1
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[ALEX DA CORTE] This house is a portrait
of the land I live in.

2
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I thought, "How do I know my life?"

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"How do I know my politics,
how do I know my religion,"

4
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"how do I know my love?"

5
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I probably learned it from my family.

6
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But, mostly I probably learned it from TV.

7
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If I were to make a portrait of a place,
maybe I would to begin with TV.

8
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I’ve recycled a bunch of old faces
into some kind of fresh variety show,

9
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making 57 videos for the
57th Carnegie International in Pittsburgh.

10
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[ALEX DA CORTE: 57 VARIETIES]

11
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--Liv, I think it’s cool.

12
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--Yeah, I think you just let it be loose
and it seems natural.

13
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--Yeah, this is my favorite costume so far,
Liv.

14
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When I’m attracted to a certain character,

15
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it may be just a character that’s misunderstood,

16
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or a character that has a beautiful color.

17
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--Yeah, I think that’s pretty beautiful.

18
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--It’s really beautiful.

19
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--Let me know when you’re ready and I’m
going to put my leg up.

20
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I’m going to be sharing this glass of wine
with Oscar,

21
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but the wine seems to pour indefinitely.

22
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We’re actually having this drink in a painting
by Patrick Caulfield called "Dining Recess,"

23
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but used a slight visual trickery where it
seems as though I'm flatter than I actually am.

24
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--[DIRECTOR] Ready, action.

25
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--Pouring.

26
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[DA CORTE] Caroll Spinney, the actor who played
Big Bird

27
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and Oscar the Grouch up until recently,

28
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was operating Oscar the Grouch
and he was wearing his Big Bird legs.

29
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I thought, that’s this beautiful moment
of transition--

30
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when I think we as a country and as a people
are always transitioning.

31
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--[DIRECTOR] Alright, awesome!
[CHUCKLES]

32
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[DA CORTE] In these videos,

33
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I flatten the hierarchy to kind of
take away maybe the privilege,

34
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or the authority,
that some of these characters may have had

35
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and confuse them a little bit.

36
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There’s this sort of fluidity that occurs
where

37
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you can take any disparate thing

38
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and link them together,
and they’ll tell this new story.

39
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I live in Philadelphia

40
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and in my research, I was reading
a lot of Ginsberg’s "Fall of America."

41
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Coincidentally Ginsberg is in
a music video that Bob Dylan made

42
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called "Subterranean Homesick Blues."

43
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I thought, how strange that
Bob Dylan is making this song

44
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about the sign of the times in the late 60s,

45
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and fifty years later,
maybe this is a similar moment,

46
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in need of some empathetic conversation.

47
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And maybe if I use his words and
pair them with my images

48
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I might make sense of America.

49
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[Distorted electric guitar plays "Taps"]

50
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The witch is totally misunderstood.

51
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A house landed on her sister.

52
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That’s sad.

53
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I would be upset too.

54
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Dorothy, she’s just a boring white girl
with some problems.

55
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Where the witch is an interesting green person
that has a serious story behind her.

56
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--[DIRECTOR] 5-4-3-2-1, playback.

57
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[Patsy Cline’s “Blue” plays]

58
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[DA CORTE] I always think of this science
project I did when I was younger

59
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about color and how it affects your mood.

60
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What does blue make you feel?

61
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What does green make you feel?

62
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All emotions are interesting--
and hot and exciting.

63
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I'm not afraid of them.

64
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--Thanks, Gabs,

65
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--For the seventeen thousand hours of work
to make those shoes!

66
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--Those shoes should just get wrapped up
and put in a safe

67
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--because they’re really special.

68
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All of the people that work with me are friends.

69
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It’s a big family.

70
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--Shannon has worked all over the world.

71
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--She’s from Philly.

72
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--We just do it a little different here.

73
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--We do it a little more dirty here.
[LAUGHS]

74
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We as a studio all really value material.

75
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Everyone went to school for printmaking,

76
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or sculpture, or working with neon, or sewing.

77
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I grew up working in a meditative way

78
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and having those love hours go into the objects.

79
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--I think of that really great
Mike Kelley piece,

80
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--"More Love Hours Than Can Ever Be Repaid,"

81
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--and thinking about crocheting or the unseen
labor.

82
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--Oh yeah, that’s great!

83
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--[WOMAN] Yeah, totally worth it.

84
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[GROUP LAUGHS]

85
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--[DA CORTE] Cut.
Was that better?

86
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--Hi, give me five.

87
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--What up?

88
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--Hi, how are you?

89
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--I'm making all these videos!

90
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--It’s so soft, right?

91
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--[NEPHEW] Yeah, it’s soft!

92
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--[DA CORTE] It’s so soft!

93
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My family is quite large.

94
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I’m one of 27 grandkids.

95
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There’s 28 great grandkids.

96
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So it’s quite a big family.

97
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["Pink Panther Theme" plays]

98
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My whole family are house painters,
including my brother.

99
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So I had this idea to paint this
large rose wall pink.

100
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--[BROTHER] I’ll jump on the ladder and
spray everything,

101
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--and then you just spray the last little
[WHISTLES] at the end.

102
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My grandmother made quilts and dollhouses

103
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and did a lot of handywork.

104
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So the lattice covered with roses is sort
of like

105
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a beautiful metaphor for my grandmother.

106
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If her life was a lattice and the roses were
the people that she touched in her life.

107
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My family is all I have.

108
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My family is everything to me.

109
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["Light of a Brand New Morning" by Dolly Parton
plays]

110
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--[DIRECTOR] Alright, cut!

111
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I’ve always been a homebody.

112
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If I was outside, I’d be in my backyard.

113
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The house was a way to
protect me from the world.

114
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When I was in undergrad,

115
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I would spend a lot of time
in this one particular diner,

116
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drawing and eating a lot of
French fries and ketchup.

117
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The diner had warm-white neon
around the periphery of the whole space.

118
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It still was a barrier that kept me in
and everything else out.

119
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The neon just floats.

120
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These words just float in the black void of
night.

121
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I think it evokes a kind of dream space.

122
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It’s a bug zapping effect,
where it sort of pulls people in.

123
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When someone has entered
I’ve seen a whole gamut of feelings, felt.

124
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I think that’s good to feel desire,

125
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or disgust, or fear,

126
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or overwhelming joy.

127
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Mr. Rogers was a huge part of Pittsburgh.

128
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As is ketchup.

129
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And I love ketchup.

130
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Mr. Rogers's house reminded me
of my grandparents house.

131
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His project was deeply about empathy.

132
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Like, "Hey neighbor, lets talk about difference,"

133
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"let’s talk about divorce, let’s talk
about anger,

134
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let’s talk about assasination."

135
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He wasn’t righteous,
he was just asking questions,

136
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and trying to understand
what do we make of this difference,

137
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and how do we move forward.

138
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["Light of a Brand New Morning" by Dolly Parton
plays]

139
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All of those things are deeply important 
and exciting.

140
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That’s why we make art,

141
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to propose that these feelings should
come to the surface and be harvested.

142
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[FAMILY LAUGHS]

143
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--[DA CORTE] I think that’s great

144
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--[NIECE] You should keep it!

145
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--[WOMAN] It’s what Fred would have done.

146
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[MUSIC FADES OUT]

147
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--[DIRECTOR] We got it, we got it.

148
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[APPLAUSE]