(soft music playing)
The work "Between Heaven and Earth" that we acquired
for The Metropolitan's collection
is one of a whole series of what I would describe
as metal tapestries that the artist, El Anatsui, has woven
from particles of recycled metal.
ANATSUI: Well, the process is basically one
of I call it stitching.
Well, I have to belt so many of these together,
in order to get a wide sheet.
You know, which is, to me, something like a data,
the basic data, that I use in playing around
to get to-- to arrive at different forms.
It's really quite tantalizing
to think about how a specific work
can be so transformed each time it's manipulated.
And the possibility of having the artist present
to guide us through that process,
and to have him actually impress his own forms
into the surface
of this very malleable and very flexible object.
All kinds of folds and wrinkles
that give you the sense
of a billowing textile.
(indistinct chatter)
Are you there, Robert?
- I'm there. - On.
ROBERT: Are you on? - Yep.
Okay.
MAN: You got the right idea.
WOMAN: You probably know what to do.
(laughter)
Want me to come up here and get my finger under there, too?
Are you there?
LaGAMMA: We wanted the artist to be present,
and also to be making the decision
of how those folds were created,
how the material was gathered
to give those kinds of results.
ANATSUI: Life is not a fixed phenomenon.
It's something that is always on the change.
And that's why I think of a work of art as something
which should replicate that attitude.
And that is why I would prefer that,
even when people buy the work, they are the ones to install it.
There's nothing like a fixed format,
or fixed number of folds,
or, you know, that one can put into it.
It's always free, open to any change at any time.
What I call the indeterminate forms.
Human relations are not fixed.
You know, they change from time to time,
and I mean, that has to do with the idea of the indeterminate.
It's culminated in this one,
where you really have great freedom
to do so many things.
(soft music playing)
LaGAMMA: He's really invented
a new medium of expression.
Yeah, it's a lot of labor, a time-consuming process.
So I have the assistance of many hands.
On a particularly good day, I could have
maybe 16 to 20 assistants
working with me.
Well, the medium is liquor bottle tops,
that I collect from around my environment,
at Nsukka, which is a little university town
in the eastern part of Nigeria.
The idea of liquor bottle, I think,
has something to do with history.
I regard drinks as one of the items that was present
at initial contact between two continents, Africa and Europe.
When Europe came to Africa, initially to trade,
some of the items that it brought included drinks.
The drink top that I use now
are not the drinks that were brought by Europe.
They are drinks that are made in Nigeria.
It's a way of linking the two histories together,
and that's what I think I am basically doing with the work.
The Metropolitan's collection of African art
is really focused on masterpieces
of classical African art.
But when a great work of contemporary art speaks
so eloquently to the classical traditions of Africa,
it seems like an extraordinary opportunity
to create a bridge
between those two different artistic realms.
It makes a statement about the vitality
of creativity in contemporary Africa
and really universally elicits
a sense that this is
a stunningly beautiful thing.
I think beauty, most of the time,
doesn't have to be an ocular form.
You know, it has to be...
something that has to do with content, as well, you know?
In many...
of our traditions in Africa,
we don't regard beauty as something
that belongs to the eye.
Like, when we talk about a beautiful person,
you're talking about more of somebody with a good character.
The Yoruba's "ohun kiko je ewa":
"character is beauty."
The two are married in my work.
There is the ocular beauty, but then, when you get close,
you can see that there is some content with.
It also has some beauty.
(soft music playing)