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He pursued his film projects independently with ‘The Movement of People Working’, a long series of films lasting over 25 hours made between 1973 and 1991, depicting human labor in its most basic form. Filmed on 16 mm and then on digital video, in rural areas of places such as Peru, Mexico, Hungary, Hong Kong, the Arctic, Brazil, Lesotho, Sumatra, China, Japan and Portugal (a still of the Portugal intervention. to the right). The Movement of People Working focuses on work seen as a choreography of movements and gestures, sublimating the mechanical yet natural repetition of workers’ actions. The films are accompanied by slow evolving musical compositions with minimalist harmony. The sound volume offers a visceral experience where the superposition of tones echoes the repetitiveness of the workers’ activity. The project has been exhibited extensively with Phill and an eclectic group of guest musicians providing the music for the screenings.
RIP Phill Niblock (1933-2024)
