Ein Tag im Leben der Endverbraucher

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© Generali Foundation Collection—Permanent Loan to the Museum der Moderne Salzburg

Harun Farocki

Ein Tag im Leben der Endverbraucher, 1993

Video, black and white and color, sound, 44 min Director: Harun Farocki Produced by: Harun Farocki Filmproduktion, Berlin for SWF, Baden-Baden and WDR, Cologne

GF0003420.00.0-2003

Artwork text

The title suggests a paraphrase of Marcuse based on Solzhenitsyn. The film, made up of nothing but advertising spots, reflects the daily course of West German consumerism. The film-maker uses only the cutting room and makes no personal comment at all. Several hundred spots were selected to document the archetypes of everyday life: from cleaning one’s teeth in the morning to the nocturnal nightmare. The result was probably the most expensive documentary film ever made. (Andrei Ujica)