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EXHIBITIONS
Exhibitions 2010
The Complete METROPOLISThe Machine Rooms and the Workers’ City
Steam sirens proclaim the change of shifts in Metropolis every ten hours. The workers who have their shifts behind them march in step with lowered heads toward the elevators that will take them down to their dark dwellings, while other crews of workers move in the opposite direction toward the engine rooms.
The Workers’ City lies underground and is illuminated by artificial light. The dreary blocks of buildings are offset with diagonal effects of light and shadow. Instead of name plates, numbers indicate their residents.
The Machine Rooms above the Workers’ City are massive in scale. Working conditions are characterized by noise and sweltering heat. The men who must operate the levers on the control panels seem to change into machines themselves. Human life means very little here. The machines also supply energy to the city. When the Heart Machine is stormed by the workers, the lights go out in Metropolis.
Both the Machine Rooms and the Workers’ City were filmed in composite shots. Consequently, the lower section of the Workers’ City with a mighty gong at its center was constructed on an open-air lot in Babelsberg. The upper section of the buildings was created using a small model reflected by mirrors and scaled to size.
>> The Upper City
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The Machine Room
Design: E. Kettelhut
Workers’ City
Break in shooting
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