Harun Farocki: Art/Work and the Invisible Hand December 14, 2012–February 24, 2013
Harun Farocki, Eye/Machine III, 2002, video still. © Harun Farocki
Harun Farocki, Eye/Machine III, 2002, video still. © Harun Farocki
Harun Farocki, In Comparison, 2009, video still. © Harun Farocki
Harun Farocki, Workers Leaving the Factory in Eleven Decades, 2006, video still. © Harun Farocki
Harun Farocki, Cinema like never before, 2006, installation view at Sammlung Generali Foundation, Wien, Austria. © Werner Kaligofsky
Art/Work and the Invisible Hand explores the impact of automation on various forms of human interaction—work, culture, war—in the art of Harun Farocki. As machines became central to all forms of production, they appeared to acquire more autonomy. Once the stuff of science fiction, the loss of control over man-made systems no longer seems so implausible. With the global economy increasingly dominated by finance over the last 30 years, banks may be “too big to fail,” but more important, this system has become less of a means to an end than an end in itself. Farocki’s work traces the history of some of the technological advances that have brought the world to this juncture, yet he leaves open the question of where this transformation might lead.
Farocki (born 1944) is a filmmaker, critic, editor, and curator who has lived and worked in Berlin for more than 40 years. After focusing on television and cinema during the 1960s and 1970s, he turned his attention to video and installation and began exhibiting his work in museums in the 1990s. His development of the film essay, and his critical engagement as editor of the journal Filmkritik (1974–84), have had a decisive influence on a generation of artists and filmmakers. Recent solo exhibitions have been mounted by the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Beirut Art Center, Kunsthaus Bregenz in Austria, and the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow, Scotland. Farocki's work has also been featured in numerous group shows, including Documenta X and Documenta XII.
The Core Program at the Glassell School of Art receives generous funding from:
The Joseph and Sylvia Slifka Foundation
Andy Warhol Foundation
The National Endowment for the Arts
The following donors have underwritten a 2012-2013 Core fellowship:
Allison and David Ayers
The Dickson-Allen Foundation
Jill and Dunham Jewett
Hamptons Expo Group, LLC
Scurlock Foundation
Joan and Stanford Alexander
Leslie and Brad Bucher
The Francis L. Lederer Foundation
Meredith Long
McClain Gallery
The Powell Foundation
Karen S. Pulaski
The Arch and Stella Rowan Foundation, Inc.
Additional support is provided by:
Lea Weingarten
Barbara and Michael Gamson
Penelope Gonzalez and Lester Marks
Sara Paschall Dodd-Spickelmier and Keith Spickelmier
Heidi and David Gerger
Rick and Nancy Rome
Leigh and Reggie Smith
Reid Sutton and Brad Nagar
Cheri and Andrew Fossler
Toni and Jeff Beauchamp
Beverly and John Berry
Kelli and Eddy Blanton
Ms. Clare Casademont and Mr. Michael Metz
Jereann Chaney
Victoria and Marshal Lightman
Nancy Powell Moore
Judy and Scott Nyquist
Daucie and Marc Schindler
Louis H. Skidmore, Jr.
Raymond F. Stainback
Cynthia Toles
Hiram Butler and Andrew Spindler-Roesle
Kerry Inman and Denby Auble
Karol Kreymer and Robert Card
Gail Merel and Chris Dack
Dorothy Sumner
The Core Program receives endowment income from funds provided by:
Leslie and Brad Bucher
Eliza Lovett Randall
The children of Eliza Lovett Randall in honor of their mother
The Eleanor and Frank Freed Foundation
Herbert C. Wells and gifts in his memory
Gifts in memory of Warren A. Hadler
The Estate of Margaret H. Gillingham
Gifts in memory of Laura Lee Blanton