Harun Farockis Didaktik
Philipp Goll/Anne Röhl

“Teacher”, “Berlin school mentor”, “untaught master”—these are some of the various epithets used to characterize writer and filmmaker Harun Farocki as a person who can be learned from. These kinds of descriptions are not conjured out of thin air. In reality, Farocki has been teaching since the 1980s at a number of different universities and academies (dffb, University of California at Berkeley, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna). That said, they do run contrary to Farocki’s conception of himself: he has described himself as a “school dropout” and has regularly emphasized his autodidactic training. The essays in this book look at various didactic aspects in Farocki’s work, focusing on ten ideas, ranging from his teachers and role models, the fundamental operations of showing and comparing, and educational policies to objects of study such as television.

Harun Faroki (1944 – 2014), was a German film-maker, writer, and lecturer. He is one of the most important exponents of the essay film and has made over ninety films. Philipp Goll is a media researcher. Anne Röhl conducts research into the history of art education.