The exhibition Harun Farocki: Mit anderen Mitteln – By Other Means at Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.) combines works by Harun Farocki, which deal with the logic of cinema – films are quoted and their visual languages are analyzed. For instance, On Construction of Griffith’ Films (2006) deals with the montage principles of the early films by D. W. Griffith, whereas the 6-channel video installation Feasting or Flying (2008) examines the motif of male suicide in fictional film.

The 5-channel video installation War Tropes (2011), however, brings together key motifs of the war film genre, and Dubbing (2006) is dedicated to the effects of the translation of films. In the predominantly multi-channel installations “soft montage” is used, which is key to Farocki’s work: the images are assembled not only in succession, but also in juxtaposition. The “soft montage” is also transferred to the exhibition space where the works are not shown separately in black boxes, but in a way that allows it to look at them together and in comparison.

Apart from the analysis of the film images, another motif is central to the works shown at n.b.k.: iteration, the images iterating within the works and in the exhibition. This principle is demonstrated in particular by the work Re-Pouring (2010). This work, which deals with automated work processes that Farocki repeatedly addressed in his oeuvre, illustrates especially the concept of iteration in the context of the exhibition – quasi an allegory of the functioning of images in the greater part of Harun Farocki’s oeuvre. Presented in the entrance area, it is the only work in the exhibition not to quote cinema, but it attempts to stage a Fluxus performance by Tomas Schmit from 1963 under today’s conditions, in this case by means of a robot. Beyond that, the exhibition will be completed by documentary material and Harun Farocki’s radio feature So long good-bye (1978).

Harun Farocki: Mit anderen Mitteln – By Other Means is not only part of the comprehensive Harun Farocki Retrospektive, but also the third part in a series of exhibitions conceived by Antje Ehmann and Carles Guerra. 2016 already saw the two exhibitions Harun Farocki. What is at Stake at the Institut Valencià d’Art Modern (January 20 – May 22, 2016) and Harun Farocki. Empathy (June 2 – October 16, 2016) at Fundació Antoni Tàpies in Barcelona. With this series, Ehmann and Guerra continually explore the importance of Harun Farocki’s oeuvre and examine the many implications of his works.

Die Harun Farocki Retrospektive ist ein Projekt des Neuen Berliner Kunstvereins (n.b.k.) in Kooperation mit dem Arsenal – Institut für Film und Videokunst, dem Harun Farocki Institut, der Harun Farocki GbR, dem Silent Green Kulturquartier, dem Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Savvy Contemporary und dem Haus der Kulturen der Welt im Rahmen der Berlin Art Week, gefördert von der Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa.

For further information see www.harunfarockiretrospektive.org.