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Jeden Monat nähern sich unsere Kolumnisten, die Berliner Filmemacher Dominik und Benjamin Reding, dem jeweiligen Heftthema
auf ihre ganz eigene Art und Weise. Geboren wurden die Zwillinge am 3. Ja nuar 1969 in Dortmund. Während Dominik Architektur
in Aachen und Film in Hamburg studierte, absolvierte Benjamin ein Schauspielstudium in Stuttgart. 1997 begann die Arbeit an
ihrem ersten gemeinsamen Kinofilm „Oi! Warning“. Seitdem arbeiten sie für Fernseh- und Kinofilmprojekte zusammen.

Each month our columnists, Berlin-based filmmakers Dominik and Benjamin Reding, approach the respective issue-specific
theme in their very personal way. The twins were born on January 3, 1969 in Dortmund. Whilst Dominik studied architecture
in Aachen and film in Hamburg, Benjamin graduated in acting studies in Stuttgart. They started working on their first joint
motion picture “Oi! Warning“ in 1997. Since then they have tightly collaborated for TV and cinema film projects.

An Essay by Benjamin Reding
W hat office furniture type are you? The advertisement treats itself to a double I leave through them and shake my head. These adverts, incredible! “Your wife’s make-
page. On the left, a black-and-white photograph of an office – well, let’s say
up starts running in a rainstorm. Hot galvanised steel braves rain for decades.” – “Girls
– single office-tax authority-Uelzen-1958 style, and below the question: “The office fur- like it hot. Planatherm radiators – and any Eva will thaw.” – “No matter where you
niture type preferring grey and drab?” and a circle you can tick. And on the right the build your house. A man from Esser-KG is always around.” That a woman from Esser-
question:”Or the office furniture type who flies to the moon?” with a circle you can KG could be nearby did not cross the ad writers’ minds in 1972. But those were hard
tick and another photograph, this time in colour. Plenty of colour: red flokati rug, PVC days, times rushed past the staid construction businesses and their advertising depart-
swivel chair in lemon yellow, flowery wallpaper in pink, orange and violet, cobalt ments, like a stone throwing protester at an anti-Vietnam war demonstration. Between
blue plastic desk, and an IBM computer as large as a fridge on top. Below the slogan: sit-ins and drop-outs, between flower power and Pop Art, between Ho, Ho, Ho Chi
“Office furniture, ready for the next millennium” and the name of an East- Minh and Che Schah shit, between Pril flowers and free love one quickly lost track.
Westphalian desk factory. “What office furniture type are you?” Actually, what type am I? My desk does not stand
“Watch out!” The chubby man wearing a blue overall throws the next bundle of waste on a flokati rug, my office chair is made of wood, and my computer is thinner than an
paper into the container. Architecture magazines from the early 1970s. Yellowed, dust- issue of AIT. What the 1972 office furniture type wanted can be guessed when looking
covered, crinkled. I withdraw my hand but immediately put it out again, look at the at the old adverts, but what the hell makes up an office furniture type in 2016?
cover, open the front page. “What adds a warm touch to cold glass palaces? Dura Dust rises. A new batch of architecture magazines is emptied into the container. The
Carpets”. Our neighbour moves out. Forever. To an old people’s home on the Canary stale cellar air wafts in all directions. I breathe in, inhale the mould kef. The trip sets
Islands. Sea view, palm trees, sunshine. Now his children empty the house. It will be in, I start fantasising. What office furniture type are you? Tick one of the three state-
sold. For demolition. He certainly bought the magazine as inspiration, back in those ments each and add up the corresponding points. You will find the result at the end
days when he bought the house. What type of windows, what floors, what furniture? of this list.

1. Office succulents are... 5. Your new office is designed by...
O silent listeners of your secret sighs. (= 4 points) O a 103-year-old feng shui master. (= 3 points)
O these things you never have to water. (= 6 points) O yourself. (= 5 points)
O a remainder of Garden Eden. (= 3 points) O not the person who designed your office. (= 4 points)

2. The Artemide Tizio desk luminaire is... 6. On an Egon Eiermann office chair you would...
O a classic because it is used in every office. (= 5 points) O joyously suffer eight hours a day. (= 6 points)
O a bore because it is used in every office. (= 2 points) O design more comfortable office chairs. (= 8 points)
O this thing that again and again manages to pinch your O remember the chewing gum leftovers in the seminar
fingers. (= 4 points) rooms at your university. (= 4 points)

3. A white piece of paper is... 7. Your office colleagues are...
O the start of a new world. (= 1 point) O tight-lipped, patient sufferers, like yourself. (= 4 points)
O a white piece of paper. (= 2 points) O creative geniuses, like yourself. (= 7 points)
O a strange thing, which once had something to do with O the friendly people, who baked a cake for your last
office. (= 3 points) birthday. (= 3 points)

4. Leitz filing folders can be used to... 8. When you look out of your office window you see... 9. In paradise there are...
O equip an office museum. (= 8 points) O freedom. (= 3 points) O finally no more offices. (= 3 points)
O equip an office. (= 7 points) O a grey autumn day. (= 4 points) O only perfect offices. (= 6 points)
O build a hut on the beach. (= 3 points) O the Porsche of your boss. (= 7 points) O There is no such thing as a paradise! (= 0 points)

Result: 25-35 points: The smell of the sea, the taste of snow, the feeling of summer rain fridge: dispose it. The word humility means something to you. You make the best of
on your skin. Wonderful! But office furniture, what’s that? A folding chair with blem- it. Every day.
ishes will give you more pleasure than any ergonomically shaped office armchair. As 46-55 points: With your office furniture, you are not only on the way to the moon, you
long as it stands on a beach and you can listen to the sound of waves. You cannot win already passed Jupiter, and Saturn, well, maybe even Pluto. And if the first quantum
somebody’s heart with staples, punchers and folders, but with a smile, flowers and computer, bio computer, nano-computer is available commercially, it will be on your
poems by Hermann Hesse. And if you have to go to the office after all, console yourself: desk, sorry, in your workspace. But honestly, is your longing for modernity maybe hid-
a jungle is hiding in every yucca palm. ing the secret wish that the office of the future does the work all by itself? Then there
36-45 points: In danger and great trouble, the middle course means death. However, would be no desk anymore and no office furniture, and anyway, would the question
you are neither in danger nor in trouble, and you can love your office. The way it is. make any sense at all: “What office furniture type are you?”
The much too bright neon light: bear it. The disquiet in the office: repress it. The extra “None,” the man from the decluttering service shouts. Phew, did I talk to myself? “I do
hours: work them off uncomplainingly. The desktop: tidy it up. Computer crashes: pre- not have an office, I call it a day now!” He grins, claps the dust off his gloves and closes
vent them. The coffee machine: clean it. The yoghurt past its sell-by date in the office the container lid.

AIT 10.2016 • 075