WEBVTT 00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:12.560 [Thomas Hirschhorn: "Gramsci Monument"] 00:00:17.620 --> 00:00:21.440 [Forest Houses, Bronx, New York] 00:00:22.980 --> 00:00:25.620 ["Gramsci Monument" (2013)] 00:00:26.340 --> 00:00:29.840 [Opening of the "Gramsci Monument"] 00:00:35.580 --> 00:00:37.420 [HARRY DRAKE] Alright, sorry to interrupt. 00:00:37.430 --> 00:00:41.530 This is the man of the hour. 00:00:41.530 --> 00:00:45.620 This is the man, besides Erik, that brought everything to us. 00:00:46.600 --> 00:00:49.220 [YASMIL RAYMOND] Thomas believes that "more is more." 00:00:49.230 --> 00:00:54.649 You know, it's a pun on Mies van der Rohe, who said, "less is more." 00:00:54.649 --> 00:00:59.059 And in this "more and more" philosophy of Thomas Hirschhorn, 00:00:59.059 --> 00:01:03.499 it means an enormous amount of activities all the time, 00:01:03.499 --> 00:01:05.840 almost confusing what is happening. 00:01:07.200 --> 00:01:10.240 [HARRY DRAKE] What you are doing for this community and everything... 00:01:10.240 --> 00:01:11.970 [HIRSCHHORN] No I don't... 00:01:11.970 --> 00:01:14.330 I don't do something for the community. 00:01:14.330 --> 00:01:16.470 I do something, I hope, for art... 00:01:16.470 --> 00:01:17.440 [HARRY DRAKE] Okay. 00:01:17.440 --> 00:01:20.120 [HIRSCHHORN] And the understanding of art. That is my... 00:01:20.120 --> 00:01:21.570 My goal is this. 00:01:22.540 --> 00:01:24.100 [LEX BROWN] Something Thomas always says is that 00:01:24.110 --> 00:01:26.370 he did not come here to, like, help people-- 00:01:26.370 --> 00:01:30.890 he came here to Forest Houses and asked people who lived here 00:01:30.890 --> 00:01:33.750 to help him make the artwork. 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:39.520 And there's a really big difference. 00:01:39.520 --> 00:01:42.520 There's a huge difference between those two things. 00:01:46.260 --> 00:01:52.420 [FREDDY VELEZ] Thomas asked me to translate the Gramsci prison notes to Spanish. 00:01:52.430 --> 00:01:54.340 That was a great opportunity for me, 00:01:54.340 --> 00:02:00.100 and I just put retirement to the side and just began working with his art. 00:02:00.100 --> 00:02:05.170 And here I am today, two months later, enjoying myself every day-- 00:02:05.170 --> 00:02:07.190 and I feel a lot better. 00:02:11.420 --> 00:02:14.620 [JANET BETHEA] I was more stronger than half of the men over there. 00:02:14.620 --> 00:02:16.260 I built them buildings. 00:02:16.260 --> 00:02:19.610 I did the dollies underneath there, on the floor. 00:02:19.610 --> 00:02:21.920 I did all that with the guys. 00:02:21.920 --> 00:02:27.080 Except for the roof. I'm scared of heights. [LAUGHS] 00:02:36.660 --> 00:02:37.900 [STANLEY SCOTT] My name is "Stan the Man". 00:02:37.900 --> 00:02:38.820 [WOMAN] "Stan the Man"? 00:02:38.820 --> 00:02:39.700 [STANLEY SCOTT] "Stan the Man". 00:02:39.700 --> 00:02:40.429 [WOMAN] Oh, I saw your sign. 00:02:40.429 --> 00:02:41.029 [STANLEY SCOTT] Yes indeed. 00:02:41.720 --> 00:02:42.720 And I work for love. 00:02:43.500 --> 00:02:44.230 [WOMAN] We know! 00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:45.640 [STANLEY SCOTT] It's not about the bills. 00:02:45.640 --> 00:02:46.500 I don't deal with the... 00:02:46.500 --> 00:02:47.850 It's not about the money. 00:02:47.850 --> 00:02:49.560 Anything I make, I make from my heart. 00:02:49.560 --> 00:02:50.209 Because I ain't... 00:02:50.209 --> 00:02:52.069 You know, once your love is in it 00:02:52.069 --> 00:02:53.020 the money's going to come. 00:02:54.920 --> 00:02:58.240 That's why I joined the monument, because it's like art. 00:02:58.240 --> 00:02:59.300 Food is like art. 00:02:59.300 --> 00:03:00.580 You know, cooking. 00:03:00.580 --> 00:03:02.760 Making something out of nothing. 00:03:02.760 --> 00:03:04.720 You know, making those dishes look good. 00:03:04.720 --> 00:03:06.100 Like, oh, that shit's pretty. 00:03:06.100 --> 00:03:07.480 Let's see if it tastes pretty. 00:03:13.400 --> 00:03:16.200 [INTERVIEWER, OFF SCREEN] When people ask you "What is this project?" what do you say? 00:03:16.200 --> 00:03:18.040 [DANNION JORDAN] Well I walk them over to the brochures... 00:03:18.050 --> 00:03:21.120 [JANET BETHEA] It's a monument of something... 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:25.080 [FREDDY VELEZ] A positive place for art and study. 00:03:25.080 --> 00:03:26.840 [DANNION JORDAN] You know, they had a smoothie bar... 00:03:26.840 --> 00:03:28.780 [JANET BETHEA] They can go in the library, read books. 00:03:28.780 --> 00:03:31.020 [DANNION JORDAN] ...a WiFi station up here... 00:03:31.280 --> 00:03:33.140 [ERIK FARMER] You know, a monument usually is something that, 00:03:33.140 --> 00:03:35.300 you know, is stable. It doesn’t move. 00:03:35.300 --> 00:03:38.170 This is a temporary monument--something I never heard of-- 00:03:38.170 --> 00:03:40.720 but Thomas explained to me, you know, what he wanted to do 00:03:40.720 --> 00:03:44.940 and how he wanted to integrate the residents into the monument, 00:03:44.940 --> 00:03:46.700 as in giving them jobs 00:03:46.700 --> 00:03:49.840 and wanting to teach the kids about art. 00:03:53.200 --> 00:03:56.980 [DANNION JORDAN] He doesn't want anything to interfere with his monument, 00:03:56.980 --> 00:03:59.450 Whether it's rain, Dia:, 00:04:00.760 --> 00:04:01.380 NYCHA... 00:04:01.380 --> 00:04:03.740 he doesn't want anything to interfere with his project. 00:04:03.750 --> 00:04:06.590 If you're not interfering with his project, everything is good. 00:04:07.820 --> 00:04:08.960 [INTERVIEWER, OFF SCREEN] What happens when you interfere? 00:04:09.820 --> 00:04:11.920 [DANNION JORDAN] [LAUGHS] 00:04:11.920 --> 00:04:14.209 Yeah, he just...you know, he gets crazy. 00:04:14.209 --> 00:04:16.449 He starts screaming--uses his fingers and everything... 00:04:16.449 --> 00:04:18.060 [HIRSCHHORN] Sunday... Sunday even... 00:04:18.060 --> 00:04:20.160 [YASMIL RAYMOND] Yes, but I'm here Saturday and Sunday, all... 00:04:20.160 --> 00:04:21.940 [HIRSCHHORN] I am the artist! 00:04:21.940 --> 00:04:23.600 [MAN] I look and see there's no one sitting in there first... 00:04:23.600 --> 00:04:24.320 [HIRSCHHORN] I am the artist. 00:04:24.320 --> 00:04:25.500 [HARRY DRAKE] He'll be like, "No." 00:04:25.500 --> 00:04:27.900 [MARCELLA PARADISE] And if you can't stay to three o’clock or four-- 00:04:27.900 --> 00:04:30.270 which we stay till four all the time-- 00:04:30.270 --> 00:04:32.380 you get put out the class. 00:04:32.380 --> 00:04:34.490 [HIRSCHHORN] Okay? We are not observant. 00:04:34.490 --> 00:04:36.110 There is no observer. 00:04:37.840 --> 00:04:39.919 [HARRY DRAKE] Thomas is not white. He's not European. 00:04:39.919 --> 00:04:41.219 He's black. 00:04:51.400 --> 00:04:56.680 [MARCUS GREEN] I was very inspired by Thomas's poster. 00:04:56.690 --> 00:04:59.910 And on the poster it says, "All humans are intellectuals." 00:04:59.910 --> 00:05:05.250 And so, the quote that I want to begin with--which is quote number one-- 00:05:05.250 --> 00:05:07.340 is taken from that notion. 00:05:08.220 --> 00:05:11.080 [LEX BROWN] Gramsci's idea that every person is an intellectual 00:05:11.090 --> 00:05:14.270 is an incredibly important idea. 00:05:14.270 --> 00:05:15.669 It's a huge part of the project 00:05:15.669 --> 00:05:18.900 and it is touched upon in every part of it. 00:05:20.200 --> 00:05:22.420 [ADAM GUESSONGO] My name is Adam. 00:05:22.420 --> 00:05:25.080 I do graffiti, I draw, 00:05:25.860 --> 00:05:27.260 and I make sculpture. 00:05:27.260 --> 00:05:29.320 Or like, this--I'm not done with it yet... 00:05:32.100 --> 00:05:36.960 I'm not done with this, but I was trying to make a character from a game. 00:05:43.720 --> 00:05:46.620 [DANNION JORDAN] You're learning--you're teaching-- 00:05:46.620 --> 00:05:50.490 but it's more like people just...you know, you got Thomas here. 00:05:50.490 --> 00:05:53.630 It's more about people gathering just still getting to learn one another. 00:05:53.630 --> 00:05:56.419 Because I don't really know all these guys that I work with, 00:05:56.419 --> 00:05:58.290 I just know them through other people. 00:05:58.290 --> 00:06:01.540 You all get to know each other, you learn from each other, 00:06:01.540 --> 00:06:03.840 and, you know, that's basically it. 00:06:03.840 --> 00:06:06.800 [Destruction is difficult; it is as difficult as creation. (Antonio Gramsci Prison Notebook 6)] 00:06:06.800 --> 00:06:08.000 [ERIK FARMER] This is history right here. 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:10.620 And it's history just because it's never been done. 00:06:10.620 --> 00:06:13.430 So when someone speaks about it--someone may try to do it-- 00:06:13.430 --> 00:06:18.020 but, at the end of the day, it was done at Forest Houses first. 00:06:19.140 --> 00:06:20.160 Big. Huge. 00:06:20.160 --> 00:06:22.540 [Quality should be attributed to human beings, not to things. (Antonio Gramsci Prison Notebook 1)] 00:06:22.540 --> 00:06:27.200 [LEX BROWN] People have to come here, to the monument, to see the monument. 00:06:27.210 --> 00:06:33.479 This project is site-specific in the most true sense of that phrase. 00:06:33.479 --> 00:06:39.290 It's as important that this monument will be here for two and a half months 00:06:39.290 --> 00:06:43.270 as it is that it will not be here after two and a half months. 00:06:44.300 --> 00:06:46.340 There's an urgency to it. 00:06:46.350 --> 00:06:50.150 And without that urgency, it would not be the same thing.