Harun Farocki, one of Germany’s most celebrated international filmmakers, created an impressive body of work - nearly a hundred films, videos, and installations - in which he consistently blurred the boundaries between documentary, essay, and experimental film. With his sharp analytical eye and political insight, he explored themes such as labour, war, surveillance, and media.
His essay films invite us to look (and think) again: how do images shape our reality?
This leff in focus block explores Farocki’s resistance to classification through two relatively unknown films. In collaboration with his long-time co-producer Antje Ehmann, Gegen-Musik (2004) and Was ist Los? (1991) are presented as radical examples of Farocki’s approach.
Gegen-Musik (Counter-Music) showcases Farocki’s interest in “soft montage.” We see two screens side by side, inviting us to draw comparisons. The images, sounds, and words may seem arbitrary, but gradually, meaningful connections emerge, different for each viewer.
Was ist Los? (What’s Up?) is among Farocki’s most exuberant projects. As Ehmann puts it: “his craziest long essay film! Here Harun really pushed the limits of associative methods to combine words, images, thoughts, and ideas in an extreme way. He said he felt drunk while making it—but he wasn’t!”