The Physiognomy of Power

The Physiognomy of Power: Harun Farocki & Florentina Pakosta

The exhibition and publication “The Physiognomy of Power” consider the oeuvres of the German filmmaker Harun Farocki and the Austrian graphic artist and painter Florentina Pakosta from a common perspective. Whereas Farocki has been one of the most important documentary filmmakers and media artists of Germany since the 1970s, Pakosta is one of the central figures in the feminist avant-garde of Austria and a notable representative of politically critical drawing, graphic art and painting. The critical thought of the two artists is rooted in the German and Austrian postwar eras. It directs an analytical, documentary, satirical and narrational, but in any case oppositional focus towards the structures for imposing domination and the mechanisms for preserving power in politics, economics, culture, and society. There are two aspects which, in spite of all diversity, unite the oeuvres of Farocki and Pakosta: on the one hand, their relentless critique of power; and on the other hand, the language that they chose for this purpose in their respective media—the language of a critical realism.

The exhibition and the publication "Physiognomy of Power" look at the work of the German filmmaker Harun Farocki and the Austrian graphic artist and painter Florentina Pakosta from a common perspective. While Farocki has been one of the most important documentary filmmakers and media artists in Germany since the 1970s, Pakosta is one of the central figures of the feminist avant-garde and of politically critical drawing, graphics and painting in Austria. The critical thinking of the two artists is rooted in the German and Austrian post-war period. It is analytical, documentary, satirical and narrative, but in any case resistant to power structures and power mechanisms in politics, economy, culture and society. What unites the work of Farocki and Pakosta from this point of view, despite all their differences, is on the one hand their consistent critique of power and on the other hand the language they have chosen for it in their media - the language of critical realism.

EDITOR Thorsten Sadowsky for Generali Foundation Collection—Permanent Loan to the Museum der Moderne Salzburg

PREFACES Dietrich Karner, Thorsten Sadowsky

TEXTS Antje Ehmann, Elsy Lahner, Christina Natlacen, Florentina Pakosta, Jürgen Tabor

DESIGN Annja Krautgasser

DETAILS German/English, softcover, 192 pages, catalog 28 x 22 cm, 175 images in color
ISBN 978-3-903796-70-6

EXHIBITION

21.11. 2020 – 24.5. 2021

Generali Foundation, Museum der Moderne Salzburg

PUBLISHED APRIL