In this seminal work, celebrated film essayist, theorist and artist Harun Farocki presents a horizontal suite of twelve monitors depicting scenes of workers leaving factories, beginning with the Lumière Brothers’ iconic, late-19th-century footage of workers leaving their family photographic factory in Lyon, France.

Delving into each decade of film history, Farocki selects similar scenes from Modern Times (1936) and Red Desert (1964), through to Dancer in the Dark (2000). With job losses at an all time high, especially in the industrial and manufacturing sectors, this installation is as much about cinema and its evolution as it is a reminder of the medium’s dialogue with a reality inextricable from its own representation.

CONTACT Gallery, 80 Spadina Avenue.