Harun Farocki Against What? Against Whom? edited by Antje Ehmann and Kodwo Eshun Harun Farocki Against What? Against Whom? Harun Farocki Against What? Against Whom? edited by Antje Ehmann and Kodwo Eshun Nora Alter | Michael Baute | Rainer Bellenbaum | Raymond Bellour | James Benning | Christa Bliimlinger | Nicole Brenez || Sabeth Buchmann | Alice Creischer | Georges Didi-Huberman | Diedrich Diederichsen f Antje Ehmann | Thomas Elsaesser j Kodwo Eshun | Harun Farocki | Tom Holert | Ute Holl | Ruchir Joshi | Klaus Kreimeier | Sylvie Lindeperg | Volker Pantenburg | Raqs Media Collective | Bert Rebhandl | Wolfgang Schmidt | Andreas Siekmann | Florian Zeyfang Koenig Books Raven Row Contributions Forewords 006 Filmography 009 List of Installations 021 Sylvie Lindeperg us €nde Lives, Revenant ima es. On Harun I arocki’s Film Respite 028 James Benning ay I , 1944 and the Sommer of ?§3 035 Georges Didi-Huberman Sow to Open your yes 038 Diedrich Diederichsen a aS eath 051 Thomas Elsaesser olocayst emory as the Episten oSo y of For ettin Re wind an ostponement in Respite 057 Harun Farocki ross Influence/Soft ontage 069 Tom Holert Tabular Ima es. On The m Ian of all Days (1970) and Something Self Explanatory (lSx) (1971) 075 Volker Pantenburg Manual. arun arocu’s Instructional Wlor 093 Christa Bliimlinger Mer ory and Monta e. C n the Installation vunter-Music 101 Sabeth Buchmann, Rainer Bellenbaum et een the aces 110 Alice Creischer, Andreas Siekmann o ars, S hoot-ouis and . art Sot @s 116 Bert Rebhandl inemy at the (<ate. Harun FarocEti’s Work 011 the Industrial Disi utes e>l;- Film History 122 Nicole Brenez Harun Farocki and the tomantic enesis of the Principle of isual riti ue 128 Raymond Bellour The hoto-Diagram 143 Raqs Media Collective Harun Faroe i in Delhi 152 Andreas Siekmann Ik Diagrammatic Analysis of in Comparison 155 Ute Holl tonstrucifon Sites and Ima; e V ails, arun 1 arocki’s In 0 pa 'ison 160 Harun Farocki ©w to Li in tt e 163 Wolfgang Schmidt Learning with -[arun 166 Nora Alter Dead Silence 171 Klaus Kreimeier Enlargement of t^ie Flei 1 of View, bout Video, {rams of a Rev lution 179 Rorian Zeyfang Inscriptions vl 0. ra i ues/ 1 eo inscri tions 186 Michael Baute The Quarter-Dollar Scene 194 Ruchir Joshi larun and the Sea of Arguments 198 Antje Ehmann, Kodwo Eshun A to Z of HF or Introductions to F 204 Harun Farocki ritten railers 220 Biographies 242 Colophon 250 Forewords Alex Sainsbury Director, Raven Row, London Harun Farocki has created a body of work that uniquely suspends the distinction between film and criticism in order to produce a new kind of image thought. That his films have been seen so rarely in the UK tells us more about the shortcomings of its repertory cinemas and television than its art institutions, although Raven Row is very proud to have initiated the largest exhibition to date of Farocki's work in this somewhat fugitive context. Having made his first film in 1966, Farocki felt compelled to start making two- screen works 30 years later. These two screens seem more essential than those employed by artists to enliven space and narrative. Farocki places two images side by side so that they can examine and question each other with the richness and openness brought by simultaneity as well as succession. Farocki may be a filmmaker who is more of a visual artist, or perhaps it's the other way round. Someone as good as this who couldn’t be fitted in was likely to become a magnet for a serious fan club. The theorists, artists and critics in this book - some of whom are colleagues, others friends, still others fellow travellers - approach their subjects and formulate their arguments with the passion and purpose of such enthusiasts. Antje Ehmann and Kodwo Eshun have been painstaking editors. They have structured the elements of the book imperceptibly, like film editors. Their montage is based on close collaboration with the book's designer Wiebke Enwaldt. And Harun Farocki himself was always on hand, answering questions without trying to influence the outcome. Thaddaeus Ropac Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg/Paris My colleague Arne Ehmann, Director of Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac in Salzburg, drew my attention to Harun Farocki and his work several years ago. From then on, I repeatedly heard from gallerists, curators and artists who told me he was engaged in a unique form of political work. Farocki does not translate politics into cinematic images; his audiovisual production thinks in images and is therefore a politics of its own. It was not until 2007 that an opportunity to collaborate emerged: at the gallery in Salzburg, Arne Ehmann curated an exhibition with the works Auge/Maschine l-lll (Eye/Machine l-lll, 2000-2003) and Zur Bauweise des Films bei Griffith (On Construction of Griffith’s Films, 2006). The trilogy Eye/Machine deals with war technologies and in this context with pro­ duction technologies as well. These works pick up on the new modes of represent­ ation that image processing enables. Just as Pop Art took up and slightly shifted the image worlds of advertising, Farocki slightly dislocates technological images so that they reveal something other than what they are meant to or want to convey. And just as the Pop artists were enthusiastic about the trivial world of signs, Farocki is taken with the unintentional beauty of machine art, with beauty not intending to have an effect, something which otherwise seems to character­ ise natural phenomena. His work on Griffith's montage technique uses the word 'Bauweise' [construction method] and not 'aesthetics'. Farocki is interested in the methods of narrative order. In his own works, too, methods of construction come to the fore: what emerges is the particular pleasure one experiences when a complex set of facts is elaborated or represented in an informative way. I am delighted to hereby contribute to a comprehensive presentation comment­ ing on and making accessible Harun Farocki's work. In the early summer of this year, many of Harun Farocki's pieces were on view in the exhibition HF/RG. Harun Farocki/Rodney Graham at the Jeu de Paume which I visited several times. I real­ ised that his works can be understood the way they are; that they do not require comments to unfold their effect. Yet they do stimulate comments and explora­ tion; they do lead to new ideas. The book at hand was written in this spirit. On the morning after the opening in Salzburg, I asked Harun Farocki whether he felt comfortable with showing his work at our venue. He said something along the lines of finding it interesting when his work appears in spaces where it is not expected. Of course, our exhibition policy always aims at something that goes beyond expectations. But where would one expect the work of Harun Farocki? It is not bound to a place, it wants to create room for itself, wherever it is placed. Set photograph of Tlw Division of all Days, Harun Farocki Filmproduktlon 1966 Zwei Wege 1968 White Christmas Two Paths White Christmas director, scriptwriter: Harun Farocki director, scriptwriter, editor: Harun Farocki cinematographer: Horst Kandeler cinematographer: Skip Norman production: SFB, Berlin-West m usic: Bing Crosby: White Christmas 16mm, b/w, 1:1.37, 3 min. production: DFFB, Berlin-West 16mm, b/w, 1:1.37, 3 min. 1966 Jeder ein Berliner Kindi Everybody a Berliner Kindi 1968 Drei Schiisse auf Rudi director: Harun Farocki Three Shots at Rudi cinematographer: Gerd Delp director, scriptwriter, editor: Harun Farocki production: DFFB, Berlin-West cinematographer: Skip Norman 16mm, b/w, 1:1.37, 4 min. sound: Ulrich Knaudt production: DFFB, Berlin-West 16mm, b/w, 1:1.37, silent, 4 min. 1967 Der Wahlhelfer The film is presumed lost The Campaign Volunteer director, scriptwriter: HarUfl FarOCki cinematographer: Thomas Flartwig 1968 Ohne Titel Oder: production: DFFB, Berlin-West Wanderkino fur Ingenieurstudenten 16mm, b/w, 1:1.37, 14 min. Untitled or: The Wandering Cinema for Engineering Students director: Harun Farocki 1967 Die Worte Des scriptwriter: Rote Zelle Technik, Vorsitzenden TU Berlin The Words of the Chairman production: DFFB, Berlin-West director: Harun Farocki video (1-inch), b/w, 1:1.37, 40 min. assistant director: Helke Sander scriptwriter: Harun Farocki, based on a text by Lin Piao 1969 Nicht loschbares Feuer cinematographer: Holger Meins Inextinguishable Fire ,:TL production: DFFB, Berlin-West director, scriptwriter, editor: Harun Farocki 16mm, b/w, 1:1.37, 3 min. D assistant director: Helke Sander cinematographer: Gerd Conradt sound: Ulrich Knaudt 1968 Einige Probleme production: Harun Farocki, Berlin-West, des antiautoritaren und for WDR, Cologne antiimperiaiistischen Kampfes 16mm, b/w, 1:1.37, 25 min. B in den Metropolen am Beispiel Westberlins oder: Ihre Zeitungen Some problems of antiautlioritarian and 1969 Ohne Titel Oder: antiimperialist urban warfare in the case Nixon kommt nach Berlin of West Berlin or: Their Newspapers Untitled or: Nixon comes to Berlin director, scriptwriter, editor: Harun Farocki director, scriptwriter: Harun Farocki assistant director: Helke Sander cinematographer: Giorgios XylandreU cinematographer: Skip Norman production: Larabel Film Harun sound: Ulrich Knaudt Farocki, Berlin-West, Sozialistische production: DFFB, Berlin-West Filmemacher Cooperative, 16mm, b/w, 1:1.37 ,1 7 min. West-Berlin 16mm, b/w, 1:1.37, 2 min. The film is presumed lost German version only English version available 010 1969 Anleitung, Polizisten 1972 Remember Tomorrow Is den Helm abzureissen the First Day of The Rest of Your Life Instructions on how to Pull off Remember Tomorrow Is the First Day of Police Helmets The Rest of Your Life director, scriptwriter, editor: Harun FarOCki director, scriptwriter, editor: Harun FarOCki cinematographer: Michael GeiSler cinematographer: Fritz GrOSChe production: Larabel Film Harun Farocki, production: SFB, Berlin-West Berlin-West, Rote Zelle Germanistik 16mm, col., 1:1.37, 10 min.