Foreigners out! Schlingensiefs Container
Encyclopedia
Foreigners out! Schlingensiefs Container (Ausländer raus! Schlingensiefs Container), alternately named "Wien-Aktion", "Please Love Austria—First European Coalition Week", or "Foreigners Out—Artists against Human Rights", is an art project and television
show from 2000 that took place within the scope of the annual Wiener Festwochen. It was conceptually designed by Christoph Schlingensief
and directed by Paul Poet, and was styled as a mockery of popular TV program format
Big Brother
. It was critically aimed both at certain forms of television entertainment and at a latent xenophobia still thriving in the whole world.
, and broadcast from the container set installed in Vienna
. Shortly before Schlingensief came up with this project, the Freedom Party of Austria
, under the leadership of Jörg Haider
had been elected
into the National Council of Austria
and formed part of the new government.
, pointing at and making artistic use of existing parallels between the Nazi camps and television formats like Big Brother.
, using questions like "Please sort the following concentration camps from north to south".
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
show from 2000 that took place within the scope of the annual Wiener Festwochen. It was conceptually designed by Christoph Schlingensief
Christoph Schlingensief
Christoph Maria Schlingensief was a German film and theatre director, actor, artist, and author. Starting as an independent underground filmmaker, Schlingensief later began staging productions for theatres and festivals, which often were accompanied by public controversies...
and directed by Paul Poet, and was styled as a mockery of popular TV program format
TV program format
A TV format describes the overall concept, premise and branding of a copyrighted television program.The format is licensed by TV networks, so that they may produce a version of the show tailored to their nationality and audience. Formats are a major part of the international television market...
Big Brother
Big Brother (TV series)
Big Brother is a television show in which a group of people live together in a large house, isolated from the outside world but continuously watched by television cameras. Each series lasts for around three months, and there are usually fewer than 15 participants. The housemates try to win a cash...
. It was critically aimed both at certain forms of television entertainment and at a latent xenophobia still thriving in the whole world.
Political implications
The show was produced in AustriaAustria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, and broadcast from the container set installed in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. Shortly before Schlingensief came up with this project, the Freedom Party of Austria
Freedom Party of Austria
The Freedom Party of Austria is a political party in Austria. Ideologically, the party is a direct descendant of the German national liberal camp, which dates back to the 1848 revolutions. The FPÖ itself was founded in 1956 as the successor to the short-lived Federation of Independents , which had...
, under the leadership of Jörg Haider
Jörg Haider
Jörg Haider was an Austrian politician. He was Governor of Carinthia on two occasions, the long-time leader of the Austrian Freedom Party and later Chairman of the Alliance for the Future of Austria , a breakaway party from the FPÖ.Haider was controversial within Austria and abroad for comments...
had been elected
Austrian legislative election, 1999
Parliamentary elections were held in Austria on 3 October 1999. Although the Social Democratic Party remained the largest party in the National Council, a coalition government was formed by the Freedom Party of Austria and the Austrian People's Party after several months of negotiations...
into the National Council of Austria
National Council of Austria
The National Council is one of the two houses of the Austrian parliament. According to the constitution, the National Council and the complementary Federal Council are peers...
and formed part of the new government.
Concept
The concept of the show was that a dozen real asylum seekers lived inside containers, but instead of being voted out of the show (like in Big Brother), the candidates were to be voted out of the country. Creating and utilizing such a situation of living in a strictly confined area, not knowing what would happen next, was to remind the audience of Nazi concentration campsNazi concentration camps
Nazi Germany maintained concentration camps throughout the territories it controlled. The first Nazi concentration camps set up in Germany were greatly expanded after the Reichstag fire of 1933, and were intended to hold political prisoners and opponents of the regime...
, pointing at and making artistic use of existing parallels between the Nazi camps and television formats like Big Brother.
Methodology
Installing TV programs and other projects as mockeries of well-known existing formats is part of Schlingensief's methodology. In another show broadcast in Germany, Freakstars 3000, he set up a talent cast show where all candidates where mentally handicapped. In the theatre project Quiz 3000 (the '3000' was a recurring trademark of Schlingensief), he mocked the show Who wants to be a millionaire?Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? is a television game show which offers large cash prizes for correctly answering a series of multiple-choice questions of increasing difficulty. The format is owned and licensed by Sony Pictures Television International. The maximum cash prize is one million pounds...
, using questions like "Please sort the following concentration camps from north to south".
Awards
- WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival: Winner Golden Special Jury Award 2003
- Images FestivalImages FestivalThe Images Festival is a yearly event devoted to independent and experimental film, video art, new media and media installation that takes place each spring in Toronto. It was founded in 1987, originally conceived as an alternative to the Toronto Film Festival...
Toronto: Best International Film made on Video - International Film Festival RotterdamInternational Film Festival RotterdamThe International Film Festival Rotterdam is an annual film festival held in various cinemas in Rotterdam, Netherlands held at the end of January. It is approximately comparable in size to other major European festivals such as Cannes, Venice, Berlin, and Locarno...
: Official Selection 2003 - Mar del Plata Film FestivalMar del Plata Film FestivalThe Mar del Plata International Film Festival is an international film festival that takes place every November in the city of Mar del Plata, Argentina...
: Official Competition A 2003