Filmoteka Muzeum

The film forms part of the notorious project Arbeitsdisziplin, a work that consists also of a lightbox and a postcard with the view of Volkswagen manufacturing plant in Antoninek, just outside Poznań, Poland, complete with the logo tower and barbed wire fencing. It clearly invites associations with concentration camps built by the Nazis in Poland during World War II.

The artist examines the extent to which our perception of reality is framed by the traumatic events of the first half of the 20th century. What is responsible for the fact that we are able to trace visual references to the nightmares of the past in a modern manufacturing plant? Moreover, Jakubowicz demonstrates how all forms of supervision and control are visually similar. The car factory appears here as a “traumatic after-image” of the death factories of World War II.

Rafał Jakubowicz’s work outraged the authorities of Volkswagen Poland, resulting in the forced closure of the exhibition at Galeria Miejska in Poznań in 2002.

References: I. Kowalczyk, Przeciw-historia w pracach Rafała Jakubowicza [in:] ti tabu dibu daj, exhibition catalogue, Atlas Sztuki, Łódź 2007; I. Kowalczyk, Dyscyplinowanie albo Volkskulturpolitik. Rozmowa z Rafałem Jakubowiczem o cenzurze i skandalu wokół Arbeitsdisziplin, indeks73.pl (2002); M. Kaczyński, Ł. Gorczyca, Dyscyplina musi być!, „Raster” www.raster.art.pl.
 

(ŁM)

Year: 2002
Duration: 55'59''
Language: no language
Source: BETA SP

© Rafał Jakubowicz

Acquisition date: Dec 2, 2011
Acquisition: deposit
Ownership form: deposit