them many film essays and documentaries, and he published countless articles. Since the nineties Farocki is a frequent guest on film festivals as well as contemporary art exhibitions.
Erkennen und Verfolgen (War at a distance) by Harun Farocki 58’ 2003
Video, b/w & colour, English spoken, English Commentary and Subtitles, 58’, 2003 Already in 1942 Germany succeeded in mounting a T.V.-camera onto a long distance weapon. Ultimately this T.V.-bomb was never used. Only in 1991, during the first Gulf War, images were shown to the public, shot with cameras from the nozzle of a missile. Nowhere, however, people could be seen. And yet it is a known fact that many died in this war, also in the target area of these camera bombs. Here the image no longer counts as a testimonial; it is brought directly into the process of production and destruction. Through archival images the filmmaker tries to define between military tactics and industrial production and he sheds a light on the way in which war technology finds its way into everyday life.
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Sat 18.10.2003
- Thu 23.10.2003
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Practical info
Location:
Cinéma Nova
Arenbergstraat 3
1000 Brussel - Artists
