1 00:00:07,440 --> 00:00:12,560 [Thomas Hirschhorn: "Gramsci Monument"] 2 00:00:17,620 --> 00:00:21,440 [Forest Houses, Bronx, New York] 3 00:00:22,980 --> 00:00:25,620 ["Gramsci Monument" (2013)] 4 00:00:26,340 --> 00:00:29,840 [Opening of the "Gramsci Monument"] 5 00:00:29,870 --> 00:00:32,050 [July 1st - 10 am - 7 pm] 6 00:00:35,620 --> 00:00:37,700 Harry Drake: Alright, sorry to interrupt. 7 00:00:37,760 --> 00:00:40,940 This is the man of the hour. 8 00:00:41,370 --> 00:00:45,620 This is the man, besides Erik, that brought everything to us. 9 00:00:46,600 --> 00:00:49,280 Yasmil Raymond: Thomas believes that "more is more." 10 00:00:49,350 --> 00:00:54,649 You know, it's a pun on Mies van der Rohe, who said, "less is more." 11 00:00:54,819 --> 00:00:59,059 And in this "more and more" philosoph of Thomas Hirschhorn, 12 00:00:59,059 --> 00:01:03,499 it means an enormous amount of activities all the time, 13 00:01:03,499 --> 00:01:06,310 almost confusing what is happening. 14 00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:10,510 Harry Drake: What you are doing for this community and everything... 15 00:01:10,510 --> 00:01:12,270 Thomas Hirschhorn: No I don't... 16 00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:14,330 I don't do something for the community. 17 00:01:14,330 --> 00:01:16,470 I do something, I hope, for art... 18 00:01:16,470 --> 00:01:17,590 HD: Okay. 19 00:01:17,640 --> 00:01:19,910 TH: And the understanding of art. 20 00:01:19,972 --> 00:01:21,741 My goal is this. 21 00:01:22,540 --> 00:01:24,588 Lex Brown: Something Thomas always says 22 00:01:24,588 --> 00:01:26,969 is that did not come here to, like, help people, 23 00:01:26,969 --> 00:01:30,890 he came here to Forest Houses and asked people who lived here 24 00:01:30,890 --> 00:01:33,681 to help him make the artwork. 25 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:40,010 And there's a really big difference. 26 00:01:40,030 --> 00:01:42,885 There's a huge difference between those two things. 27 00:01:46,260 --> 00:01:52,180 Freddy Velez: Thomas asked me to translate the Gramsci prison notes to Spanish. 28 00:01:52,310 --> 00:01:54,530 That was a great opportunity for me, 29 00:01:54,550 --> 00:02:00,100 and I just put retirement to the side and just began working with his art. 30 00:02:00,490 --> 00:02:05,170 And here I am today, two months later, enjoying myself every day 31 00:02:05,170 --> 00:02:07,537 and I feel a lot better. 32 00:02:11,420 --> 00:02:14,590 Janet Bethea: I was more stronger than half of the men over there. 33 00:02:14,620 --> 00:02:16,260 I built those buildings. 34 00:02:16,260 --> 00:02:19,610 I did the dollies underneath there, on the floor. 35 00:02:19,610 --> 00:02:22,090 I did all that with the guys. 36 00:02:22,160 --> 00:02:25,630 Except for the roof. I'm scared of heights. 37 00:02:36,540 --> 00:02:38,490 Stanley Scott: My name is "Stan the Man". 38 00:02:38,510 --> 00:02:40,021 - Stan the Man? - Stan the Man. 39 00:02:40,021 --> 00:02:41,950 - Oh, I saw your sign. - Yes, indeed. 40 00:02:41,950 --> 00:02:44,140 - And I work for love. - We know. 41 00:02:44,240 --> 00:02:46,500 SS: It's not about the bills. 42 00:02:46,500 --> 00:02:47,850 It's not about the money. 43 00:02:47,850 --> 00:02:49,794 Anything I make, I make from my heart. 44 00:02:50,209 --> 00:02:52,149 You know, once your love is in it 45 00:02:52,189 --> 00:02:54,090 the money's going to come. 46 00:02:54,920 --> 00:02:57,860 That's why I joined the monument, because it's like art. 47 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:00,630 Food is like art. You know, cooking. 48 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:02,760 Making something out of nothing. 49 00:03:02,760 --> 00:03:04,720 You know, making those dishes look good. 50 00:03:04,720 --> 00:03:06,100 Like, oh, that shit's pretty. 51 00:03:06,100 --> 00:03:08,200 Let's see if it tastes pretty. 52 00:03:13,400 --> 00:03:16,430 When people ask you: "What is this project?" what do you say? 53 00:03:16,460 --> 00:03:19,173 Dannion Jordan: Well I walk them over to the brochures... 54 00:03:19,173 --> 00:03:21,830 Janet Bethea: It's a monument of something. 55 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:24,890 Freddy Velez: A positive place for art and study. 56 00:03:24,900 --> 00:03:27,297 Dannion Jordan: You know, they had a smoothie bar. 57 00:03:27,297 --> 00:03:29,800 Janet Bethea: They can go in the library, read books. 58 00:03:29,840 --> 00:03:31,931 Dannion Jordan: A WiFi station up here... 59 00:03:31,931 --> 00:03:34,076 Erik Farmer: A monument usually is something 60 00:03:34,080 --> 00:03:35,773 that is stable, it doesn’t move. 61 00:03:35,773 --> 00:03:38,473 This is a temporary monument — something I never heard of 62 00:03:38,473 --> 00:03:41,414 but Thomas explained to me, you know, what he wanted to do 63 00:03:41,414 --> 00:03:44,940 and how he wanted to integrate the residents into the monument, 64 00:03:44,940 --> 00:03:46,700 as in giving them jobs 65 00:03:46,700 --> 00:03:50,083 and wanting to teach the kids about art. 66 00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:56,980 Dannion Jordan: He doesn't want anything to interfere with his monument, 67 00:03:56,980 --> 00:04:01,361 Whether it's rain, Dia, Nycha... 68 00:04:01,390 --> 00:04:04,200 he doesn't want anything to interfere with his project. 69 00:04:04,280 --> 00:04:07,570 If you're not interfering with his project everything is good. 70 00:04:07,820 --> 00:04:09,720 What happens when you interfere? 71 00:04:12,170 --> 00:04:14,249 DJ: Yeah, he just...you know, he gets crazy. 72 00:04:14,279 --> 00:04:16,789 He starts screaming, uses his fingers and everything. 73 00:04:16,809 --> 00:04:18,350 TH: Sunday... Sunday even... 74 00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:20,850 Yasmil Raymond: Yes, but I'm here Saturday and Sunday... 75 00:04:20,850 --> 00:04:21,940 TH: I am the artist! 76 00:04:21,940 --> 00:04:24,380 Man: I look and see there's no one sitting in there first... 77 00:04:24,380 --> 00:04:25,820 HD: He'll be like, "No." 78 00:04:25,820 --> 00:04:28,610 Marcella Paradise: And if you can't stay to three o’clock or four 79 00:04:28,610 --> 00:04:30,770 — which we stay till four all the time — 80 00:04:30,810 --> 00:04:32,380 you get put out the class. 81 00:04:32,380 --> 00:04:36,580 TH: Okay? We are not observers, there is no observer. 82 00:04:37,840 --> 00:04:40,517 Harry Drake. Thomas is not white. He's not European. 83 00:04:40,537 --> 00:04:41,837 He's black. 84 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:55,785 Marcus Green: I was very inspired by Thomas's poster. 85 00:04:56,690 --> 00:05:00,030 And on the poster it says, "All humans are intellectuals." 86 00:05:00,090 --> 00:05:04,690 So, the quote that I want to begin with — which is quote number one — 87 00:05:05,250 --> 00:05:07,870 is taken from that notion. 88 00:05:08,220 --> 00:05:11,396 Lex Brown: Gramsci's idea that every person is an intellectual 89 00:05:11,396 --> 00:05:13,950 is an incredibly important idea. 90 00:05:14,270 --> 00:05:16,049 It's a huge part of the project 91 00:05:16,069 --> 00:05:19,540 and it is touched upon in every part of it. 92 00:05:20,200 --> 00:05:22,460 Adam Guessongo: My name is Adam. 93 00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:25,308 I do graffiti, I draw, 94 00:05:25,860 --> 00:05:27,540 and I make sculpture. 95 00:05:27,590 --> 00:05:30,530 Or like, this, I'm not done with it yet... 96 00:05:32,100 --> 00:05:36,360 I'm not done with this, but I was trying to make a character from a game. 97 00:05:43,720 --> 00:05:46,620 Dannion Jordan: You're learning, you're teaching, 98 00:05:46,620 --> 00:05:50,490 but it's more like people just... you know, you got Thomas here. 99 00:05:50,490 --> 00:05:54,019 It's more about people gathering just still getting to learn one another. 100 00:05:54,059 --> 00:05:56,943 Because I don't really know all these guys that I work with, 101 00:05:56,943 --> 00:05:59,185 I just know them through other people. 102 00:05:59,185 --> 00:06:02,020 You all get to know each other, you learn from each other, 103 00:06:02,020 --> 00:06:04,010 and, you know, that's basically it. 104 00:06:04,040 --> 00:06:06,800 [Destruction is difficult; it is as difficult as creation] 105 00:06:06,800 --> 00:06:08,670 Erik Farmer: This is history right here 106 00:06:08,690 --> 00:06:10,650 because it's never been done. 107 00:06:10,680 --> 00:06:13,880 So when someone speaks about it — someone may try to do it — 108 00:06:13,948 --> 00:06:18,410 but, at the end of the day, it was done at Forest Houses first. 109 00:06:19,140 --> 00:06:20,320 Big. Huge. 110 00:06:20,370 --> 00:06:23,296 [Quality should be attributed to human beings, not to things.] 111 00:06:23,296 --> 00:06:27,200 Lex Brown: People have to come here, to the monument, to see the monument. 112 00:06:27,210 --> 00:06:33,729 This project is site-specific in the most true sense of that phrase. 113 00:06:33,859 --> 00:06:39,290 It's as important that this monument will be here for two and a half months 114 00:06:39,290 --> 00:06:43,270 as it is that it will not be here after two and a half months. 115 00:06:44,300 --> 00:06:46,340 There's an urgency to it. 116 00:06:46,350 --> 00:06:49,890 And without that urgency, it would not be the same thing. 117 00:07:04,739 --> 00:07:09,109 Transcript by Amara Bot Review by Margarida Ferreira