0:00:00.920,0:00:03.860 ["New York Close Up"] 0:00:14.520,0:00:17.700 I grew up surrounded by the ocean. 0:00:22.100,0:00:27.780 It's a place to let your thoughts[br]wash over you, 0:00:27.780,0:00:31.080 almost like daydream or sleep, 0:00:33.980,0:00:36.940 where anything is possible. 0:00:38.720,0:00:43.880 ["Caroline Woolard's Floating Possibility"] 0:00:47.680,0:00:49.980 I think what it means to be an artist 0:00:49.980,0:00:54.320 is to be voraciously curious[br]about the world around you. 0:00:55.280,0:01:01.660 And I cling to every fact and image[br]that compels me. 0:01:03.100,0:01:08.920 During my research process I became obsessed[br]with this historic vessel. 0:01:10.590,0:01:14.760 The amphora is a two-handled vessel with a[br]pointy bottom 0:01:14.760,0:01:16.920 that looks like a turnip or a carrot, 0:01:18.320,0:01:20.600 and it was used by conquered people 0:01:20.600,0:01:26.340 to ship goods like olive oil or wine[br]to ancient Rome. 0:01:28.360,0:01:33.980 I also found that the "at" symbol that we[br]use in email every single day 0:01:33.980,0:01:37.400 is a mark for an amphora. 0:01:38.900,0:01:44.280 And I would never have thought that every[br]time I press the "at" symbol 0:01:44.280,0:01:46.900 I'm conjuring an imperial form. 0:01:49.030,0:01:52.700 A transformation from the amphora[br]to the "at" symbol 0:01:52.700,0:01:56.920 relates to a lot of my interest in economy[br]and exchange. 0:01:58.540,0:02:03.020 For me it felt like a clear direction[br]to go in. 0:02:03.380,0:02:04.280 [WOOLARD][br]--Hello. 0:02:04.420,0:02:05.700 [HELEN LEE][br]--Hey! 0:02:05.700,0:02:07.920 [WOOLARD][br]--Okay so what have you been working on? 0:02:07.940,0:02:09.120 [LEE][br]--I have some murrines. 0:02:10.280,0:02:11.640 [WOOLARD] I knew that 0:02:12.240,0:02:16.180 it would be impossible for me[br]to pursue this project alone. 0:02:16.260,0:02:17.340 [LEE][br]--I'll show you the "at." 0:02:18.440,0:02:20.340 [WOOLARD][br]--Oh it's so hard to see! 0:02:20.340,0:02:21.340 [LAUGHING] 0:02:21.340,0:02:22.340 [LEE][br]--There you go. 0:02:22.340,0:02:26.180 [WOOLARD] The "at" symbol is so much[br]about digital communication, 0:02:26.180,0:02:30.269 which often occurs through a glass interface, 0:02:30.269,0:02:34.360 so I wanted to work with master glassblowers. 0:02:47.660,0:02:50.200 [UrbanGlass, Brooklyn] 0:02:50.780,0:02:55.700 I fell in love with glass because it's[br]automatically collaborative. 0:02:57.440,0:02:58.240 [Alexander Rosenberg, artist] 0:02:58.250,0:03:00.139 The way glassblowers are trained, 0:03:00.139,0:03:04.170 you have to work in a group of[br]two or three or four, 0:03:04.170,0:03:08.500 and at best,[br]glassblowers flow together in a 0:03:08.500,0:03:11.120 non-verbal choreography 0:03:11.120,0:03:15.220 to produce things that would be impossible[br]if they were working alone. 0:03:15.220,0:03:17.780 [Helen Lee, artist] 0:03:23.820,0:03:27.950 So we went into the material exploration itself, 0:03:27.950,0:03:31.360 which was always informed by the research, 0:03:31.360,0:03:35.840 but also leave space for the material to [br]speak on its own. 0:03:36.790,0:03:39.520 We tried making many different amphorae. 0:03:39.520,0:03:43.740 We made a custom blow mold[br]of the ancient form. 0:03:46.640,0:03:48.620 We tried making hourglasses 0:03:48.620,0:03:53.640 to think about the word "amphorae"[br]which means "carried on both sides." 0:03:58.189,0:04:01.239 The amphorae were not made for display. 0:04:01.239,0:04:04.470 They were made to be taken off of ships 0:04:04.470,0:04:08.580 and to find their ground in the sand. 0:04:11.160,0:04:14.960 In order to imagine the amphorae at sea, 0:04:14.960,0:04:16.960 as they're often found, 0:04:17.100,0:04:18.860 we decided to go to the beach. 0:04:19.160,0:04:21.300 [Rockaway, Queens] 0:04:26.120,0:04:28.920 --Babies, a lot of babies. 0:04:28.920,0:04:31.100 At the beach, we had to learn 0:04:31.100,0:04:34.120 how these objects, with their pointy bases, 0:04:34.120,0:04:36.360 would find stability. 0:04:38.370,0:04:40.540 We tried filling them with sand. 0:04:40.540,0:04:42.250 We tried filling them with water. 0:04:42.250,0:04:45.200 We tried looking at them floating in the water. 0:04:46.170,0:04:49.620 And what we found was that 0:04:49.620,0:04:54.620 they have an incredible capacity[br]to almost levitate. 0:05:10.060,0:05:14.380 I love objects that have an[br]uneasy relationship to gravity 0:05:15.560,0:05:22.880 and this inability to reconcile a concrete[br]and hardened world. 0:05:27.580,0:05:34.080 We know that, for this project,[br]we'll be at a traditional gallery space. 0:05:34.080,0:05:37.780 Another will be in a performance lecture. 0:05:37.780,0:05:40.600 Another will be online as a project site. 0:05:45.420,0:05:49.540 We're in the state of the project where[br]we continue to experiment-- 0:05:49.540,0:05:54.810 where we continue to[br]say "yes" to one another's whims. 0:05:54.810,0:05:59.130 I want to move into a space[br]of speculative fiction 0:05:59.130,0:06:03.120 to allow myself to imagine, as a visual artist, 0:06:03.120,0:06:04.260 what could be. 0:06:08.640,0:06:15.080 What if the amphora could unroll[br]and becomes a wave or a line? 0:06:15.080,0:06:20.340 What if the imperative to communicate[br]that we have right now, 0:06:20.920,0:06:24.000 is, in the future, an imperative to rest? 0:06:32.120,0:06:36.580 What would it mean to suspend disbelief 0:06:36.580,0:06:41.500 and make a work of art that's[br]for a dream state? 0:06:47.900,0:06:52.280 What if art could be a kind of[br]glistening glass object 0:06:52.280,0:06:54.960 in the middle of the ocean?