EMBARGO

"General Dynamics European Land Systems Steyr": These words can be read towards the ending in Johann Lurf´s EMBARGO. The film has a telling, almost ominous title, and it is accompanied by the information that it deals with arms industry and its locations. In this way, the film demands of its audience an investigating type of look – a perceptual apriori which EMBARGO´s spatial arrangement folds into paradoxical textures.
The image is to be read in paranoia mode. Other films made by Lurf show us a postmodernist multi-purpose hall (Picture Perfect Pyramid) or a torpedo testing site (Reconnaissance) as if these buildings were mysterious temples. In EMBARGO, industrial containers and façades, bathed in floodlights and displaying bits of writing here and there, are turned into uncanny spaces carrying enigmatic inscriptions.
In geopolitics, the word "embargo" most often refers to the interdiction of arms exports into zones or countries – lands – of crisis and conflict. European corporations often skirt embargos, in quite systematic ways. "European Land Systems". And then there is the traditional urban location, at the same time a renowned brand of Austrian arms manufacture: "Steyr", versed not least in the remote control-based steering of optical devices with a military purpose – "Camcopter S 100 unmanned air system", as another of the inscriptions in EMBARGO reads. These words designate what is commonly called a drone. A drone allows you to look into spaces for which an embargo on perception is in force. It serves a purpose of observation known as "reconnaissance". In Lurf´s images, observing means testing – a scrutiny that places the image-space under pressure; this goes for places of arms industry behind fences as well as for our perception of these places.
EMBARGO´s montage arranges views in an all-encompassing play of forces – "General Dynamics" – that problematizes movement. Spaces are displayed in camera travellings in a gesture of dis-play as playful disturbance, which is emulated in the techno score by Jung an Tagen. First there is micro-movement in frozen nightly long-shots that have an air of picture puzzle; then, there is precipitation in the image-movement, to the extent of an explosion that rips apart foreground and background.
If you sometimes deal with film criticism, you know the word embargo as a reference to blocking periods for film reviews, especially in the case of spectacular big budget productions. This kind of embargo resembles the notorious "spoiler alert" as much as Lurf´s films of industry display unexpected affinities with the dynamics of the film industry´s mindgame and SciFi movies. The music to EMBARGO is reminiscent of Vertigo. After all the observation, things end up in a "rush", and the background races past – as if the secret buildings behind the fences were pushed away by aliens or other monstrous powers. (Drehli Robnik)



Using elaborate recording technology, Johann Lurf breathes life into Austrian arms manufacturers – more precisely, the surface of their architecture, which is visible from a distance and therefor contradicts the information embargo inside. Set to a driving gaming sound, levels shift and signal lights glow in rich contrasts. In our midst and yet seemingly from another world. (prod note)

In his films Johann Lurf often explores very particular places. In RECONNAISSANCE this is an area in the USA surrounding the spectacular ruin of a dam that was used up until the 1990s as a military test range for torpedoes. In contrast, Picture Perfect Pyramid is concerned with a piece of architecture close to Vienna in which events are held – a glass pyramid which because of its artificiality reminds one of Las Vegas. Using a sophisticated process of recording Lurf inspects the terrain and, at the same time, evokes the power of these images. In his newest film, EMBARGO, he deals with the Austrian armaments industry or, more accurately, the visibility of this sector. The position of the filmmaker in relation to the subject can be deduced from the title. For the first time there will be a soundtrack composed for EMBARGO which was produced by Jung an Tagen. Naoko Kaltschmidt

More Texts

Diagonale 2015: Avantgarde-Rundschau, von Rainer Kienböck, Jugend ohne Film, 04.04.2015 (Article)

Ein Film, der für uns alle in der Jugend ohne Film-Redaktion zu einem Highlight des Festivals zählte. Die Unschuld der ersten Sichtung lässt Aufnahmen eines Industriekomplexes in der Nacht vermuten, der von energetischer elektronischer Musik unterlegt wird und durch visuelle Brillanz besticht. Bei intensiverer Auseinandersetzung stellt sich heraus, dass es sich bei diesem Industriekomplex um Rüstungsfirmen handelt, die Lurf auch deshalb aus der Distanz filmt, weil es schlicht keine Möglichkeit gibt, ihr Inneres zu erkunden. Das „Embargo“ des Filmemachers entpuppt sich aber als Glücksfall, denn als geübter Erforscher ungewöhnlicher Architekturen kreiert Lurf eine angemessen gespenstische Atmosphäre und spiegelt so in der Form seines Films, den Charakter dieser zwielichtigen Orte.

Diagonale 2015: Avantgarde-Rundschau, von Rainer Kienböck, Jugend ohne Film, 04.04.2015
Orig. Title
EMBARGO
Year
2014
Country
Austria
Duration
10 min
Director
Johann Lurf
Category
Essay
Orig. Language
No Dialogue
Downloads
EMBARGO (Image)
EMBARGO (Image)
EMBARGO (Image)
Credits
Director
Johann Lurf
Cinematography
Johann Lurf
Music
Jung An Tagen
Available Formats
DCP 2k 3D (Distribution Copy)
Aspect Ratio
1:1,85 stereoscopic
Sound Format
5.1 surround
Frame Rate
24 fps
Color Format
colour
DCP 4K flat (Distribution Copy)
Aspect Ratio
1:1,85
Sound Format
5.1 surround
Frame Rate
24 fps
Color Format
colour
Digital File (prores, h264) (Distribution Copy)
Festivals (Selection)
2015
Rotterdam - Int. Filmfestival
Graz - Diagonale, Festival des österreichischen Films
Jeonju - International Film Festival
Osnabrück - EMAF - European Media Art Festival
Wien - VIS Vienna Independent Shorts
Hamburg - Int. Kurzfilm-Festival & No Budget
Oberhausen - Int. Kurzfilmtage
Wroclaw - New Horizons Festival
Rotterdam Architecture Film Festival
Windsor - Media City
Zagreb - 25fps Film & Video Festival
München - UnderDox, Festival für Dokument und Experiment
Olympia - Film Festival
Wiesbaden - exground on screen
Milano - Filmmakers Festival
2016
Paris - Rencontres International Paris/Berlin/Madrid
Stuttgart - Filmwinter, Expanded Media Festival
Regensburg - Kurzfilmwoche
Seoul - EXis (Experimental Film- & Videofestival)
2019
Helsinki - metakino Architecture Film Festival