0:00:03.980,0:00:08.180 [David Brooks, Artist] 0:00:09.300,0:00:11.820 [New York Close Up] 0:00:12.100,0:00:15.100 Well, I grew up in a small town. 0:00:15.100,0:00:16.740 Brazil, Indiana. 0:00:21.600,0:00:25.220 I came to New York in the mid-Nineties 0:00:25.220,0:00:26.940 to go to school at Cooper Union. 0:00:33.020,0:00:38.420 ["David Brooks Hits the Pavement"] 0:00:39.240,0:00:41.460 And being a skater, I could just skate all[br]around town. 0:00:41.460,0:00:42.720 So I would go to all the museums, 0:00:42.720,0:00:43.969 have my skateboard with me, 0:00:43.969,0:00:45.980 and just check it at coat check. 0:00:49.420,0:00:50.780 I was a little backwards. 0:00:50.780,0:00:53.340 In fact, only the year before had I seen 0:00:53.340,0:00:57.040 my first piece of historical artwork in person. 0:01:00.340,0:01:02.860 I do recall, very starkly, 0:01:02.900,0:01:05.400 going to The Metropolitan Museum of Art 0:01:05.920,0:01:10.920 and discovering the ancestral totems[br]from the New Guinea area. 0:01:12.300,0:01:15.500 At first, they're very exotic looking. 0:01:15.500,0:01:20.280 But each one of those face is an actual person. 0:01:22.880,0:01:25.399 And when I realized what was behind them, 0:01:25.400,0:01:30.100 it definitely shattered a particular[br]preconceived idea as to what art was. 0:01:31.920,0:01:37.340 There was both the life around the artwork[br]during it being made. 0:01:37.680,0:01:39.580 There was the life around the artwork 0:01:39.590,0:01:42.250 and how it functioned in the society. 0:01:42.250,0:01:44.070 And there was a life around the artwork 0:01:44.070,0:01:46.500 as to how it got to the United States. 0:01:46.500,0:01:49.420 And so it's the life behind it 0:01:49.420,0:01:51.539 and the truth content within it 0:01:51.539,0:01:53.950 that is actually really quite extraordinary 0:01:53.950,0:01:57.320 and goes far beyond what it appears to be. 0:02:02.969,0:02:05.360 There was a piece I did at PS1 0:02:05.360,0:02:07.900 where I planted about fifty trees. 0:02:09.580,0:02:10.580 It's more of this, like, 0:02:10.580,0:02:13.960 cross section of an Amazonian forest. 0:02:15.520,0:02:18.280 And then we dumped, pumped, and sprayed 0:02:18.280,0:02:21.520 about twenty tons of concrete[br]on the entire forest. 0:02:23.280,0:02:24.440 [LAUGHS] 0:02:27.760,0:02:29.900 It's more of an action 0:02:29.909,0:02:31.769 than it is a composition 0:02:31.769,0:02:32.960 or an object. 0:02:34.000,0:02:36.140 And it's one that is both horrifying 0:02:36.160,0:02:38.880 and has some beauty to it at the same time. 0:02:39.820,0:02:41.540 The forest then regrew over time, 0:02:41.540,0:02:44.430 as it would break through[br]elements of the concrete. 0:02:44.430,0:02:47.580 And had a whole life cycle that went on[br]for a year and a half. 0:02:51.480,0:02:55.140 We're so desensitized to imagery of violence, 0:02:55.140,0:02:56.519 both in terms of a landscape, 0:02:56.519,0:02:58.130 but also in terms of a culture. 0:02:58.130,0:02:59.750 So what the project really is looking at 0:02:59.750,0:03:03.700 is trying to find ways to tether reality[br]right back to it. 0:03:05.100,0:03:06.580 Just like skating, 0:03:06.580,0:03:08.660 there is no ideology behind hitting the pavement. 0:03:09.120,0:03:11.159 That's just you and your body[br]hitting the pavement 0:03:11.160,0:03:13.500 in a kind of reality check. 0:03:19.940,0:03:22.560 The skating started... 0:03:23.260,0:03:26.620 I was quite young[br]and I was really bad at it. 0:03:28.440,0:03:29.800 And my brother, I remember, 0:03:29.800,0:03:31.000 made fun of me at one point. 0:03:31.020,0:03:33.600 He's like, "You've been skating that long[br]and you still suck?" 0:03:33.820,0:03:36.760 So, there was a turning point[br]at around the age of thirteen 0:03:36.769,0:03:39.400 that I became extremely disciplined. 0:03:39.400,0:03:42.500 I had this thing where I had to[br]learn a trick a day. 0:03:44.209,0:03:46.739 I used to sneak out of the house, 0:03:46.739,0:03:48.540 like, at two in the morning, 0:03:48.540,0:03:50.600 and drive up to Chicago or... 0:03:50.600,0:03:51.600 [LAUGHS] 0:03:51.680,0:03:54.480 or drive down to Louisville. 0:03:56.720,0:03:59.800 So skateboarding, for me,[br]was the most fulfilling 0:03:59.819,0:04:04.620 when you would find a new situation[br]in an urban context 0:04:04.620,0:04:07.840 and you think of a different way to use it. 0:04:09.960,0:04:13.900 It propels one to want to actually[br]go out in the world and explore. 0:04:22.680,0:04:24.360 [The Explorers Club] 0:04:27.080,0:04:30.100 The Explorers Club is a private club 0:04:32.920,0:04:35.460 that was founded in 1904 0:04:35.470,0:04:39.710 by a number of people that were embarking[br]on these different endeavors 0:04:39.710,0:04:41.850 and they kind of needed a center 0:04:41.850,0:04:43.250 where they could come together 0:04:43.250,0:04:45.600 to have what they call a "smoker"-- 0:04:45.660,0:04:50.380 where they would meet and discuss[br]what kind of expeditions they've been doing. 0:04:51.220,0:04:54.680 So it was a place to disseminate information. 0:05:01.480,0:05:03.060 At the time of its founding, 0:05:03.060,0:05:06.120 there were people, of course,[br]racing to the poles-- 0:05:06.120,0:05:07.160 North and South-- 0:05:08.540,0:05:11.140 trying to get to the top of the[br]tallest mountain on earth, 0:05:11.140,0:05:12.200 Mount Everest. 0:05:13.300,0:05:15.100 Eventually, to get to the Moon. 0:05:15.500,0:05:17.680 But as these people were[br]racing to the great firsts 0:05:17.690,0:05:20.470 they were kind of passing up[br]all of the rest of life 0:05:20.470,0:05:21.900 along the way. 0:05:21.900,0:05:23.610 And so, I think now we've come to 0:05:23.610,0:05:26.259 a completely different understanding 0:05:26.259,0:05:30.100 as to how to perceive[br]the definition of exploration. 0:05:30.100,0:05:32.420 Now it's really about those granular, 0:05:32.420,0:05:35.090 infinitesimal minutiae aspects of life 0:05:35.090,0:05:38.580 that really are the things that[br]make up the world. 0:05:44.700,0:05:48.800 A combine is basically a piece of[br]farming equipment 0:05:48.800,0:05:50.860 that cuts corn, 0:05:51.180,0:05:53.460 breaks the kernels of the corn off the cob, 0:05:53.460,0:05:57.280 and then sifts and rasps[br]the cobs and the stalks, 0:05:58.780,0:06:00.900 but also cleans the grain. 0:06:02.080,0:06:05.940 The exhibition breaks apart this[br]piece of machinery 0:06:05.940,0:06:07.680 into thousands of pieces. 0:06:08.700,0:06:12.800 It takes time and movement going around[br]and looking at everything. 0:06:13.180,0:06:15.200 Just like an ecosystem, it's not really 0:06:15.210,0:06:18.910 something you can just show up[br]and stand in front of and experience. 0:06:18.910,0:06:21.919 It's actually a number of processes that,[br]over time, 0:06:21.920,0:06:24.820 you understand, experience,[br]and you put it back together. 0:06:25.460,0:06:29.080 Taking the macroscopic hole[br]into the microscopic details 0:06:29.099,0:06:31.190 that make up this one thing 0:06:31.190,0:06:33.860 that also does many operations all at once. 0:06:39.669,0:06:41.720 There's an infinite number of variations 0:06:41.720,0:06:45.040 of things one can do with a skateboard. 0:06:47.360,0:06:49.020 And it never quite ends, 0:06:49.020,0:06:51.960 so it will always keep going, 0:06:51.960,0:06:53.520 the more you put into it. 0:06:58.460,0:06:59.460 I thought that at one point 0:06:59.460,0:07:01.640 I was going to be a professional skateboarder. 0:07:03.380,0:07:05.640 But a girl broke my heart, 0:07:05.640,0:07:07.680 and I just started making art 0:07:07.700,0:07:09.560 quite intensely. 0:07:11.720,0:07:15.260 And I realized I was just better at[br]making artwork 0:07:15.260,0:07:16.900 than I was at skateboarding.