Fred Wilson: Beauty and Ugliness | "Exclusive" | Art21
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0:07 - 0:12[Fred Wilson: Beauty & Ugliness]
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0:13 - 0:14Beauty...
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0:14 - 0:15Beauty, beauty, beauty...
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0:15 - 0:18I'm really interested in beauty.
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0:19 - 0:20[Venice Biennale, 2003]
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0:20 - 0:21I'm interested in beauty
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0:21 - 0:23if you think of beauty as
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0:23 - 0:25"an ultimate visual experience."
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0:25 - 0:27But I'm also interested in beauty
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0:27 - 0:33in that it can hide meaning.
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0:37 - 0:39The world is complex,
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0:39 - 0:40and often we try to
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0:40 - 0:42separate out all of these experiences.
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0:42 - 0:44"This is beautiful." "This is ugly."
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0:44 - 0:46"This is a beautiful experience--that's all it is..."
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0:46 - 0:47"...there is no meaning."
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0:47 - 0:49Or, "the meaning is not important."
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0:58 - 1:00People have to deal with the fact that
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1:00 - 1:03there is meaning in beauty--
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1:03 - 1:05there is meaning in ugliness.
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1:05 - 1:06[The Studio Museum in Harlem, 2004]
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1:06 - 1:09And so, in a lot of my work--if I can--
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1:09 - 1:13I try to bring out that tension.
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1:18 - 1:19The whipping post and chairs is a perfect example
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1:19 - 1:21because chairs are really beautiful;
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1:21 - 1:23that whipping post is certainly not.
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1:25 - 1:28Whipping post and chairs were from the first exhibition I did
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1:28 - 1:30with museum collections.
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1:30 - 1:33It was at the Maryland Historical Society in 1992.
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1:36 - 1:39It's a very traditional display in a certain way.
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1:39 - 1:41There's no manipulation of the objects
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1:41 - 1:42other than their positioning.
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1:43 - 1:45And that changes the meaning,
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1:45 - 1:46or the relationship,
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1:47 - 1:48or how you think about them.
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1:48 - 1:50And this is everything that I'm about
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1:50 - 1:51when I'm working with museums
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1:51 - 1:53and quite often when I'm working in my studio.
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1:56 - 2:00Looking at high-end decorative arts in the chairs
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2:00 - 2:02and the whipping post,
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2:02 - 2:04they have a very different history,
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2:04 - 2:06but it relates very directly in that
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2:06 - 2:08those people who sat in the chairs
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2:08 - 2:10had some relationship with
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2:10 - 2:13those who were on the whipping post.
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2:19 - 2:21Not acknowledging that things are complex--
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2:21 - 2:23that beauty is complex--
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2:23 - 2:25I think that that's the problem,
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2:25 - 2:26that people want to do that.
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2:26 - 2:29So, I enjoy making it complex for people,
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2:29 - 2:31[LAUGHS]
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2:33 - 2:36because that's my world, you know.
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2:36 - 2:37[LAUGHS]
- Title:
- Fred Wilson: Beauty and Ugliness | "Exclusive" | Art21
- Description:
-
Episode #197: Filmed in 2004, Fred Wilson discusses how beauty and ugliness together create meaning. For his installation "Speak of Me as I Am" at the 50th Venice Biennale (2003), Wilson arranged "blackamoors"—decorative sculptures common in Venice—throughout the American Pavilion. In doing so, he called attention to how these beautiful objects depict Africans in servitude. Also shown in this film is Wilson's piece "Cabinetmaking, 1820--1960" (1992)—ornate nineteenth-century chairs juxtaposed with a whipping post—installed at the Studio Museum in Harlem in 2004.
Appropriating curatorial methods and strategies, Fred Wilson creates new contexts for the display of art and artifacts found in museum collections, along with wall labels, sound, lighting, and non-traditional pairings of objects. His sculptures and installations lead viewers to recognize that changes in context create changes in meaning, and thereby shape interpretations of historical truth and artistic value.
Learn more about the artist at:
http://www.art21.org/artists/fred-wilsonCREDITS: Producer: Ian Forster. Consulting Producer: Wesley Miller & Nick Ravich. Interview: Susan Sollins. Camera: Mead Hunt & Joel Shapiro. Sound: Judy Karp & Merce Williams. Editor: Morgan Riles. Artwork Courtesy: Fred Wilson. Special Thanks: Maryland Historical Society & The Studio Museum in Harlem. Theme Music: Peter Foley.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- Art21
- Project:
- "Extended Play" series
- Duration:
- 02:51
Jonathan Munar edited English subtitles for Fred Wilson: Beauty and Ugliness, Art 21 | ||
redmarksthespot edited English subtitles for Fred Wilson: Beauty and Ugliness, Art 21 | ||
elinoara edited English subtitles for Fred Wilson: Beauty and Ugliness, Art 21 | ||
elinoara edited English subtitles for Fred Wilson: Beauty and Ugliness, Art 21 | ||
elinoara edited English subtitles for Fred Wilson: Beauty and Ugliness, Art 21 | ||
elinoara edited English subtitles for Fred Wilson: Beauty and Ugliness, Art 21 | ||
Jonathan Munar edited English subtitles for Fred Wilson: Beauty and Ugliness, Art 21 | ||
Jonathan Munar edited English subtitles for Fred Wilson: Beauty and Ugliness, Art 21 |