Harun Farocki’s “Workers Leaving the Factory in 11 decades” is entirely composed of appropriated video. How has his installation changed the meaning of the original films? Respond in 150-200 words.
"Cinemania" at the Johnson Museum: http://museum.cornell.edu/exhibitions/cinemania-farocki-zausner.html
The display of films from different decades in Farocki’s “Workers Leaving the Factory in 11 decades” has an interesting effect on the viewer. This instillation only has meaning when all the films from the different decades are viewed together as one piece because the simultaneous playing of all the films indicates that all the different decades have a unifying theme. That theme is factories, the workers, and the problems that go along with this such as the mistreatment of workers and consequently protests and police brutality. By watching the different films the viewer is able to understand that the factories were in fact overcrowded and the workers were often mistreated. By observing the films individually one is able to understand this theme. However by observing all of these films as one piece allows the viewer to see that the problem has stayed throughout the decades and the problem is never truly solved.
ReplyDeleteThese films were originally storylines, typically following one person through their journry in life. And leaving a factory is a tiny fraction of their story, yet Farocki made his whole piece about 11 of these single moments that have been repeated throughout 11 decades. These films contained much more than someone leaving their job, yet Farocki cut out all the rest and showed this over and over again.
ReplyDeleteFarocki's installation has changed the original meaning of the films by taking a part of the film that is secondary and making it the primary focus. For example, in the Charlie Chaplin video the focus is on him and how he manages to offend the guard by hitting him with the brick despite the fact that he was simply trying to walk away with no trouble. If you viewed the video by itself or with almost any other combination of films that would still be the primary focus, but when it's set up next to the ten other films in the piece the viewer is forced to look at that as the subject. Farocki's input changed the focus of each and every film exactly like that so that whoever's viewing is forced to look at the factory aspect rather than the original intention of the film. Each film has its own message by itself that gets changed when it's put in the group.
ReplyDeleteThe piece, "Workers Leaving the Factories in 11 Decades", is essentially a timeline in which there is no progress. It is a series of eleven television sets arranged in a slight curve, each presenting clips from different well-known films about workers in factories. The films are put in order of time period; the first film shot in the late nineteenth century, and the last was shot in the twenty first. The piece demonstrates the problem of these factory workers, how they face injustice and mistreatment, and in turn, how they must overcome this. However, as time goes on, the problem never ceases to exist, injustice is ever present. The piece presents the perpetual problem of factory workers in factories; injustice and unfairness never ceases to continue. Aesthetically, the piece is striking, since eleven different images are playing simultaneously, sound included. The television sets are arranged in a barrier like fashion, which could represent the barriers that some workers face. Moreover, the images themselves are captivating to the viewer, they show life in different times periods, however the situations are the same.
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