In Was ist los?, Farocki invites viewers to interrogate the very mechanics of perception. The film explores how we view images—artworks, advertisements, newscasts—and how those images, in turn, shape our understanding of the world. It is structured around a conceptual experiment: using technology that tracks eye movement, Farocki examines where viewers focus their attention, what they skip over, and how their gaze is guided by cultural codes and formal conventions.

Layering this experiment with clips from television, classical paintings, and surveillance footage, Was ist los? blurs the boundary between artistic analysis and media critique. Farocki’s voiceover poses questions rather than answers, leading the viewer to reflect on their own complicity in visual culture. The film’s essayistic structure opens up rather than closes down interpretation, operating not as an exposé but as a space for thought. It is a film about attention, ideology, and the subtle ways in which power is inscribed in every frame we consume.