Harun Farocki’s work “Deep Play” is made up of various perspectives on the final of the 2006 World Cup. We see the “clean feed”, the television networks’ raw material. We see individual players on both teams, but also abstract computer- generated representations of the flow of play. Given the size of the field, the intelligent network of relationships among players who are kicking, passing, receiving the ball and running—a network that absorbs spontaneous individual decisions as well as tactical ideas and habits rooted in the culture of the game—is endlessly complex. This roughly corresponds to the range of possible constellations available to a group of guppies in a mid-sized aquarium. This may be sublime, but it also makes us sad. However, the game is not only classified, assessed and transferred to other systems, for example by trusted experts who analyze and evaluate all quantifiable events. We also experience the majestic calm of a summer’s day as it draws to a close above the Olympic Stadium. We hear many soundtracks, from the police radio to the words of TV production teams from all over the world, alternating between commanding, consequential speech and contemplative reflections on events. Above all, what we experience is how the laboratory of football is able to exhibit the most advanced technology in the production and presentation of moving images. All fans and followers of simulation and documentation, movies, TV and computer games start running a little warmer as they watch. We see how eerily close the wishes of the consumers, the trainers and the police really are to each other. Just as they are in real life.
(Diedrich Diederichsen in: “Documenta 12 Catalogue”, edited by Roger M. Buergel / Ruth Noack, Kassel 2007).

Director, Scriptwriter: Harun Farocki; Assistance: Matthias Rajmann; Camera: Ingo Kratisch; Editing: Bettina Blickwede; Playersoftware: Benjamin Geiselhart; Animation: Regina Krotil; Installation: Gregor Luft; Technical Consultant: Ralph Niebuhr; Research, Production: Matthias Rajmann; Technical Director: Jan Ralske with Antje Ehmann, Wiebke Enwaldt, Christiane Hitzemann, Ronny Tanner. With support of DFB Kulturstiftung Berlin and Cine-Plus Media Service GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin.

Harun Farocki (DE) was born in 1944 and attended the Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin (DFFB) from 1966 to 1968. Farocki has made close to 90 films, including three feature films, essay films and documentaries. In 1976 in Basel, he staged Heiner Müller’s plays "The Battle" and "Tractor" together with Hanns Zischler. Since 1966 he has collaborated with other filmmakers (as script writer, actor and producer) and since 1 990 has staged numerous exhibitions and installations in galleries and museums. Since 2004 he has been visiting professor at the Akademie für Bildende Künste, Vienna, Austria.