Collectable

Thirty years ago, the MACBA picture began, our YEAR ZERO

The Collectables of the Year Thirty

The first cinema film to be shown in public was a recording of workers leaving a factory made by the Lumière Brothers, and was premiered on 28 December 1895. In this 45-second take titled Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory in Lyon, we see a crowd of mostly women ostensibly leaving work through the gates of the factory owned by Auguste and Louis Lumière, and which produced photographic plates. Based on this emblematic scene from cinema’s year zero, Harun Farocki constructs a video using film clips of workers leaving industrial places. Workers Leaving the Factory by Farocki incorporates the Lumière Brothers film, together with scenes from Charlie Chaplin, Fritz Lang and Pier Paolo Pasolini, among others. A fitting story for our Collectables to celebrate MACBA’s 30 years. To celebrate, to party, to raise a toast, and to persevere for another thirty years. As in the Lumière’s film, our picture began thirty years ago, our year zero.