Notes

The footage for this film was shot over seven years at various factory locations in and around Johannesburg. The subject matter of the footage is craft and machines, dealing with the baker, book-maker, builder, butcher, candle-stick maker, carpenter, composer, cook, farrier, forger, mason, potter, spinner, weaver, and so on.

The footage is edited into a fast paced short film of 8 minutes, with each clip showing close-ups of the hands of the craftsmen or of the machines in operation. Each of the hand movements of the craftsmen – clutching, grabbing, squeezing, moulding, hacking, twisting, pinching, punching, rolling, holding, slapping, hammering, pouring, slicing, throwing, cutting, rubbing and so on – have been separated from each other into singular ‘’acts’’ in the initial stages of the editing. Similarly, the machine movements have been separated from each other into ‘’acts’’ based on whether they are linear movements (diagonal to the left or right, left to right, or vice versa, up and down) or whether they are circular movements (clock-wise or anti-clock-wise). There are also other considerations such as colour and association.

The sound emanating from the footage is used as soundtrack and acts as the ‘’narrator’’. The final edit combines ‘’movement acts’’ of hand and machine, together with the sound, into a kind of symphony or a poem of the craftsmen.

- Joachim Schönfeldt, 2015

Exhibited

56th Venice Art Biennale, Main Exhibition, All the World's Futures curated by Okwui Enwezor, 2015.

Literature

Osei Bonsu (2015) All the World's Futures: 56 Venice Biennale. Pages 241 to 242.