In many films by Stefan Panhans (b. 1967), the theater of self-optimization that determines many people’s lives today is revealed, often in a grotesque way. Even the presentation of texts becomes a lesson in liminal experience that makes a marginal impression on the listeners and viewers psychologically as well. The rapid rattling off of information in Homestory (Il cielo in una stanza) (2012) conveys the impression that the speaker is trying desperately to follow an external pressure for efficiency that has captured every nuance of daily life.

Selected films by Panhans are presented in a program he compiled with Ludwig Seyfarth, juxtaposed with films by other artists that are dedicated in various, serious, but also humorous ways to the physical and psychological contortions that neoliberal conditions demand of all of us.