0:00:16.701,0:00:19.677
[SARAH SZE ] This is a project I'm working on[br]for the High Line.

0:00:21.952,0:00:25.281
It was scheduled to be demolitioned.

0:00:26.290,0:00:30.333
People in the neighborhood ended up suing[br]the city to keep it and make it a park.

0:00:39.012,0:00:42.180
I really like this idea that natural wildlife

0:00:42.180,0:00:45.250
survives in this intense metropolis.

0:00:45.250,0:00:47.550
They didn't change the space that much.

0:00:47.550,0:00:49.879
They really just framed the wildlife

0:00:49.879,0:00:52.567
that grew there naturally over the years.

0:00:55.147,0:00:58.454
The piece that I conceived was a kind of habitat.

0:00:58.454,0:01:01.620
You have all of these birds, butterflies,[br]insects there,

0:01:01.620,0:01:03.020
and I wanted to make a location

0:01:03.020,0:01:05.164
where you would observe them on the High Line.

0:01:08.073,0:01:10.220
I did tons of research.

0:01:10.220,0:01:12.160
The place that I really liked working with

0:01:12.160,0:01:14.550
is the Cornell Ornithology Lab.

0:01:15.066,0:01:17.460
They do these incredible urban wildlife projects,

0:01:17.460,0:01:18.810
and they were really helpful

0:01:18.810,0:01:20.470
to talk about how this would work

0:01:20.470,0:01:23.163
and what would come to it, what might not[br]come to it.

0:01:23.834,0:01:24.890
They're really trying to figure out

0:01:24.890,0:01:28.890
how to get someone to look and observe for[br]ten minutes,

0:01:28.890,0:01:31.720
and they had said, you know, "Ten minutes[br]of observation

0:01:31.720,0:01:34.190
is an incredibly long time for a person,"

0:01:34.190,0:01:37.049
and this idea of slowing down and really observing,

0:01:37.049,0:01:39.955
I think it's a really interesting idea[br]also for visual art.

0:01:51.161,0:01:52.299
We're dealing with nature.

0:01:52.299,0:01:54.030
We don't know what's gonna happen.

0:01:54.804,0:01:56.901
Will the birds nest there, or will they not?

0:01:57.310,0:01:59.060
Let's say nothing happens.

0:01:59.060,0:02:01.063
It needed to be interesting as a sculpture.

0:02:03.033,0:02:06.840
The thing that made me interested in the piece[br]as a sculpture was this idea

0:02:06.840,0:02:10.915
that I'm gonna put the sculpture in a location[br]where you have to walk through it.

0:02:11.734,0:02:16.440
The walk itself becomes like a negative space[br]in the sculpture and that you have this

0:02:16.440,0:02:18.960
this very dynamic experience of it,

0:02:18.960,0:02:21.270
and that you see it from far away,

0:02:21.270,0:02:23.129
and then in perspective, it grows,

0:02:23.129,0:02:25.660
and then you actually are in the interior[br]of it,

0:02:25.660,0:02:27.058
and then you exit.

0:02:29.732,0:02:32.120
I think the high line is very beautifully[br]designed.

0:02:32.120,0:02:36.207
There are all these different areas[br]where you can stop and look, and it frames the city.

0:02:45.234,0:02:48.830
- And I was thinking it should be metal[br]like it's like a little it's almost like a petri dish.

0:02:48.830,0:02:52.275
This is a one-to-one scale model[br]of what I'll have fabricated.

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I'd like to have the pieces feel[br]as if they're put together

0:02:56.519,0:02:59.630
Intuitively by hand in the moment,

0:02:59.630,0:03:02.250
So it was important to build something in[br]the studio

0:03:02.250,0:03:05.767
where I could start feeling, "This needs to[br]be more dense,

0:03:06.330,0:03:09.300
the size need to grow," and play around,

0:03:09.300,0:03:12.744
have the idea of play and flexibility in the[br]making.

0:03:20.789,0:03:23.170
One thing that was interesting about this[br]project for me

0:03:23.170,0:03:25.954
was that it was very hard to draw.

0:03:26.470,0:03:28.980
I did all of these different versions of this[br]idea

0:03:28.980,0:03:30.890
of being split down the center,

0:03:30.890,0:03:33.189
to figure out in space how this would work

0:03:33.189,0:03:35.989
because the promenade cuts the piece in half,

0:03:35.989,0:03:37.580
and this is the one that I chose,

0:03:37.580,0:03:38.940
partially because it has

0:03:38.940,0:03:41.743
this spiraling up that's surprising.

0:03:42.189,0:03:44.330
There's a ball that actually fits.

0:03:44.330,0:03:45.844
You can use this.

0:03:46.900,0:03:49.610
The negative space is actually round,

0:03:49.610,0:03:52.110
and you don't really realize it until you[br]get into it,

0:03:52.110,0:03:54.269
so it was built around a ball.

0:04:01.468,0:04:03.409
This is a really simple jig to actually figure[br]out

0:04:03.409,0:04:06.922
a very complex equation,[br]which is how does how does this neg--

0:04:06.922,0:04:10.160
If we want to carve out a ball, how do you[br]do it?

0:04:10.160,0:04:11.989
So this is just this is just the radius,

0:04:11.989,0:04:13.917
but it's the radius at any angle.

0:04:13.917,0:04:17.800
There is a center of the piece, kind of a Palladian[br]idea.

0:04:17.800,0:04:19.900
Even if you don't consciously realize you're[br]in

0:04:19.900,0:04:22.400
you're in a negative space of a ball,

0:04:22.400,0:04:26.035
and it has this kind of sense of being surrounded.

0:04:31.500,0:04:33.900
Portable planetarium was a piece I did

0:04:33.900,0:04:35.660
that actually was the orb,

0:04:35.660,0:04:37.050
and it was scaled very much to this idea

0:04:37.050,0:04:38.720
that you saw it as an orb,

0:04:38.720,0:04:40.510
and as you got closer and closer,

0:04:40.510,0:04:43.067
you moved in, and you were surrounded,

0:04:43.067,0:04:44.960
so you went from seeing it as an exterior

0:04:44.960,0:04:46.754
to being in its interior.

0:04:55.996,0:04:58.740
I'll photograph this piece over and over.

0:04:58.740,0:05:01.340
One of the ideas I had about photography

0:05:01.340,0:05:02.690
in relationship to the sculpture

0:05:02.690,0:05:06.580
was that the photographs really[br]become the memory of the piece.

0:05:07.331,0:05:09.530
I'm trying not to just document them

0:05:09.530,0:05:12.650
but to see what I can do in a photograph

0:05:12.650,0:05:14.910
that tells us something different

0:05:14.910,0:05:18.177
or emphasizes what's sort of essential about[br]the piece.

0:05:23.877,0:05:26.620
This piece is playing with one-point perspective

0:05:26.620,0:05:29.060
to represent, to trick our eyes into seeing[br]deep space,

0:05:29.060,0:05:30.220
so it's kind of absurd

0:05:30.220,0:05:33.350
to actually use that trick in real space,

0:05:33.350,0:05:35.160
but then it's interesting to photograph,

0:05:35.160,0:05:36.889
then flatten it out again.

0:05:40.103,0:05:43.090
For me, it becomes more like a Russian Constructivist[br]drawing

0:05:43.090,0:05:44.910
or a Futurist painting

0:05:45.356,0:05:48.380
In that, it's describing speed and movement

0:05:48.380,0:05:51.270
but entirely on a flat, still plane.

0:05:51.634,0:05:54.069
It's also funny because these almost become

0:05:54.069,0:05:56.719
computer images when they're flattened out.

0:05:56.719,0:05:59.270
They're so crisp, right?

0:05:59.270,0:06:02.201
Because they're so exactly in perspective,[br]actually.

0:06:02.201,0:06:04.935
[ grinder buzzes ]

0:06:06.570,0:06:10.170
[ welding torch crackling ]

0:06:10.639,0:06:12.410
There's this kind of scaffolding

0:06:12.410,0:06:14.900
that's gonna be the base of the piece.

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Then there are these elements

0:06:15.970,0:06:17.860
that each have a different function,

0:06:17.860,0:06:23.270
there's water, housing, and food,

0:06:23.270,0:06:24.330
and there are these different locations,

0:06:24.330,0:06:26.430
and they're based partially aesthetically

0:06:26.430,0:06:29.270
and partially on research and practical need

0:06:29.270,0:06:31.099
for how this might work.

0:06:33.022,0:06:34.620
Originally, I built these strings

0:06:34.620,0:06:36.401
as a jig to measure.

0:06:36.659,0:06:38.090
Right now, all of these boxes aligned

0:06:38.090,0:06:42.000
should be parallel on the sides to these strings.

0:06:42.552,0:06:44.120
All of the fronts and the backs

0:06:44.120,0:06:46.527
should be parallel to the blue tape.

0:06:47.090,0:06:49.900
After I built it, I thought, "I like this[br]language."

0:06:49.900,0:06:51.940
You feel the actual thinking process

0:06:51.940,0:06:54.331
of trying to solve a problem.

0:06:56.606,0:07:00.310
This string system was, in and of itself,

0:07:00.310,0:07:02.193
aesthetically very interesting,

0:07:02.193,0:07:04.603
So then this is gonna become part of the piece.

0:07:08.520,0:07:09.840
I was thinking it should be metal.

0:07:09.840,0:07:11.169
- Swivel down

0:07:11.169,0:07:13.580
- These clamps may be completely decorative.

0:07:13.580,0:07:15.380
They may not be doing anything,

0:07:15.380,0:07:17.000
but they signify a kind of flexibility.

0:07:17.000,0:07:18.962
- To make the right angle.

0:07:18.962,0:07:21.834
I mean, the only problem is, this is gonna-

0:07:34.935,0:07:37.849
[ grinder buzzes ]

0:07:40.570,0:07:42.851
[ drill whirring ]

0:07:43.367,0:07:45.875
Scale is crucial when you're working outdoors,

0:07:46.860,0:07:48.349
especially when you're in Manhattan.

0:07:48.349,0:07:51.569
The spectacle of space, of scale, of information

0:07:51.569,0:07:54.834
is so high that the size is crucial.

0:08:03.020,0:08:04.530
I'm interested to take a public piece

0:08:04.530,0:08:06.060
and have it feel intimate,

0:08:07.561,0:08:08.190
and then when you get there,

0:08:08.190,0:08:11.525
you feel slightly embraced by the piece itself,

0:08:11.525,0:08:15.541
slightly nested, which plays on the idea of[br]the habitat.

0:08:21.851,0:08:24.840
I'm always thinking about how the frame can[br]bleed out

0:08:24.840,0:08:26.792
into the location.

0:08:27.590,0:08:31.067
One of the ideas in this piece that even though[br]it's outdoors,

0:08:31.067,0:08:33.700
it still has this quality that it's mutable,

0:08:33.700,0:08:35.510
changeable, that you could come back in a[br]week,

0:08:35.510,0:08:37.910
and it would be configured differently.

0:08:38.708,0:08:41.070
- This is correct, and that's correct,

0:08:41.070,0:08:43.435
and that's correct for what I have.

0:08:45.640,0:08:49.390
[ power tools whirring ]

0:08:54.597,0:08:56.070
I studied architecture and painting,

0:08:56.070,0:08:59.734
so I came to sculpture from those disciplines.

0:09:00.000,0:09:01.090
I'm always thinking,

0:09:01.090,0:09:04.029
"What can you do in a sculpture that you can't[br]do in a drawing?

0:09:04.029,0:09:07.857
What can you do in a building that you can't[br]do in a print?"

0:09:09.569,0:09:12.450
My father is an architect, so I grew up around

0:09:12.450,0:09:16.820
models, plans, looking at construction sites,

0:09:16.820,0:09:18.960
and also with his eye of just always talking

0:09:18.960,0:09:21.089
about buildings and cities.

0:09:25.921,0:09:26.974
- That looks good.

0:09:26.974,0:09:28.627
Yeah, that looks good.[br]That one looks right.

0:09:29.306,0:09:33.255
This one looks wrong, but, I mean,[br]That's the one that I made up, so...

0:09:50.333,0:09:51.779
[ drill whirring ]

0:09:56.727,0:10:00.000
Yeah, 'cause it that creates, like, a...[br][ imitates ticking ]

0:10:00.000,0:10:02.551
A rhythm from there to there to there. It's good.

0:10:25.186,0:10:29.354
[ power tools whirring ]

0:10:32.380,0:10:33.390
My whole body of work

0:10:33.390,0:10:37.090
has this kind of flexible, mutable quality.

0:10:37.090,0:10:40.220
It has the rawness of a studio or the rawness[br]of a laboratory

0:10:40.220,0:10:44.656
where things could happen or things could[br]fall apart.

0:10:48.000,0:10:50.571
I think about the first view of a piece

0:10:50.571,0:10:52.963
being like the first line in a novel.

0:10:53.534,0:10:56.012
When you leave, what's the last part of the novel?

0:10:56.266,0:10:58.660
Where do you maintain your viewer's interest?

0:10:58.660,0:11:00.240
Where do you challenge them?

0:11:00.240,0:11:01.780
Where's the catharsis?

0:11:01.780,0:11:04.370
So that it is really a kind of narrative story

0:11:04.370,0:11:06.108
of movement through space.

0:11:10.659,0:11:13.399
I talk about the idea of choreographed experience

0:11:13.399,0:11:15.950
of the viewer through the space.

0:11:15.950,0:11:18.813
You become aware of your body in relation[br]to the work.

0:11:23.715,0:11:25.639
One of the ideas from the very beginning

0:11:25.639,0:11:28.900
in terms of the materials I use was accessibility.

0:11:28.900,0:11:30.110
A lot of the materials

0:11:30.110,0:11:32.460
were things that you could get at a dollar[br]store.

0:11:32.460,0:11:34.435
They're very generic.

0:11:36.000,0:11:38.370
The cultural value, the monetary value

0:11:38.370,0:11:40.050
would be very low,

0:11:40.050,0:11:41.740
and then put them in a location

0:11:41.740,0:11:44.250
where that became very high.

0:11:44.250,0:11:47.230
So the shifts in scale were really interesting[br]to me,

0:11:47.230,0:11:49.180
literally, in terms of space,

0:11:49.180,0:11:52.462
but also in terms of the profound and the[br]mundane,

0:11:52.931,0:11:54.969
the fleeting and the permanent,

0:11:54.969,0:11:57.090
a piece that's always teetering.

0:12:15.468,0:12:18.529
Tokyo was a very hard piece to photograph, film.

0:12:18.529,0:12:21.220
It's--you have to see it in person, really.

0:12:27.506,0:12:29.079
Some of my work is really about

0:12:29.079,0:12:32.966
using spaces that go unnoticed or unoccupied.

0:12:34.092,0:12:36.850
In a museum that's designed to see work,

0:12:36.850,0:12:37.850
to then put it in a place

0:12:37.850,0:12:40.938
like the ventilation by the window

0:12:41.149,0:12:43.150
is kind of a nice opportunity.

0:14:29.033,0:14:33.529
I'd very much like the experience of viewing to be one of discovery,

0:14:33.529,0:14:36.876
that you don't walk in, something is presented,[br]and it's framed, and it says,

0:14:36.876,0:14:38.949
"This is important; I'm art."

0:14:39.348,0:14:41.027
Often, with my work, it'll be in a corner,

0:14:41.027,0:14:42.440
or it'll be behind a stair.

0:14:42.440,0:14:44.460
It'll be near the freight elevator

0:14:44.460,0:14:47.628
so that your experience of first is, [br]"Whatis this?"

0:14:49.105,0:14:52.380
For me, most interesting art always has that[br]question in it.

0:14:52.380,0:14:55.530
It always questions what art is.

0:16:15.278,0:16:18.403
[ crowd chattering ]

0:16:21.607,0:16:23.514
- Are we trying to get the birds to come?

0:16:23.514,0:16:25.107
- I don't know. Let's ask.

0:16:26.569,0:16:28.819
- What are what are we doing here?

0:16:29.382,0:16:32.519
- Well, it's an artwork, but it's also a bird[br]feeder and a bird habitat.

0:16:32.871,0:16:34.709
- And birds eat oranges?

0:16:34.709,0:16:36.565
- Yes, orioles eat oranges.[br]Yep.

0:16:36.565,0:16:37.800
- Very interesting.

0:16:37.800,0:16:39.637
- Yep. And butterflies and bees too.

0:16:39.637,0:16:40.800
- It's a beautiful piece,

0:16:40.800,0:16:43.090
but I couldn't understand the fruit on it.

0:16:43.652,0:16:46.325
- Well, it's a sculpture work, but it's a bird[br]habitat.

0:16:46.325,0:16:48.589
- That's what I told you.[br]It's for the birds.

0:16:48.589,0:16:49.523
- For the birds.

0:16:49.523,0:16:51.454
[ both laugh ]

0:17:00.301,0:17:03.040
- Somebody's put their own seeds in,

0:17:03.040,0:17:04.877
'cause we don't use these seeds.

0:17:04.877,0:17:05.890
One of the things that happens

0:17:05.890,0:17:08.492
in my pieces that aren't--

0:17:08.492,0:17:10.600
have nothing to do with leaving things or[br]for birds,

0:17:10.600,0:17:13.799
but is that people, actually, in museums will[br]leave

0:17:13.799,0:17:16.371
objects from their pockets in the piece.

0:17:23.201,0:17:24.909
- And put more water.[br]- Yeah.

0:17:24.909,0:17:26.118
- And who's the artist?[br]Who did that?

0:17:26.118,0:17:26.837
- I'm the artist.

0:17:26.837,0:17:28.423
- Oh, you're the artist. Congratulations.

0:17:28.423,0:17:29.704
That's really beautiful.

0:17:29.704,0:17:31.501
C'est la dame actuelle qui tu fait.

0:17:31.501,0:17:33.033
- For this particular project,

0:17:33.033,0:17:35.440
I did a lot of research on birds and what[br]birds like

0:17:35.440,0:17:37.285
and what could different kind of things

0:17:37.285,0:17:38.989
could attract different kind of birds.

0:17:38.989,0:17:40.860
- Which birds are you attracting in here?

0:17:40.860,0:17:43.070
- Well, these ones are this is sort of the-

0:17:43.070,0:17:45.841
It's a very good basic bird seed just to use.

0:17:45.841,0:17:47.633
- Use for any bird?[br]- Yeah.

0:17:47.633,0:17:50.626
- And is it going to stay for a long time?[br]- One year. Yeah.

0:17:50.626,0:17:51.626
- One year. Wow.

0:17:52.679,0:17:54.467
- So that is doing an experiment at the same[br]time?

0:17:54.467,0:17:55.514
- Exactly.[br]- That's beautiful.

0:17:55.514,0:17:56.257
- That's exactly right.

0:17:56.257,0:17:57.257
It's an experiment.

0:17:57.772,0:17:59.004
- Thank you.[br]- Sure.

0:17:59.004,0:18:00.004
- Au revoir.

0:18:00.463,0:18:01.463
- Au revoir.

0:18:01.900,0:18:02.643
- Say tres bon.

0:18:02.643,0:18:03.283
- Tres bon.

0:18:03.283,0:18:04.283
- Merci.

0:18:04.463,0:18:05.577
- It looks like a birdhouse.

0:18:05.603,0:18:06.103
- Cute.

0:18:10.570,0:18:12.816
- Discovered a new use for oranges:

0:18:12.816,0:18:15.460
Wiping away bird poop.[br][ laughs ]

0:18:16.592,0:18:17.530
Thank you.

0:18:18.218,0:18:19.067
Thank you.

0:18:19.067,0:18:21.049
How did I make it?[br]That's a good question.

0:18:21.049,0:18:24.449
So what I did was, I made the entire thing

0:18:24.449,0:18:27.500
in a model, so all of this I made in wood,

0:18:27.500,0:18:29.392
and these were all made in cardboard,

0:18:29.392,0:18:32.299
and we used we put we put all of these strings[br]here

0:18:32.299,0:18:36.120
as a guide so we could figure out[br]one-point perspective.

0:18:36.120,0:18:37.455
See all these?

0:18:37.455,0:18:39.470
They've been eating like crazy, and we've[br]been refilling them,

0:18:39.470,0:18:41.610
and they also come for the water too.

0:18:42.000,0:18:43.239
It'll be different every season.[br]- Cool.

0:18:43.239,0:18:43.907
- Thank you.

0:18:44.907,0:18:48.277
- You put oranges there, you'll get [br]Baltimore Orioles.

0:18:48.277,0:18:49.960
- Yeah, that's what we're that's what we're hoping.

0:18:49.960,0:18:51.921
I heard there's a whole bunch in Brooklyn,[br]but not--

0:18:51.921,0:18:54.000
They don't usually have them on the High Line,

0:18:54.443,0:18:56.667
But there's oranges, and there's apples.

0:18:56.667,0:18:58.387
- Oh.[br]- Also, it's just nice for color.

0:18:58.765,0:18:59.531
- Thanks.

0:19:01.828,0:19:04.154
- Oh, there's another one flying in.[br]There you go.

0:19:11.163,0:19:13.114
They're interested.[br]They ask questions.

0:19:13.114,0:19:14.713
It just blends in with the environment,

0:19:14.713,0:19:16.382
blends in with the pathway.

0:19:16.382,0:19:18.211
They're not questioning why it's there

0:19:18.211,0:19:20.491
in the same way that you often have with public art.

0:19:20.491,0:19:23.034
You know? That's good. [br][ laughs ]

0:19:24.000,0:19:25.818
- I love bumblebees!

0:19:25.818,0:19:27.043
'Cause I saw them!

0:19:27.590,0:19:29.501
I love bumblebees!

0:19:49.746,0:19:55.746
♪ ♪

0:20:08.177,0:20:11.451
[ ANNOUNCER ] To learn more about [br]"Art in the Twenty-First Century"

0:20:11.451,0:20:13.534
and its educational resources,

0:20:13.534,0:20:18.441
please visit us online at: [br]PBS.org/Art21

0:20:21.588,0:20:25.360
“Art in the Twenty-First Century” is available on DVD.

0:20:25.554,0:20:28.259
The companion book is also available.

0:20:28.259,0:20:32.079
To order, visit us online at: shopPBS.org

0:20:32.079,0:20:37.179
or call PBS Home Video at: [br]1-800-PLAY-PBS