Harun Farocki: Images of the World and the Inscription of War

Presented by Center for Film and Media Studies at UC

Doors at 7:00 PM ... Screening at 7:30 PM
@ The Mini - 1329 Main St.

At the same time as a bomb is released, a photograph is taken. Farocki examines the simultaneity of destruction and production by paying close attention to the ways in which images are produced, used, and distributed in warfare, propaganda, and industrial production. His key example is an aerial photograph of the Auschwitz concentration camp that the US Airforce took accidentally in April 1944. The image analysts though did not recognize the camp, since they were looking for a factory and not a camp. It was only thirty years later that the image of Auschwitz came to the fore, making for a powerful pensive image that testifies to the productivity of deferred action and asks viewers to reconsider how they think and feel about the picturing of war, atrocity, and evidence.

Introduction by Evan Torner