Harun Farocki (German 1944 – 2014)

Filmmaker, artist, and writer Harun Farocki directed over 120 films and video installations. Recognizing the filmic medium as a highly malleable system of meaning, he sought to deconstruct the power of images and to scrutinize imaging technologies as instruments of political ideology and warfare. Born in German-annexed Czechoslovakia in 1944, Farocki studied at the German Film and Television Academy in West Berlin from 1966-1968, and continued to live and work in Berlin for much of his career.   Among his acclaimed publications is the Munich-based journal Filmkritik, for which he served as editor and writer from 1974-1984, and the book Speaking about Godard (New York University Press, 1998), which he co-authored with Kaja Silverman. Recent solo shows of Farocki’s work include exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Raven Row, London, and Museum Ludwig, Cologne. Farocki also served as visiting Professor at the University of California, Berkeley 1993-1999; guest professor at the Academy of Fine Art in Vienna since 2004, and was appointed full professor from 2006-2011. Farocki died near Berlin in 2014.