Farocki frequently chooses a single news photo as his pretext. In his film he explains convincingly that 'learning from images' is not so much a question of having power over the image or a consistent subject-position towards the image, which would allow the filmmaker access to complete knowledge. Instead he insists on pursuing photography's separation of reference and discourse, by proving this to be a separation of the subject as well as a separation within the subject itself.
The modern notion of representation, at least that which we owe to cinema, is based on iconicity, similarity and probability. Moreover, it links what is represented to the perceiving subject in an act of opposition, even of confrontation and defines existence as being the process by which one places oneself in relationship to something other, as a form of taking up position, of approach. As a result, the corresponding concept of perception is based on the capacity of images to establish, demarcate and validate a space in which the mise-en scène of a subject can take place.
Farocki doesn't achieve this insight by means of psychoanalytical vocabulary; he contrasts the subject with his own radical 'other'.
(Thomas Elsaesser)
Original title Industrie und Fotografie Director, scriptwriter Harun Farocki Cinematographer Ingo Kratisch, Rosa Mercedes, Rolf Silber Editor Hella Vietzke Music Tony Conrad and Faust Narrator Christhart Burgmann Production manager Hans-Dieter Müller Production Harun Farocki Filmproduktion, Berlin-West, for WDR, Cologne Producer Guenther Weinhold TV-producer Werner Dütsch Format 35 mm., b/w, 1:1,37 Length: 44 min. First broadcast 01.03.1979, West 3
All Works of this Decade:
The Taste of LifeOn Display: Peter WeissSingle. A Record is Being ProducedAnna and Lara are Playing TelevisionIndustry and PhotographyBuildings 1-2Bedtime Stories 1-3 / Cat StoriesBetween Two WarsAn Image by Sarah SchumannSarah Schumann Paints an ImageBedtime Stories 1-5The Battle. Scenes from GermanyAbout NarrationAbout 'Song of Ceylon' by Basil WrightThe Struggle with Images. A Critique of TelevisionPoster ArtistsAbout 'Part-time Work of a Female Slave'ModeratorsThe Trouble with Images. A Critique of TelevisionSomeday you will love me too. About the meaning of Dimestore NovelsBrunner is NextMake UpSesame StreetThe Language of Revolution. Examples of a Revolutionary Rhetoric, examined by Hans Christoph BuchRemember Tommorow is the First Day of the Rest of your LifeSomething Self Explanatory (15x)The Division of all Days