Trilogia postfordista I. La fàbrica transparent

Die Gläserne Manufaktur (The Transparent Factory) is the name given by Volkswagen to its automobile production plant in Dresden that was built to produce its ‘premium class’ vehicle. With its glass walls and parquet floor, the building turned the production line and the workers’ activities into a show for customers and visitors. The factory was advertised as being ‘a symbol for transparency and authenticity’ with the aim of ‘enhancing the quality of life’.
Octavi Comeron starts with this building to proceed to three parallel projections that are not set in any particular time. One emits the company’s corporate messages about transparency while another shows scenes from the workers’ lives in the Dresden factory, and the third reproduces phrases published by multinationals about the company esprit de corps. These extracts from sections headed ‘About Us’ and ‘Our Mission’ on the web pages of large enterprises reveal a perverse similarity to the desire for transparency that was born with the ideals of modernity.