Ich glaubte Gefangene zu sehen

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© Generali Foundation Collection—Permanent Loan to the Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Photo: Werner Kaligofsky

Harun Farocki

Ich glaubte Gefangene zu sehen, 2000

Single-channel version of the two-channel video installation of the same title Video, color, sound, 25 min Director: Harun Farocki Photography: Cathy Lee Crane Produced by: Harun Farocki Filmproduktion, Generali Foundation

GF0002200.00.0-2000

Artwork text

Images from the maximum security prison in Corcoran, California. The surveillance camera shows a pie shaped section of a cement-covered courtyard in which the prisoners can spend half an hour a day in shorts, usually shirtless. One prisoner grabs another whereupon those who are not involved lie flat on the ground, arms over their heads. They know what is coming: the guard will call a warning and then fire a rubber bullet. If the prisoners don’t stop the fight the guard will shoot. The images are mute, the powder smoke from the shot stretches through the picture. The camera and the weapon are right next to each other. The fields of vision and of aim conflate ... The prisoners are almost naked (they constantly work out) and have nothing more than their clan-affiliation. (Harun Farocki)

Lending history
2008 New York, NY, USA, Austrian Cultural Forum New York 2007 Luxembourg, LU, Casino, Forum d'art Contemporain 2007 Amsterdam, NL, Vlaams Cultuurhuis de Brakke Grond 2007 London, GB, Bloomberg Space 2006 Barcelona, ES, M.I.C.E.C 2005 Amsterdam, NL, de Appel Amsterdam 2003 Graz, AT, Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum 2003 Dunkirk, F, Terre Neuve 2002 Paris, F, Goethe Institut