WERK

As if the title requires any further clarification, it is also stated explicitly in the film itself: WORK ‘is about work, that is very clear.’ But the straightforwardness of this introduction is mirrored by the immense chaos of the execution. WORK is anything but a clear, straightforward argument. Rather, it is a film like a pinball machine: Van Lieshout’s mind and camera run completely free, switching effortlessly from the general to the private, the deep to the banal, from Helmond to St. Petersburg.
As a method of filmmaking, its freedom and nonchalance are enviable – or at least come across that way. ‘Don’t go sitting down and wandering off,’ the artist/cineaste says at the beginning of the film in his wonderful Brabant accent. As if he senses what is to come. Because we are then taken on a journey that meanders and confuses while at the same time (and this makes the film a truly unique experience) also gives insight into his thought and work processes. And so – via an almost miraculously circumlocutory route – the title is in fact very apt. See also The Basement in the compilation programme Personal Museum.