[SUSAN SOLLINS] --So, is there anything I haven't touched on you'd like to talk about?
[ELIZABETH MURRAY] I don't think so, Susan!
I think you've covered the waterfront here! [LAUGHS]
Wow.
[SOLLINS] Great, great.
[MURRAY] No, it's really one of the most intense interviews--
I think maybe the most.
[SOLLINS] I want to tell you a story and you'll see where I began.
I was walking down the street with my mother--
Avenida Reforma in Mexico.
We crossed the street
and we went into Palacio de Bellas Artes.
I was four or five years old,
and she was holding me fiercely by the hand.
She said, "I want you to never forget this."
We saw Diego Rivera on a scaffolding, painting.
He was repairing the murals!
[AUDIENCE LAUGHTER]
Wow!
That was one my formative moments of my life, to see this artist,
and my mother being so emphatic about, "Do not ever forget this moment."
[The first Art21 interview]
[SOLLINS, OFF SCREEN] I should ask you a really basic question.
What do you think made you become an artist?
[RICHARD SERRA] I have a Jewish mother.
She used to introduce me to everybody as,
"This is my son Richard Serra, the artist."
Now, if you're mother is telling you all that, even if you don't believe it's true,
you grow up with the definition of yourself as being, "Richard Serra, the artist."
[SALLY MANN] In your prayer, you pray,
"Please don't let me screw it up," but just screw it up a little bit,"
"just enough to make it interesting."
[SOLLINS] "Art in the Twenty-First Century" is
the only national primetime series on contemporary art.
We're filming for posterity.
We care passionately about documenting the artists of our time,
who are speaking in their own voices.
There's nobody telling you, the viewer, what to think about their work.
They are telling you how they made it
and how they think about it.
[ELIZABETH MURRAY] As much as I wanted to be an artist,
I wanted to be different, because it felt like freedom.
[SOLLINS] We get to know the artist really well--
and they, us.
Things open up from that process.
Plus, we're forming an archive that I think will be really important historically.
[WILLIAM KENTRIDGE] I'm interested in machines that tell you what it is to look.
It's about the agency we have, whether we like it or not,
to make sense of the world.
[SOLLINS] The camera can actually enhance your viewing.
There are things that have been revealed to me
when I'm looking at a monitor and we're filming something
that I've never seen before--
even if I know the work really, really well!
[SOLLINS, OFF SCREEN] Is there any other way you could explain why
the first real experience with Mondrian brought tears to your eyes?
[JOHN BALDESSARI] How do you explain love? I don't know.
[LAUGHS]
[SOLLINS] There's something about the process during the interview
that makes for an intimacy that's so unusual.
And I just think it's like falling in love.
[LEONARDO DREW] You want more, right? Keep going!
[LAUGHS]
[SOLLINS] The artists themselves are such a diverse group of people.
They become, I think, creative role models--
and that's one of our goals.
Young people, sitting in a classroom somewhere,
might have the thought of, "Oh, that might be me."
"I can go there!"
By using television--
by using film, media, the internet--
we could affect change.
People will see how involved all the artists are
in the world around them-- in current events,
in politics, in social movements--
and you see how that fits into what they're making.
Being in the studio with each artist
and being able to have lengthy conversations with each of them
is an exciting adventure.
[LARRY KING] Here' to accept the Peabody is Susan Sollins.
[SOLLINS] I am thrilled to receive this award for Art21.
This whole endeavor is about falling in love with art and artists.
That's been a part of my life, always.
[Thank you, Susan.]
[It's an honor to continue your legacy.]