Mensch–Maschine

The automation of industrial production and data processing operations in the 20th century fundamentally changed the relationship between humans and machines. Workers and employees were to be liberated from monotonous activities that were mentally and physically exhausting, while machines offered considerably greater efficiency: they are more powerful, the work with greater precision, and do not become tired. Mass production, enhanced in this way, gave birth to modern consumer society in the West. And yet there is a price to pay for this progress: the irretrievable loss of full employment in the post-industrial age. Humans & Machines showcases a selection of informational, industrial and experimental films from the '50s and '60s, which illustrate the wide range of interactions between artistic expression, scientific interest, and political and economic purpose at that time. The programme also reflects upon the thin line between utopia and dystopia: when the promise of a better standard of living through technology mutates into a nightmare scenario of total control.