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TAUBA AUERBACH: I want to[br]learn new things constantly.

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And I'm always trying to[br]find the pattern behind things.

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I've educated myself about[br]a number of scientific or

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mathematical[br]principles through crafts

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like weaving and paper marbling.

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♪ethereal ambient music♪

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To marble paper, it's all[br]about relationships and ratios.

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You have to mix your paints so[br]that they float on the water and

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so that they spread out –

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not too much, not too little.

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♪undulating ethereal music♪

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There's a limit to how[br]controlled it can be.

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♪♪♪

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I like that idea quite a lot of[br]cultivating your sensitivity in

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this really[br]practiced, purposeful way.

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And I've used paper marbling as[br]the source material for a lot of

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my public works.

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♪♪♪

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It seems appropriate to me[br]to work in a lot of different

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materials and[br]media and processes...

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because I'm focusing[br]on connectivity and the

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relationship between[br]lots of different things.

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Every time people[br]come to my studio,

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I like to show[br]them these shelves,

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because there are just so many[br]treasures on them and things

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that I like to live[br]with and think with.

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Some ashes of artwork[br]that burned in a fire.

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This is a sea sponge.

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The water pressure where this[br]creature lives is very extreme.

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The architecture of this[br]skeleton has been studied for

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its strength.

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It's a powerfully[br]strong lattice shape.

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I would say I had a really[br]profound experience with this

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puzzle, actually.

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It takes over a thousand moves[br]to disentangle this bar from

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these rings.

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I got to where there[br]was just one ring left.

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It turned out that having[br]one ring left was sort of the

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equivalent of having[br]gone as far as possible

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into a maze in the[br]wrong direction.

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[laughs]

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And I had to[br]completely backtrack,

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put all the rings back on, and[br]then take them off a slightly

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different way.

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And so I felt like this[br]puzzle taught me a lot about the

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assumptions that you make[br]about progress along the way.

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♪ethereal synth music♪

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I am quite compelled[br]by things that just barely work.

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The near-impossibility is key.

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I stumbled upon this beading[br]technique

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via a chemist from Taiwan.

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He's been using this[br]technique to model molecules,

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and in his models, the beads are[br]the bonds between the atoms.

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Now I'm trying to do something[br]of my own with the technique.

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I'm interested in the edges of[br]where a system coheres and

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where it starts to[br]fray and come apart,

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and also where the edges of our[br]understanding and comprehension

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fray and start to come apart...

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like my own limitations and[br]then some more collective limitations,

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either because we[br]haven't gotten there yet

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or it's just really out of[br]bounds for the human mind.

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[mouse clicking]

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♪choral singing[br]playing from computer♪

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The kind of learning I'm really[br]interested in is not just to

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learn a fact but to change how[br]I digest and think about all

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[chuckling] future facts.

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For example, my friend Cameron[br]sent me this Bulgarian state

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television choir record.

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♪singing in Bulgarian♪

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-[Tauba VO] I felt like there[br]were sounds in there that had

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that effect on me or that I[br]could never come back from,

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in the best possible way.

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The first time I was told about[br]the idea of different sizes of

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infinity, that was an[br]idea I never came back from.

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♪Bulgarian[br]singing continues♪

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Encountering the idea of[br]four-dimensional space and the

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shapes that inhabit it has been[br]a tool for retuning my gaze,

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retuning my imagination.

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Ideally, it would be nice to[br]make something that isn't just

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an image that a[br]person might remember,

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but an image that has a tiny[br]effect on all images after that.

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I love painting so much,

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and there's so many different[br]ways to approach it as

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a technology.

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♪energetic[br]oscillating synths♪

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During college, I was just[br]looking for a summer job,

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and I thought, "I'm[br]gonna try the sign shop!"

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I worked at New Bohemia Signs in[br]San Francisco as an apprentice

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and assistant for[br]about three years,

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and they were just[br]beautiful hand-painted signs.

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♪♪♪

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In sign painting,[br]if you go too fast,

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you're gonna be sloppy.

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But then if you go too[br]slowly to try to be perfect,

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it really doesn't[br]look very graceful.

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I really learned a lot about[br]finding a kind of sweet spot,

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which is something I think about[br]a lot in lots of different ways.

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♪♪♪

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I love painting and I[br]think I'll always do it,

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but I think I just select the[br]medium that's gonna serve the

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idea best, so[br]sometimes that's painting,

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but a painting can't do the same[br]thing that a piece of glass can,

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for example.

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So when I felt like a certain[br]set of ideas called for working

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in glass, I went and[br]learned how to flame-work glass.

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That's my approach to[br]materials and media.

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[rumbling and churning]

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The Wave Organ is one[br]of my favorite places

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in San Francisco.

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It's pretty close[br]to where I grew up.

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[rumbling and churning]

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Essentially, it's, like, a[br]whole bunch of pipes that are

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half-submerged in the water, and[br]at different levels of the tide,

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you get different[br]sounds out of them.

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I think I'm so attached to it[br]because it exists across a

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boundary of air[br]and water and sand.

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[rumbling and churning]

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The whole instrument is played[br]by the sort of instability of

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this boundary, and it's[br]different every time I go.

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When I talk about trying to[br]cultivate the right state of

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mind, that's one of the[br]things I'm trying to get to --

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to be somewhere that[br]isn't a hard edge.

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♪wonky single[br]notes playing♪

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♪wonky organ music playing♪

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-[Tauba] I think[br]that sounds good too.

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What do you think of how[br]long I hold that note there?

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-[Cameron]I think that was good.

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But I did think that the[br]timing was a little...

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-iffy.[br]-[Tauba] Wonky?

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-[Cameron] On that one.

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-[Tauba] Mm-hm.

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-[Tauba VO] The Auerglass is a[br]two-person interdependent pump

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organ that I made with my[br]friend Cameron Mesirow,

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who performs under[br]the name Glasser,

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and so it's A-U-E-R, glass.

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♪Auerglass playing♪

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The Auerglass started when[br]Cameron and I decided we wanted

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to make an instrument that[br]required cooperation between two

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people to play.

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♪♪♪

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Each player only[br]has half a keyboard,

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so there's a four-octave[br]keyboard that's been divided up

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between the two sides[br]in alternating notes --

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one has C, the next[br]one C sharp, et cetera.

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♪♪♪

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Each player pumps air for[br]the other player's notes.

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Cameron's way of putting it is[br]that we have to breathe for one another.

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[cheers and applause]

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♪Auerglass playing♪

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Playing the Auerglass feels[br]just barely not impossible.

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The instrument has this quality[br]of near-symmetry but just off by

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a click that feels like a[br]really activating relationship.

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-It's hard!

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-Yeah, it's hard.

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[cheers and applause]

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-[Tauba VO] It's great when[br]we achieve that synchronicity,

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but I feel like the times when[br]we fumble in our performances,

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I end up being[br]really fond of them.

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♪Auerglass playing♪

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I do a lot of drawings that[br]involve this knit structure,

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and I often figuratively lose[br]the thread when I'm drawing,

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I lose the rhythm.

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They're really[br]fast, spontaneous work.

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And then sometimes, I get kind[br]of fixated on completing one

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long connected form that has a[br]set of changing rules to it.

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It's almost impossible not to[br]go into a kind of trance state.

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♪Auerglass playing♪

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Often, when I'm[br]drawing, I ask myself,

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"Can I move from the wrist?

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Can I move from the[br]fingers, from the elbow,

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from the shoulder, from[br]the center of my chest?"

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♪♪♪

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I feel like a better[br]thinker when I draw.

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There's so much wisdom embedded[br]in techniques and procedures for

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crafts passed from[br]person to person.

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I think that if you're a person[br]who marbles end papers for books

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for decades, you[br]know just as much

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about viscosity and[br]flow as a scientist.

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But you know it through your[br]fingertips and your senses,

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and in a different way.

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♪♪♪

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The body is a[br]valuable thinking tool.

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In the past, I was really moving[br]through the world from my head

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primarily.

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But now, the enterprise[br]is more about trust,

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and a change for me in the last[br]decade is to draw on my own body

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for knowledge.

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♪♪♪

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[cheers and applause]

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♪ ethereal ambient music ♪