Overwork

Using 16 mm format from the 1970s to the 1990s, the Employment Agency of the FRG produced numerous short films aimed at representing various occupations. In great detail, each of these films documents a specific profession: textile machine operator, forest technician, hospital operations technician, audiometry assistant, precision engineer, ceramic model maker, and so on.

The representation of the working world in the original footage appears coherent and straightforward. The voice-over perfectly aligns with the image—what you hear is what is shown on screen. Departing from these unambiguous routines, OVERWORK amplifies repetitive actions and processes to bring to the surface underlying dimensions of work, where boredom and violence are in constant tension to the point of exhaustion.