An examination of our capitalist psyche, which hides behind brainstorming sessions, consultancy teams and flipcharts.
In an indefinable space containing large flipcharts a brainstorming session is being conducted in faultless “German manager-speak”. We follow the Quickborner Team (QT), a Hamburg consultancy that specializes in optimizing workplaces. Filmmaker Harun Farocki spent a year immersing himself in the world of QT, sitting in on their meetings and tracking their endeavours to create a new product – “mobile workplaces” – enabling staff to work both independently and more quickly, more efficiently and in a smarter way. It’s a brand-new product that is supposed to get rid of the traditional layout of the workspace.
Or alternatively, a study of how concepts constantly attempt to repackage themselves in the framework of the latest neoliberal mantras, optimization and flexibility.
Ein neues Produkt © Harun Farocki 2012
Subtitles in English
In German
DE, 2012, 36 min
http://www.spiegel.de/video/doku-von-harun-farocki-ein-neues-produkt-ueber-quickborner-team-video-1226862.html
http://blog.daremag.de/2012/08/harun-farocki-ein-neues-produkt
