The group Sędzia Główny ([Chief Judge] with Aleksandra Kubiak and Karolina Wiktor) created the film Furies for the Views — Deutsche Bank Award competition in 2007. Together with their friend Weronika Pilarczyk, the artists portrayed Roman Furies — mythical goddesses of vengeance. They acted as guardians of morality and social order, accompanied by an entourage of athletes and policemen with dogs. The work was assigned a consecutive Roman numeral in accordance with the numbering convention adopted by Sędzia Główny. However, the film was later renamed Hopelessness. Chapter 0, opening a new cycle distinct from the group’s previous works. The word ‘hopelessness’ can also refer to a special kind of diary, recording moments of despair. Through the title, the artists seem to reflect themselves in a curved mirror of irony. Placing the action of the film next to the original verses from Aeschylus’ Eumenides (‘We are the children of eternal Night / And Furies in the underworld are called.’) seems absurd. But Furies is not so much self-deprecating as autotelic — the artists are not referring to reality, but commenting on their own work.

Audio description: The soundtrack is evocative of the performance of a ritual, the casting of a spell. Shouts and words in an unintelligible language are drowned out by the barking of dogs.