Adrain Paci: The story of a stone
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0:00 - 0:16[POWER TOOLS BUZZING]
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0:16 - 0:19It came to me like like a fairy tale. You know?
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0:19 - 0:23A sculpture produced in
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0:23 - 0:24the boat
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0:24 - 0:26during the trip
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0:29 - 0:33The fairy tale was, you know, this idea of a sculpture
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0:34 - 0:37Somehow an art piece
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0:39 - 0:41produced in this,
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0:41 - 0:43in the middle of the ocean, you know?
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0:43 - 0:48But, at the same time, this model coming from the west
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0:48 - 0:51that goes to the east and then is coming back
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0:51 - 0:55to the west in this travel
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0:55 - 1:00but very close to this fairy tale thing
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1:00 - 1:03It was the hardness of the reality
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1:03 - 1:06the hardness of the work
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1:06 - 1:10the, I mean, the way the work is exploited, you know?
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1:11 - 1:14The logic of the profit that is behind that
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1:15 - 1:21That was to create this coincidence between the time of transport and the time of production
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1:21 - 1:26[JACKHAMMER POUNDING]
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1:26 - 1:28In my work, you see a lot of people.
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1:28 - 1:31You see a lot of faces, you see a lot of bodies
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1:32 - 1:36and the stories are connected with these bodies
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1:36 - 1:39with these--they are human experiences.
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1:39 - 1:41In this piece it's a bit different
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1:41 - 1:45You know, it's the story of the piece of marble
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1:45 - 1:47It's the story of a stone
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1:47 - 1:53Taken off from the mountain
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1:54 - 1:56and then rolled down
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1:56 - 1:57and then rolled to a boat
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1:57 - 2:01and then, and then it start this trip
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2:01 - 2:04and then it's transformed.
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2:04 - 2:06Of course it makes it a bit more metaphorical
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2:06 - 2:14But at the same time, even in this piece, in the video you see faces, you see bodies, you see human actions.
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2:14 - 2:21It's about this piece of marble, but at the same time it's even about the human actions on it, you know?
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2:21 - 2:25It's not about their personal stories.
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2:25 - 2:28But it is about, even about their presence.
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2:28 - 2:31You know, their presence is important.
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2:32 - 2:36And their actions are, I mean, are important.
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2:36 - 2:38And their--and what they--
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2:38 - 2:42actually, the column is what they produce
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2:42 - 2:48so it's not being produced in a miraculous way somehow.
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2:48 - 2:52[BOAT ENGINE CHUGGING]
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2:52 - 2:58This transformation from, from something coming from nature
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2:59 - 3:03that you detached from that, from its context
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3:03 - 3:04and then
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3:04 - 3:09through the action it becomes an expression of culture
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3:09 - 3:11So it's from nature.
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3:11 - 3:13From nature going towards culture.
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3:14 - 3:18And what is getting and what is losing in this transformation.
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3:19 - 3:22So of course, the column that we see now
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3:22 - 3:25it's nicely done
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3:25 - 3:30it's perfectly responding to a model.
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3:30 - 3:32to a cultural model
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3:32 - 3:35but at the same time it's losing something from
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3:35 - 3:41from its roughness, or its natural aspect.
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3:41 - 3:45[BOAT ENGINE CHUGGING]
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3:45 - 3:51The film is ending with this boat and the ocean
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3:51 - 3:58and you don't see even the column at the end because, you know, the roof of the boat is closed.
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3:58 - 4:01So, the trip is still going on.
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4:01 - 4:02It continues.
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4:02 - 4:04It's continuing
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4:04 - 4:07But then I wanted the sculpture to be here in Paris.
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4:07 - 4:17To be here, like to, to consider the promise as a step of this trip.
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4:17 - 4:22Europe was a destination for the column
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4:22 - 4:25I wanted the column to be here.
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4:25 - 4:26In Paris
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4:26 - 4:29And we are here.
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4:29 - 4:32In a place that we are surrounded by columns in Paris.
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4:32 - 4:35Even just here the Plaza la Concordia
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4:35 - 4:39you see a column in the middle and then around you see a lot of columns.
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4:39 - 4:42The column is a very symbolic element.
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4:42 - 4:46It's in general a symbolic element, even in the East and in the West.
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4:46 - 4:49In the West we connect it with the temples
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4:49 - 4:53You know? With the--we connect it with power.
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4:53 - 4:57And it's erected, you know? It's vertical.
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4:57 - 5:00The fact here, the column is lying down, you know?
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5:00 - 5:04For the whole trip it's lying down and it's still--
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5:04 - 5:08I want to keep it this way, you know?
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5:08 - 5:13So of course, it's a game somehow between the
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5:13 - 5:18uh, the power and being impotent somehow, you know?
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5:20 - 5:22And as you said, it's made in China.
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5:22 - 5:26Ya know, when we see "Made in China" it has to do with something that is not authentic.
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5:26 - 5:31So even the, the same idea of authenticity is questioned, you know?
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5:31 - 5:36[RADIO PLAYING MUSIC IN CHINESE]
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5:36 - 5:43The image has the power to tell, and to keep it open, that is the nice thing.
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5:43 - 5:45The word is more defining.
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5:45 - 5:46You know?
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5:46 - 5:51When you give a name to something, you define it more.
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5:51 - 5:55The image is saying something but its always a secret.
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5:55 - 6:01[BOAT ENGINE CHUGGING]
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6:01 - 6:03It's always about this process.
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6:03 - 6:08It's about, being in this, continuous transformation and then
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6:08 - 6:11things are becoming always something else.
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6:11 - 6:15And in this process of becoming, if you manage to
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6:15 - 6:21to get some, some signs of the truth that is moving
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6:22 - 6:25That is the greatest thing.
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6:25 - 6:29[BOAT ENGINE CHUGGING, HAMMERS STRIKING]
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6:29 - 6:32[CRASH OF MARBLE]
- Title:
- Adrain Paci: The story of a stone
- Description:
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"The story of a piece of marble - the story of a stone - taken off the mountain, rolled down, brought onto the boat and then transformed from nature into culture by human actions."
Video artist Adrian Paci introduces his wondrous work 'The Column'.
Artist Adrian Paci (b.1969) escaped violent riots in Albania in 1997 and took refuge with his family, in Italy. The fact of being at a crossroads, at the frontier of two separate identities, underlies all his work on film.
In this video Paci introduces us to his 2013 film 'The Column'. The column is an art piece produced on a boat trip between East and West: It is "the story of a piece of marble, the story of a stone, taken off the mountain" he says. This piece of marble is "rolled down, brought onto the boat and then transformed by human actions" he explains. But, he adds, the film is also a story of faces, bodies, human presence and human actions. Nature is detached and transformed, turned into culture.
While a column traditionally symbolizes temples and power, Paci chooses to always have it lying down, and thus it also becomes a sign of impotence. As it is made in China, also a question of authenticity, he says.
Importantly, the trip continues - it is a process of becoming, demonstrated by tools moving.
Adrian Paci was interviewed by Marc-Christoph Wagner at Jeu de Paume, ParisCamera: Germain Ferey
Edited by Kamilla Bruus
Produced by Marc-Christoph Wagner, 2013
Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.
Meet more artists at channel.louisiana.dk
Louisiana Channel is a non-profit video channel for the Internet launched by the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in November 2012. Each week Louisiana Channel will publish videos about and with artists in visual art, literature, architcture, design etc.
Read more:
channel.louisiana.dk/aboutSupported by Nordea-fonden.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- Louisiana Channel
- Duration:
- 06:40
Retired user edited English subtitles for Adrain Paci: The story of a stone | ||
Jaye Samuels added a translation |