La Sortie Des Ourvriers De L'Usine

La Sortie Des Ourvriers De L'Usine

black and white, sound, 6 min
The first film of cinematographic history shows workers leaving a factory. The title of this work which is 50 seconds long and bequeathed to us by the Lumiere brothers is La Sortie des Ouvriers de l'Usine. ...
Rental format: 16mm

Stills

About

The first film of cinematographic history shows workers leaving a factory. The title of this work which is 50 seconds long and bequeathed to us by the Lumiere brothers is La Sortie des Ouvriers de l'Usine. There are three known versions of the work. In the hardware and software of the cinematographic "machine" resides much of the specifically mechanical charm of the industrial age. In one sense it is a paradox that the Lumieres began film history with workers leaving the factory instead of giving a place of honor to them working on the production lines. Over a hundred years later, Siegfried A. Fruhauf has made a fourth version of La Sortie des Ouvriers de l'Usine. This remake gives short shrift to the unconscious irony of the Lumiere films. Fruhauf needs six minutes to run through the current fate of industry. Fourteen workers are present here–five on the (optically) vertical axis, the rest cross the horizontal axis in the background. Their movements form a cross–a symbol of death as a ballet mechanique. The initial image is transformed into almost abstract black and white surfaces, harnessed, Sisyphus-like, to a lunatic dance of repetition. Fruhauf increases the acceleration of the striding workers in discrete steps until they are tearing along–the capacity of the film tested to its outer limits–until it can't take any more. Maximum acceleration leads to stasis–after the acceleration throughout the film comes the logical consequence–the last frame–the freeze frame. Nothing more can happen. The model (literally) of progress collapses. And instead there is paralysis. A dead end. The workers are motionless, and with them the factory. Rien ne va plus.

Films

  • Other films by this artist in our catalogue

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    Mountain Trip (Hoehenrausch)
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    Mountain Trip (Hoehenrausch)
    Siegfried A. Fruhauf

    black and white, sound, 4 min
    Rental format: 16mm
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    Blow-Up
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    Blow-Up
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    black and white, sound, 1 min
    Rental format: 35mm
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    Exposed
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    Exposed
    Siegfried A. Fruhauf

    black and white, sound, 9 min
    Rental format: 16mm
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    REALTIME
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    REALTIME
    Siegfried A. Fruhauf

    color, sound, 5 min
    Rental format: 35mm
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    Mirror Mechanic
    Experimental

    Mirror Mechanic
    Siegfried A. Fruhauf

    35mm, black and white, sound, 7 min
    Rental format: 35mm
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    Night Sweat
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    Night Sweat
    Siegfried A. Fruhauf

    color, sound, 9 min
    Rental format: 35mm
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    Tranquility
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    Tranquility
    Siegfried A. Fruhauf

    digital, color, stereo, 7 min
    Rental format: Digital file
    • Landscape / Architecture
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    Exterior Extended
    Experimental

    Exterior Extended
    Siegfried A. Fruhauf

    digital, black and white, sound, 9 min
    Rental format: Digital file
    • Landscape / Architecture
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    Still Dissolution
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    Still Dissolution
    Siegfried A. Fruhauf

    digital, color, sound, 3 min
    Rental format: Digital file
    • Landscape / Architecture
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    Vintage Print
    Experimental

    Vintage Print
    Siegfried A. Fruhauf

    digital, color, sound, 13 min
    Rental format: Digital file
    • Landscape / Architecture
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    Fuddy Duddy
    Experimental

    Fuddy Duddy
    Siegfried A. Fruhauf

    digital, black and white, sound, 5 min
    Rental format: Digital file
    • Landscape / Architecture
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    Heavy Eyes Remastered
    Experimental

    Heavy Eyes Remastered
    Siegfried A. Fruhauf

    color, sound, 10 min
    Rental format: Digital file
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    Phantom Ride Phantom
    Experimental

    Phantom Ride Phantom
    Siegfried A. Fruhauf

    digital, color and b/w, sound, 10 min
    Rental format: Digital file
    • Landscape / Architecture
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    • Structural
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    Water and Clearing
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    Water and Clearing
    Siegfried A. Fruhauf

    digital, color, sound, 5 min
    Rental format: Digital file
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    Thorax
    Experimental

    Thorax
    Siegfried A. Fruhauf

    digital, color, sound, 8 min
    Rental format: Digital file
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    Dissolution Prologue (Extended Version)

    Dissolution Prologue (Extended Version)
    Siegfried A. Fruhauf

    digital, color, sound
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    • Structural
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