Window Projections
"Umgießen“ by Harun Farocki

n.b.k. Video-Forum | Window Projections

Mon, 10/09/2023 -
Sun, 10/15/2023
Goethe-Institut Montreal

The Goethe-Institut Montreal, in cooperation with the Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.), presents a screening programme of 20 video works from n.b.k Video-Forum’s extensive video art collection, curated by Anna Lena Seiser (Head of Collection n.b.k. Video-Forum).

The individual films will be shown for a week at a time sunset to 2:00 a.m. on the display windows of the Goethe-Institut at 1626 Boul. St-Laurent, Montréal, Québec, H2X 2T1, Canada and can be viewed on an indoor screen during the Goethe-Institut's opening hours:

Umgießen

Harun Farocki
2010
19:28 Min.
Collection Video-Forum, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.)

In Umgießen Farocki attempts to adapt the famous Fluxus performance Zyklus für Wassereimer (oder Flaschen) (in English Cycle for Water Buckets [or Bottles]) by Tomas Schmit from 1962 under today's conditions - in this case by a robot. In Schmit's performance a performer surrounded by buckets or bottles of water pours water from one container to the next in a clockwise direction until all the water has evaporated or spilled. For what takes many hours in the original performance Farocki's robot takes only a few minutes, creating a humorous traffic jam.
Farocki manages a humorous inversion of the much-vaunted greater efficiency of machines compared to humans.

Harun Farocki (*1944 in Nový Jičín / Czech Republic, †2014 near Berlin) is one of the most influential German filmmakers in the genre of essay film – his life’s work includes more than 100 experimental and documentary films, essay films, shorts, and feature films. Starting in the mid-1990s, Farocki expanded his cinematic practice to include video installations in visual arts venues. Central to his approach is an investigation of the meaning of images, their creation, and, most importantly, the power structures inscribed within them. His work is concerned with the optics and visualization of violence, as well as the political dimensions of the filmic and the power of technical images. In addition to his artistic activities, Farocki also worked as a writer and editor for the magazine Filmkritik (Film Review), and taught at the University of California, the Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin, the Universität der Künste Berlin, and the Akademie der bildende Künste Vienna.