In his 2011 essay “The Making of the Indebted Man”, philosopher Maurizio Lazzarato writes: “Debt is not an impediment to growth. Indeed, it represents the economic and subjective engine of the modern-day economy. Debt creation, that is, the creation and development of the power relation between creditors and debtors, has been conceived and programmed as the strategic heart of neoliberal politics.” Carmen Losmann’s Oeconomia sets off on a journey into this strategic heart. The fact that many representatives of the banking and finance sector would prefer not to speak on camera – and those who do are often at a loss for words – makes this an undeniably ambitious undertaking. No matter how transparently the architectures of banks and financial institutions present themselves, the director repeatedly finds herself in front of closed doors while conducting her research. But she makes a virtue of necessity by using phone call transcripts and computer-generated images to bring abstract, difficult-to-grasp subject matter to life.
