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[Thomas Hirschhorn: "Gramsci Monument"]

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[Forest Houses, Bronx, New York]

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["Gramsci Monument" (2013)]

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[Opening of the "Gramsci Monument"]

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[HARRY DRAKE] Alright, sorry to interrupt.

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This is the man of the hour.

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This is the man, besides Erik, that brought[br]everything to us.

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[YASMIL RAYMOND] Thomas believes that "more[br]is more."

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You know, it's a pun on Mies van der Rohe,[br]who said, "less is more."

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And in this "more and more" philosophy of[br]Thomas Hirschhorn,

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it means an enormous amount of activities[br]all the time,

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almost confusing what is happening.

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[HARRY DRAKE] What you are doing for this[br]community and everything...

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[HIRSCHHORN] No I don't...

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I don't do something for the community.

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I do something, I hope, for art...

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[HARRY DRAKE] Okay.

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[HIRSCHHORN] And the understanding of art.[br]That is my...

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My goal is this.

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[LEX BROWN] Something Thomas always says is[br]that

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he did not come here to, like, help people--

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he came here to Forest Houses and asked people[br]who lived here

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to help him make the artwork.

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And there's a really big difference.

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There's a huge difference between those two[br]things.

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[FREDDY VELEZ] Thomas asked me to translate[br]the Gramsci prison notes to Spanish.

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That was a great opportunity for me,

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and I just put retirement to the side and[br]just began working with his art.

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And here I am today, two months later, enjoying[br]myself every day--

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and I feel a lot better.

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[JANET BETHEA] I was more stronger than half[br]of the men over there.

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I built them buildings.

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I did the dollies underneath there, on the[br]floor.

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I did all that with the guys.

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Except for the roof. I'm scared of heights.[br][LAUGHS]

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[STANLEY SCOTT] My name is "Stan the Man".

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[WOMAN] "Stan the Man"?

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[STANLEY SCOTT] "Stan the Man".

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[WOMAN] Oh, I saw your sign.

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[STANLEY SCOTT] Yes indeed.

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And I work for love.

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[WOMAN] We know!

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[STANLEY SCOTT] It's not about the bills.

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I don't deal with the...

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It's not about the money.

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Anything I make, I make from my heart.

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Because I ain't...

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You know, once your love is in it

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the money's going to come.

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That's why I joined the monument, because[br]it's like art.

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Food is like art.

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You know, cooking.

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Making something out of nothing.

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You know, making those dishes look good.

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Like, oh, that shit's pretty.

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Let's see if it tastes pretty.

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[INTERVIEWER, OFF SCREEN] When people ask[br]you "What is this project?" what do you say?

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[DANNION JORDAN] Well I walk them over to[br]the brochures...

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[JANET BETHEA] It's a monument of something...

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[FREDDY VELEZ] A positive place for art and[br]study.

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[DANNION JORDAN] You know, they had a smoothie[br]bar...

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[JANET BETHEA] They can go in the library,[br]read books.

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[DANNION JORDAN] ...a WiFi station up here...

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[ERIK FARMER] You know, a monument usually[br]is something that,

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you know, is stable. It doesn’t move.

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This is a temporary monument--something I[br]never heard of--

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but Thomas explained to me, you know, what[br]he wanted to do

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and how he wanted to integrate the residents[br]into the monument,

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as in giving them jobs

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and wanting to teach the kids about art.

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[DANNION JORDAN] He doesn't want anything[br]to interfere with his monument,

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Whether it's rain, Dia:,

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NYCHA...

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he doesn't want anything to interfere with[br]his project.

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If you're not interfering with his project,[br]everything is good.

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[INTERVIEWER, OFF SCREEN] What happens when[br]you interfere?

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[DANNION JORDAN] [LAUGHS]

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Yeah, he just...you know, he gets crazy.

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He starts screaming--uses his fingers and[br]everything...

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[HIRSCHHORN] Sunday... Sunday even...

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[YASMIL RAYMOND] Yes, but I'm here Saturday[br]and Sunday, all...

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[HIRSCHHORN] I am the artist!

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[MAN] I look and see there's no one sitting[br]in there first...

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[HIRSCHHORN] I am the artist.

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[HARRY DRAKE] He'll be like, "No."

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[MARCELLA PARADISE] And if you can't stay[br]to three o’clock or four--

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which we stay till four all the time--

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you get put out the class.

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[HIRSCHHORN] Okay? We are not observant.

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There is no observer.

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[HARRY DRAKE] Thomas is not white. He's not[br]European.

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He's black.

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[MARCUS GREEN] I was very inspired by Thomas's[br]poster.

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And on the poster it says, "All humans are[br]intellectuals."

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And so, the quote that I want to begin with--which[br]is quote number one--

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is taken from that notion.

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[LEX BROWN] Gramsci's idea that every person[br]is an intellectual

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is an incredibly important idea.

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It's a huge part of the project

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and it is touched upon in every part of it.

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[ADAM GUESSONGO] My name is Adam.

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I do graffiti, I draw,

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and I make sculpture.

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Or like, this--I'm not done with it yet...

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I'm not done with this, but I was trying to[br]make a character from a game.

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[DANNION JORDAN] You're learning--you're teaching--

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but it's more like people just...you know,[br]you got Thomas here.

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It's more about people gathering just still[br]getting to learn one another.

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Because I don't really know all these guys[br]that I work with,

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I just know them through other people.

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You all get to know each other, you learn[br]from each other,

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and, you know, that's basically it.

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[Destruction is difficult; it is as difficult[br]as creation. (Antonio Gramsci Prison Notebook 6)]

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[ERIK FARMER] This is history right here.

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And it's history just because it's never been[br]done.

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So when someone speaks about it--someone may[br]try to do it--

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but, at the end of the day, it was done at[br]Forest Houses first.

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Big. Huge.

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[Quality should be attributed to human beings, not to things. (Antonio Gramsci Prison Notebook 1)]

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[LEX BROWN] People have to come here, to the[br]monument, to see the monument.

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This project is site-specific in the most[br]true sense of that phrase.

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It's as important that this monument will[br]be here for two and a half months

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as it is that it will not be here after two[br]and a half months.

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There's an urgency to it.

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And without that urgency, it would not be[br]the same thing.