Labour in a Single Shot

In 2011, the artist couple Antje Ehmann and Harun Farocki began organizing workshops in numerous cities throughout the world on the subject of work in its most diverse forms. The participants, whether amateurs, artist, or film students were required to produce uncut videos lasting no more than two minutes. This limit to filmic material facilitated a precise examination of the working process, its choreography and the uniqueness of this activity. Produced in this way, the globally oriented archive, which consists of over 400 videos, assumes an almost encyclopedic character by documenting the realities of work under global capitalism. Fifteen works were selected for »Frauen Video Arbeiten« [Women Video Work(s)], in which women take key roles. One of the project’s central features comprises contemporary remakes of historical film footage by the Lumière brothers who, towards the end of the nineteenth century, filmed the workers as they left their own Lumière factories.

Antje Ehmann & Harun Farocki

Antje Ehmann (born in Gelsenkirchen, in 1968) is curator, author and artist. In addition to her curatorial projects, she has also exhibited her works in Johannesburg, Ljubljana, Montevideo and Toronto, and publishes work, among other things, on the history of the documentary film in Germany.
Harun Farocki (born 1944 in Nový Jičín, Czech Republic, died 2014, in Berlin) studied at the dffb Deutschen Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin, was lecturer in Berkeley, California and at the UdK in Berlin, as well at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. He was awarded the den Grimme Prize in 1995. The subject of his work, namely, labor conditions and global working realities, comprised the focal point of his artistic work.

http://www.eine-einstellung-zur-arbeit.net

Text and Biography: Sophie Leschik

Project duration: 2011–2014
Copyright: the authors

The Works

Please note: Since the exhibition is finished, the videos can not be seen any longer!