The Unstable Object (II)

Daniel Eisenberg (USA)

Galata Greek Primary School

“The Unstable Object (II) [portrays] the Duderstadt facility of Ottobock, a German prosthetics company… There, thousands of prosthetic hands, feet, arms, and legs are produced daily for the global market, from wooden feet to microprocessor-controlled knees… In this factory, an arc can be mapped from extremely repetitive, relatively low-skill tasks, all the way to highly artisanal, creative craftsmanship and advanced technical expertise. This installation briefly sketches several kinds of labor found in the factory and traces the movement from mass production to individualized object. These prosthetics are often designed to be as invisible as possible, but what remains most unseen and unspoken of about them are the causes for their proliferation: land mines, wars, terrorist incidents, industrial and vehicular accidents, and medically necessary amputations, all of which multiply annually, to make prosthetics a reliable growth industry.” –DE

Daniel Eisenberg’s three-channel installation The Unstable Object (II) is part of a long-term project that interrogates the conditions, forces and ethics that surround labor in factories around the world. In this film, Eisenberg reveals the labor embedded in the production of human prosthetics that range from simple hands, arms, feet and legs to complex electro-mechanical and neuro-prosthetics. Even if mass-produced, all factory-made prosthetics are unique, as each needs to be eventually fitted to an individual owner.