El Anatsui: "Broken Bridge II" | "Exclusive" | Art21

Episode #173: Filmed in late 2012 and early 2013, Nigeria-based artist El Anatsui discusses his large-scale sculpture "Broken Bridge II" (2012) and the importance of its location on an east-facing wall above the High Line, a relatively new park located on once-abandoned, elevated railroad tracks on Manhattan's west side. By incorporating mirrors into "Broken Bridge II," a new material for the artist, Anatsui is able to reflect and point out characteristics of New York that he considers iconic. High Line Art's project manager Jordan Benke and curator Cecilia Alemani discuss the installation process and how this work differs from Anatsui's smaller sculptures. "Broken Bridge II" will be on view through September 2013.

Working with wood, clay, metal, and the discarded metal caps of liquor bottles, El Anatsui breaks with sculpture's traditional adherence to forms of fixed shape while visually referencing the history of abstraction in African and European art. Anatsui's works trace a broader story of colonial and postcolonial economic and cultural exchange, told in the history of cast-off materials, while exploring ideas about the everyday function of objects and the role of language in deciphering visual symbols.

Learn more about the artist at:
http://www.art21.org/artists/el-anatsui

CREDITS: Producer: Ian Forster. Consulting Producer: Wesley Miller & Nick Ravich. Interview: Ian Forster. Camera: Ian Forster. Sound: Stephanie Andreou. Editor: Morgan Riles. Music: Henry Terepka. Time-lapse Courtesy: High Line Art. Artwork Courtesy: El Anatsui, High Line Art & Jack Shainman Gallery. Special Thanks: Friends of the High Line. Theme Music: Peter Foley.

[El Anatsui: "Broken Bridge II"]

[The High Line, New York City]

I come from a place where you have a lot of sky.

The sky starts from almost ground level and goes up.

You know, but over here you have to really look up

To realize that there is eventually sky,

[LAUGHS] Somewhere, you know?

That's almost the experience of most people who live in open country

And they come to New York--

Sky is not a common commodity.

[sounds of city traffic]

[JORDAN BENKE] Right?

[ANATSUI] Mmm hmm.

[BENKE] So we're just going to create a little crease there.

[ANATSUI] Yeah.

[BENKE] To here.

[ANATSUI] Yeah.

But if you push as hard as possible so that it gives...

[BENKE] Yeah, you can make as big a crease as you can there.

[ANATSUI] Yeah.

[sound of metal folding]

[ANATSUI] The crease actually should even be up there...

[BENKE] Let's see, I think they...

[ANATSUI] ...In the corner.

[BENKE] He's adding a lot of wrinkles to the piece,

making more of the creases...

We were, I think, pretty conservative and not wanting to mess with the material too much...

[Jordan Benke, Production Manager]

Because every time you make one of these creases

You're kind of deforming this metal.

Hurricane Sandy came in, which basically meant we were out of power until Friday evening.

Their crews were responding to kind of crisis stuff until the next Wednesday,

Which is the day the nor'easter hit, so then we lost another two days.

[ANATSUI] I came in to look at about three or four different walls

And selected this wall because the other ones were West-facing.

And West-facing didn't have what I think is iconic of New York.

You know, skyscrapers and the lack of sky.

Since the work has mirrors, I wanted mirrors to be able to pick that character and show it.

[CECILIA ALEMANI] You see that, the antenna of the Empire?

[ANATSUI] Ah! Ok, ok, ok! Oh! [LAUGHS]

[ALEMANI] Pretty good, no?

[ANATSUI] I was told that the Empire State Building can be seen in the work, which makes me very satisfied.

It's clearer here than...

Yeah, because the mirror is lower here.

[ALEMANI] Yeah. It's funny.

[ALEMANI] I think this work, to me, is a very interesting evolution in the works that El has been doing in the past.

[Cecilia Alemani, High Line Art Curator]

Because unlike other works that are very precious, and almost jewel-like,

This really intertwines materials that are much more industrial in a way.

[ANATSUI] The mirrors are about the newest element that I'm bringing into my work.

As time goes on, I'm going to get to understand the mirror more

And get to know what it's language is, and what things it can say, and what things it cannot say well.

It's a gradual process.