Fort/DA: From the Pleasure Principle to the Technological Drive
Artist
Renate Ferro
(b. 1954)
Date2012
MediumColor archive digital print (film still)
Dimensions11 x 17 in.
ClassificationsPhotograph
Credit LineGift of the artist
Object number2012.84
DescriptionThe title of the film refers to Sigmund Freud's (1856-1939) writings in Beyond the Pleasure Principle, wherein Freud presented observations of his grandson playing with an ordinary string tied to a spool. The game, fort-da (German for "Gone!" and "There!"), consisted of a simple, repeated tossing and reeling in of the spool. Freud, infinitely fascinated with subconscious underpinnings of human behavior, concluded that the presence and absence of the toy represented the comings and goings of the boy's mother. More specifically, he believed the game to be a manifestation of the child's anxieties over the disappearance of his mother. Modeling after Freud's theory, Ferro's work draws a parallel between our reliance on technological gadgetry and the repressed fear of separation from our loved ones and friends. This still in particular clearly presents Ferro's comparison by placing side-by-side an image of a young boy with his toy and a 20-something man equipping himself with a headset to ensure constant, uninterrupted connection to his communication tool.
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