WEBVTT

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

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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,"

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"how do I know my love?"

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I probably learned it from my family.

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But, mostly I probably learned it from TV.

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

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

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

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[ALEX DA CORTE: 57 VARIETIES]

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--Liv, I think it’s cool.

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

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

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When I’m attracted to a certain character,

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it may be just a character that’s misunderstood,

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or a character that has a beautiful color.

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

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--It’s really beautiful.

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

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

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but the wine seems to pour indefinitely.

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

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

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--[DIRECTOR] Ready, action.

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--Pouring.

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

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and Oscar the Grouch up until recently,

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

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

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

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

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[DA CORTE] In these videos,

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

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

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and confuse them a little bit.

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There’s this sort of fluidity that occurs
where

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you can take any disparate thing

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

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I live in Philadelphia

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

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Coincidentally Ginsberg is in
a music video that Bob Dylan made

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called "Subterranean Homesick Blues."

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

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

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

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in need of some empathetic conversation.

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

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I might make sense of America.

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[Distorted electric guitar plays "Taps"]

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The witch is totally misunderstood.

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A house landed on her sister.

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That’s sad.

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I would be upset too.

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

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

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

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[Patsy Cline’s “Blue” plays]

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

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about color and how it affects your mood.

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What does blue make you feel?

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What does green make you feel?

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All emotions are interesting--
and hot and exciting.

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I'm not afraid of them.

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--Thanks, Gabs,

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

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

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--because they’re really special.

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All of the people that work with me are friends.

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It’s a big family.

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--Shannon has worked all over the world.

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--She’s from Philly.

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--We just do it a little different here.

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

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We as a studio all really value material.

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Everyone went to school for printmaking,

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or sculpture, or working with neon, or sewing.

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I grew up working in a meditative way

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and having those love hours go into the objects.

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

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

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--and thinking about crocheting or the unseen
labor.

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--Oh yeah, that’s great!

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--[WOMAN] Yeah, totally worth it.

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[GROUP LAUGHS]

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

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--Hi, give me five.

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--What up?

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--Hi, how are you?

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--I'm making all these videos!

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--It’s so soft, right?

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--[NEPHEW] Yeah, it’s soft!

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--[DA CORTE] It’s so soft!

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My family is quite large.

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I’m one of 27 grandkids.

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There’s 28 great grandkids.

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So it’s quite a big family.

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["Pink Panther Theme" plays]

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My whole family are house painters,
including my brother.

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

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

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

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My grandmother made quilts and dollhouses

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and did a lot of handywork.

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So the lattice covered with roses is sort
of like

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a beautiful metaphor for my grandmother.

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

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My family is all I have.

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My family is everything to me.

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

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--[DIRECTOR] Alright, cut!

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I’ve always been a homebody.

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

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

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When I was in undergrad,

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

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drawing and eating a lot of
French fries and ketchup.

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

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

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The neon just floats.

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These words just float in the black void of
night.

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I think it evokes a kind of dream space.

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

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

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I think that’s good to feel desire,

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or disgust, or fear,

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or overwhelming joy.

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Mr. Rogers was a huge part of Pittsburgh.

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As is ketchup.

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And I love ketchup.

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

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His project was deeply about empathy.

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

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

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let’s talk about assasination."

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

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

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and how do we move forward.

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

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All of those things are deeply important 
and exciting.

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That’s why we make art,

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

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[FAMILY LAUGHS]

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--[DA CORTE] I think that’s great

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--[NIECE] You should keep it!

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

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[MUSIC FADES OUT]

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

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[APPLAUSE]