Harun Farocki

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Harun Farocki
Farocki in 2013
Farocki in 2013
Born
Harun El Osman Faroqhi

(1944-01-09)9 January 1944
Neutitschein, Sudetenland, Germany
Died30 July 2014(2014-07-30) (aged 70)
OccupationFilmmaker, writer
NationalityGerman
Spouse
Ursula Lefkes
​
​
(m. 1966; died 1996)​

Antje Ehmann
​
(m. 2001)​
Children2

Harun Farocki (9 January 1944 – 30 July 2014) was a German filmmaker, author, and lecturer in film.[1]

Early life

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Farocki was born as Harun El Usman Faroqhi in Neutitschein (now Nový Jičín) in the Czech Republic.[2][citation needed] His father, Abdul Qudus Faroqui, had immigrated to Germany from India in the 1920s. His German mother had been evacuated from Berlin due to the Allied bombing of Germany.[3][4] He simplified the spelling of his surname as a young man.[2] After World War II, Farocki grew up in India and Indonesia before the family resettled in Hamburg in 1958.[3][4][citation needed]

Farocki, who was deeply influenced by Bertolt Brecht and Jean-Luc Godard, studied at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (dffb) from 1966 to 1968.[citation needed] There, in the mid-1960s, he began making films which, from the very beginning, were non-narrative essays on the politics of imagery.[2]

Work

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Farocki made over 90 films, the vast majority of them short experimental documentaries.[citation needed]

From 1974 to 1984, when its publication ceased, Farocki edited the magazine Filmkritik.[citation needed]

From 1993 to 1999, Farocki taught at the University of California, Berkeley.[citation needed] He later was a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.[citation needed]

In his 2000-2003 three-part installation, Eye/Machine, Farocki coined the term "operational image".[5][6][7][8]

Farocki's works Serious Games I-IV (2009-10) are a series of four video installations featuring footage recorded at different US military sites where computer-game technology was used to train soldiers, as well as treat them for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).[9] The work was named by Frieze as No.20 of "The 25 Best Works of the 21st Century".

Exhibitions

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Farocki's work was included in the 2004–05 Carnegie International at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania.[10]

A first major UK retrospective of his films was held at Tate Modern in 2009. [11]

The 2011 exhibition "Harun Farocki: Images of War (at a Distance)" at the Museum of Modern Art was the first comprehensive solo exhibition of Farocki's work in a U.S. museum.[12]

Images of the world and the inscription of war and Respite were released on Region 0 DVD on 7 June 2011 by Survivance.[13]

In 2015 [14][15] and 2019[16] Farocki's works were exhibited in major showcases in Brazil at Paço das Artes (curated by Jane de Almeida) and Moreira Salles Institute (curated by Antje Ehmann and Heloisa Espada).

Personal life

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Farocki's first wife, Ursula Lefkes, whom he married in 1966, died in 1996.[citation needed]

Farocki died unexpectedly on 30 July 2014, aged 70.[2] His survivors include his second wife, Antje Ehmann, whom he married in 2001; twin daughters from his first marriage, Annabel Lee and Larissa Lu; and eight grandchildren.

Films (selection)

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(D = Director, E = Editor, S = Screenplay, P = Production, A = Actor)

  • 1969: Die Worte des Vorsitzenden - The Words of The Chairman
  • 1969: Nicht löschbares Feuer - Inextinguishable Fire (Short, D)
  • 1970: Die Teilung aller Tage - The Division of All Days (D, E, S)
  • 1971: Eine Sache, die sich versteht (D, S, P)
  • 1975: By Hook or by Crook (S)
  • 1978: Zwischen zwei Kriegen (Between Two Wars) (D, E, S, P) - Himself / narrator
  • 1979: Ich räume auf (A) - Herausgeber
  • 1980: Henry Angst (A)
  • 1981: Etwas wird sichtbar (A)
  • 1981: Etwas wird sichtbar - Before Your Eyes Vietnam (D, S, P)
  • 1983: Ein Bild - An Image
  • 1983: Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet (at work on Franz Kafka's "Amerika")
  • 1984: Klassenverhältnisse (Straub-Huillet's) (A) - Delamarche
  • 1985: Betrogen (Betrayed) (D, S)
  • 1986: Wie man sieht (As You See) (D, S, P)
  • 1987: Bilderkrieg (D)
  • 1987: Die Schulung
  • 1989: Bilder der Welt und Inschrift des Krieges (Images of the World and the Inscription of War) (D, S, P)
  • 1990: Leben: BRD - How to live in the Federal Republic of Germany (D, S, P)
  • 1991: Videogramme einer Revolution (Videograms of a Revolution) (D, S, P)
  • 1993: Was ist los? - What's up? (D, S)
  • 1994: Die Umschulung
  • 1995: Arbeiter verlassen die Fabrik (Workers Leaving the Factory)
  • 1995: Schnittstelle
  • 1996: Die Bewerbung - The Interview (TV) (D, S)
  • 1996: Der Auftritt - The Appearance
  • 1997: Stilleben - Still Life (D, S)
  • 1997: Nach dem Spiel (P)
  • 1998: Worte und Spiele
  • 2000: Die innere Sicherheit - The State I Am In (S)
  • 2000: Gefängnisbilder (Prison Images) (D, S)
  • 2001: Auge/Maschine
  • 2001: Die Schöpfer der Einkaufswelten - The Creators of the Shopping Worlds (D, S)
  • 2003: Erkennen und Verfolgen (D, S, P)
  • 2004: Nicht ohne Risiko (D, S, P)
  • 2005: Die Hochzeitsfabrik (P)
  • 2005: Ghosts (S)
  • 2006: Am Rand der Städte (P)
  • 2007: Aufschub
  • 2007: Respite - first episode of Memories (Jeonju Digital Project 2007)
  • 2009: Zum Vergleich (D, S)
  • 2009-2010: Serious Games I-IV Video series
  • 2012: Barbara (S)
  • 2014: Phoenix (S)

References

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  1. ^ Forbes, Alexander (31 July 2014). "Harun Farocki, Celebrated Filmmaker, Dead at 70". Artnet. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
  2. ^ a b c d Margalit Fox (3 August 2014), Harun Farocki, Filmmaker of Modern Life, Dies at 70 New York Times.
  3. ^ a b Germany, SPIEGEL ONLINE, Hamburg (31 July 2014). "Einflussreicher Filmemacher: Harun Farocki ist tot - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Kultur". Spiegel.de. Retrieved 22 March 2017.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ a b Dotzauer, Gregor (31 July 2014). "Harun Farocki - Bilder, die die Welt zerlegen". TagesSpiegel.de. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
  5. ^ Image Operations. Manchester University Press. 24 December 2016. doi:10.7228/manchester/9781526107213.003.0004. ISBN 978-1-5261-0721-3.
  6. ^ Hoel, Aud Sissel (8 October 2018). "Operative Images. Inroads to a New Paradigm of Media Theory". Image – Action – Space. De Gruyter. pp. 11–28. doi:10.1515/9783110464979-002. ISBN 978-3-11-046497-9.
  7. ^ "Operational Images - Journal #59 November 2014 - e-flux". www.e-flux.com. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
  8. ^ "Operational Images – Preface in the forthcoming book". Machinology. 16 February 2022. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
  9. ^ Tarbox, Wilson; Packard, Cassie; Cholakova, Ivana; Peterson, Vanessa; Siddall, Victoria; Selfridge, Lou; Norton, Margot; Stead, Chloe; Moffitt, Evan (24 October 2025). "The 25 Best Works of the 21st Century". Frieze. No. 255. ISSN 0962-0672. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
  10. ^ "Carnegie International Exhibition - Michael Maltzan Architecture". MMaltzan.com. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
  11. ^ "Harun Farocki. 22 Films 1968-2009".
  12. ^ "Harun Farocki: Images of War (At a Distance) | MoMA".
  13. ^ "Images du monde et inscription de la guerre // En sursis de Harun Farocki - Survivance". www.survivance.net. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  14. ^ "Harun Farocki: Programming the Visible; Paço das Artes".
  15. ^ "Harun Farocki: Programming the Visible book; Cinusp".
  16. ^ "Harun Farocki: Quem é o responsável?; IMS".
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Academic articles

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