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(slow instrumental music)

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(foot steps squeaking)

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(piano playing)

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(piano keys tapping) (metronome clicking)

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(instrumental music)

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- I don't make paintings,
and I don't make sculptures.

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What happens is that the things
that I make involve paint,

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and photography, drawing,
and also involve you know,

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materials: wood or metal, and so forth.

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To propose and develop concepts and ideas

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through the materials.

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(slow instrumental music)

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You can make art with any
number of kinds of materials,

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and you don't have to learn how to draw,

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and learn how to paint
in order to be an artist.

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(instrumental music)

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I was in a painting program

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and I discovered that the whole process

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of painting didn't hold
much meaning for me.

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There was an overwhelming sense

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that the whole thing is arbitrary.

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There was a perceived idea
that a work of art was made

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from your imagination
and from your intuition.

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I do believe that there is
such a thing as intuition

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and there is such thing
as as the imagination.

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I just think these are concepts

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that they're culturally realized.

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What we come to understand
is knowledge and meaning

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are not pure products of our genius,

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but are built into the
structure where we reside.

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So, I wanted to make a type
of work whose production

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is a consequence of a system,
rather than my imagination.

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The first piece I did like this is called,

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Walnut Tree Orchard.

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I photographed a series of walnut trees

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and converted the farm
into numbers on a grid.

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That silhouette was then
used to layer the shape

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of the trees on top of each other.

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(instrumental music)

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It also produces evidence
of the differences

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between those trees where
the forms don't align,

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and the system that I
use allows me to signify

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those changes.

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In a way, I'm trying to suggest

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that the kind of visual
difference that happens

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in the system operates the
same way that other concepts

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of difference happens in other domains:

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politics, gender
difference, race difference,

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class difference.

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In the drawings, we could
see that those differences

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are constructed by the system.

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And in the social and political domain,

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the differences that we
see are also constructed

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by a system.

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(inaudible conversation)
(instrumental scales)

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(classical music)

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- Manifestos is a
project I've been working

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on for several years.

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I select a political manifesto

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and I take that text and I
convert the letters in the text

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to musical notes.

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And that conversion is a simple
system where the letters A

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through G are converted
to the notes A through G.

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All the other letters in the text

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are then converted to a
silent beat or a rest.

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(classical flute plays)

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When you string a whole series
of words using the system

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then the translated letters
into notes then form a melody.

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One of the things I discovered in talking

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about these pieces, is
that people didn't believe

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that music was created by a random system.

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Because I use the diatonic
scale to do the translation

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and the scale is designed to be melodic.

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(classical music continues)

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(audience claps)

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This project, it's been 10 years

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from its beginning and
was a rollercoaster.

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Often, we didn't think
it was gonna happen,

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but somehow, finally, we're here.

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When I started the project,
the Black Lives Movement,

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Ferguson, started hitting the news

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and I wanted to explore the core

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or the problem that makes
these things persevere.

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(classical symphony music)

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This particular piece Manifestos Four

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we chose the Dred Scott decision,

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of the famous Supreme Court
decision for the text.

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Dred and Harriet Scott
were born into slavery

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and sued for their freedom

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and majority of opinion was
that, in order to file a suit,

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you have to be a citizen.

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And he said, it's impossible
for Dred and Harriet

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to become citizens

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because they're not white.

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Then there's a text that
comes from Fredrick Douglas's

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response to the Dred Scott decision.

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And so, I took a section of that

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and then arranged it for voice.

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♪ Loud and exultingly have we been told ♪

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♪ That the slavery question
is settled forever ♪

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- I think that the whole piece correlates

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so well with what's going
on in the present day.

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The same problems continue to exist.

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The legal system is based
upon a certain logic,

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a certain linguistic framing.

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(symphony and singing continues)

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You see how arbitrary the
law is in relationship

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to the lived experience of people

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who have to live by those laws.

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♪ We cannot change the essential nature ♪

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(classical symphony music continues)

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♪ The essential nature ♪

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♪ He cannot make evil good and good evil ♪

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(upbeat modern music)

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- I wanted to know what
vegetation life was

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in Times Square before the city was built.

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We found that one of the common plants

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was the sweet gum tree.

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(upbeat modern music continues)

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One of the characteristics
of capitalism is that

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it excavates, it moves
and takes things away.

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The appropriation of Native American land

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is a form of excavation,

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but Times Square is kind of the
broader trope of capitalism.

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So, my thought is that

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the upside down tree would
be a gesture to remind us

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that this site was produced

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as a consequence of
removing what was there.

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(mysterious symphony music)

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Moving Chains is one of several projects

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that makes up this commission.

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The dominant subject is
the history of slavery

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and the idea of the commodity.

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They're doing more before
the big sound test.

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They're gonna run some of the chains.

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(indistinct conversation)
(upbeat acoustic music)

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(chains rattling)

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Moving Chains, is a
structure, is a type of barge

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and it was intended to be by a river,

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a body of water, where commerce occurs.

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What you might think of as a roof,

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you find 100 foot long lengths of chain.

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Chains are designed to
move from the two layers.

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Their movement is supposed to make a link

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with the river current.

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When you walk into the
barge, underneath the chains,

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we want that to be an
intimidating experience.

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The chains, they're only four feet

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above the head of a six foot person.

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Since these chains are so big,

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we expect that it will
make quite a bit of noise.

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(chains loudly rattling)

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It's an intentionally theatrical strategy

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to make it be an intense emotional space

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to give you empathy through
metaphor of the terror

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and a horror of a slave ship.

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(chains loudly rattle)

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The intimidation is important to clarify

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the political critique of the work.

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That this structure
really was foundational

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to the American economy.

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(fast-paced symphony music)

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As I'm standing here,

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I cannot escape the
consequences of that history.

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How do we improve the world?

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How do we improve life for everybody?

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And I don't know if it's possible,

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but when the bad things happen,

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we should complain about
'em in order to reduce them.

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We should not forget how
things are put together.

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(fast-paced symphony music continues)