Céline Berger
OVERWORK
Germania 2025, 10’10”
With the presence of the director
Between the 1970s and the 1990s, the government of the Federal Republic of Germany produced a series of educational films designed to present a wide range of professions in meticulous detail. The representation of work in the original footage is coherent and straightforward. The voice-over perfectly aligns with the image - what you hear is what is shown on screen. Departing from these unambiguous filmic strategies, this film with a slightly metatextual title amplifies repetitive actions and processes to bring to the surface underlying dimensions of work where boredom and violence are in constant tension. An arrangement of found images that directs our gaze toward the meaning of labour - labour that, in times of AI and digitalization, is becoming increasingly intangible - while simultaneously celebrating the cinematic craft of editing itself.
Céline Berger is a French interdisciplinary artist based in Cologne, Germany. Trained in physics and material sciences, she worked for various international microelectronic companies as a production and project engineer for a decade. She subsequently graduated from the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne and was a resident at the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam from 2012 to 2013. She was awarded the Nam June Paik Newcomer Award in 2012. Since then, Berger has had group and solo exhibitions, screenings, and talks all over Europe and the US.
Producer: Céline Berger
Edit: Céline Berger
Sound design: Tristan Berger, Judith Nordbrock
ALL SCREENINGS ARE FREE
