TED2019
Sarah Sze: How we experience time and memory through art
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Artist Sarah Sze takes us on a kaleidoscopic journey through her work: immersive installations as tall as buildings, splashed across walls, orbiting through galleries -- blurring the lines between time, memory and space. Explore how we give meaning to objects in this beautiful tour of Sze's experiential, multimedia art.
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
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I want to start with a question.
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Where does an artwork begin?
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Now sometimes that question is absurd.
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It can seem deceptively simple,
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as it was when I asked the question
with this piece, "Portable Planetarium,"
with this piece, "Portable Planetarium,"
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that I made in 2010.
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I asked the question:
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"What would it look like
to build a planetarium of one's own?"
to build a planetarium of one's own?"
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I know you all ask that every morning,
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but I asked myself that question.
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And as an artist,
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I was thinking about our effort,
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our desire, our continual longing
that we've had over the years
that we've had over the years
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to make meaning of the world around us
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through materials.
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And for me, to try and find
the kind of wonder,
the kind of wonder,
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but also a kind of futility
that lies in that very fragile pursuit,
that lies in that very fragile pursuit,
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is part of my art work.
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So I bring together
the materials I find around me,
the materials I find around me,
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I gather them to try
and create experiences,
and create experiences,
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immersive experiences that occupy rooms,
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that occupy walls, landscapes, buildings.
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But ultimately,
I want them to occupy memory.
I want them to occupy memory.
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And after I've made a work,
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I find that there's usually one memory
of that work that burns in my head.
of that work that burns in my head.
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And this is the memory for me --
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it was this sudden
kind of surprising experience
kind of surprising experience
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of being immersed inside that work of art.
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And it stayed with me
and kind of reoccurred in my work
and kind of reoccurred in my work
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about 10 years later.
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But I want to go back
to my graduate school studio.
to my graduate school studio.
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I think it's interesting, sometimes,
when you start a body of work,
when you start a body of work,
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you need to just completely
wipe the plate clean,
wipe the plate clean,
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take everything away.
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And this may not look
like wiping the plate clean,
like wiping the plate clean,
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but for me, it was.
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Because I had studied painting
for about 10 years,
for about 10 years,
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and when I went to graduate school,
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I realized that I had developed skill,
but I didn't have a subject.
but I didn't have a subject.
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It was like an athletic skill,
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because I could paint the figure quickly,
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but I didn't know why.
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I could paint it well,
but it didn't have content.
but it didn't have content.
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And so I decided to put
all the paints aside for a while,
all the paints aside for a while,
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and to ask this question, which was:
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"Why and how do objects
acquire value for us?"
acquire value for us?"
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How does a shirt that I know
thousands of people wear,
thousands of people wear,
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a shirt like this one,
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how does it somehow feel like it's mine?
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So I started with that experiment,
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I decided, by collecting materials
that had a certain quality to them.
that had a certain quality to them.
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They were mass-produced,
easily accessible,
easily accessible,
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completely designed
for the purpose of their use,
for the purpose of their use,
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not for their aesthetic.
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So things like toothpicks, thumbtacks,
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pieces of toilet paper,
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to see if in the way that I put my energy,
my hand, my time into them,
my hand, my time into them,
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that the behavior could actually create
a kind of value in the work itself.
a kind of value in the work itself.
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One of the other ideas is,
I wanted the work to become live.
I wanted the work to become live.
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So I wanted to take it
off of the pedestal,
off of the pedestal,
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not have a frame around it,
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have the experience not be
that you came to something
that you came to something
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and told you that it was important,
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but that you discover
that it was in your own time.
that it was in your own time.
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So this is like a very,
very old idea in sculpture,
very old idea in sculpture,
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which is: How do we breathe life
into inanimate materials?
into inanimate materials?
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And so, I would go to a space like this,
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where there was a wall,
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and use the paint itself,
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pull the paint out off the wall,
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the wall paint into space
to create a sculpture.
to create a sculpture.
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Because I was also interested in this idea
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that these terms, "sculpture,"
"painting," "installation" --
"painting," "installation" --
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none of these mattered in the way
we actually see the world.
we actually see the world.
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So I wanted to blur those boundaries,
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both between mediums
that artists talk about,
that artists talk about,
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but also blur the experience
of being in life and being in art,
of being in life and being in art,
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so that when you are in your everyday,
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or when you are in one of my works,
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and you saw, you recognized the everyday,
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you could then move that experience
into your own life,
into your own life,
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and perhaps see the art in everyday life.
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I was in graduate school in the '90s,
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and my studio just became
more and more filled with images,
more and more filled with images,
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as did my life.
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And this confusion of images and objects
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was really part of the way
I was trying to make sense of materials.
I was trying to make sense of materials.
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And also, I was interested
in how this might change
in how this might change
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the way that we actually experience time.
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If we're experiencing time
through materials,
through materials,
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what happens when images and objects
become confused in space?
become confused in space?
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So I started by doing some
of these experiments with images.
of these experiments with images.
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And if you look back to the 1880s,
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that's when the first photographs
started turning into film.
started turning into film.
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And they were done
through studies of animals,
through studies of animals,
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the movement of animals.
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So horses in the United States,
birds in France.
birds in France.
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They were these studies of movement
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that then slowly,
like zoetropes, became film.
like zoetropes, became film.
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So I decided, I will take an animal
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and I'm going to play with that idea
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of how the image is not static
for us anymore, it's moving.
for us anymore, it's moving.
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It's moving in space.
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And so I chose
as my character the cheetah,
as my character the cheetah,
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because she is the fastest
land-dwelling creature on earth.
land-dwelling creature on earth.
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And she holds that record,
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and I want to use her record
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to actually make it kind of
a measuring stick for time.
a measuring stick for time.
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And so this is what she looked like
in the sculpture
in the sculpture
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as she moved through space.
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This kind of broken framing
of the image in space,
of the image in space,
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because I had put up notepad paper
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and had it actually project on it.
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Then I did this experiment
where you have kind of a race,
where you have kind of a race,
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with these new tools and video
that I could play with.
that I could play with.
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So the falcon moves out in front,
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the cheetah, she comes in second,
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and the rhino is trying
to catch up behind.
to catch up behind.
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Then another one of the experiments,
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I was thinking about how,
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if we try and remember
one thing that happened to us
one thing that happened to us
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when we were, let's say, 10 years old.
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It's very hard to remember
even what happened in that year.
even what happened in that year.
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And for me, I can think
of maybe one, maybe two,
of maybe one, maybe two,
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and that one moment
has expanded in my mind
has expanded in my mind
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to fill that entire year.
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So we don't experience time
in minutes and seconds.
in minutes and seconds.
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So this is a still
of the video that I took,
of the video that I took,
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printed out on a piece of paper,
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the paper is torn and then the video
is projected on top of it.
is projected on top of it.
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And I wanted to play with this idea
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of how, in this kind of
complete immersion of images
complete immersion of images
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that's enveloped us,
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how one image can actually grow
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and can haunt us.
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So I had all of these --
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these are three out of, like,
100 experiments I was trying with images
100 experiments I was trying with images
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for over about a decade,
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and never showing them,
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and I thought, OK, how do I bring this
out of the studio, into a public space,
out of the studio, into a public space,
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but retain this kind of energy
of experimentation
of experimentation
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that you see when you go
into a laboratory,
into a laboratory,
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you see when you go into a studio,
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and I had this show coming up
and I just said,
and I just said,
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alright, I'm going to put my desk
right in the middle of the room.
right in the middle of the room.
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So I brought my desk
and I put it in the room,
and I put it in the room,
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and it actually worked
in this kind of very surprising way to me,
in this kind of very surprising way to me,
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in that it was this kind of flickering,
because of the video screens, from afar.
because of the video screens, from afar.
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And it had all
of the projectors on it,
of the projectors on it,
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so the projectors were creating
the space around it,
the space around it,
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but you were drawn towards
the flickering like a flame.
the flickering like a flame.
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And then you were enveloped in the piece
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at the scale that we're all
very familiar with,
very familiar with,
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which is the scale of being in front
of a desk or a sink or a table,
of a desk or a sink or a table,
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and you are immersed, then,
back into this scale,
back into this scale,
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this one-to-one scale
of the body in relation to the image.
of the body in relation to the image.
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But on this surface,
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you had these projections on paper
being blown in the wind,
being blown in the wind,
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so there was this confusion
of what was an image
of what was an image
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and what was an object.
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So this is what the work looked like
when it went into a larger room,
when it went into a larger room,
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and it wasn't until I made this piece
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that I realized that I'd effectively made
the interior of a planetarium,
the interior of a planetarium,
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without even realizing that.
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And I remembered, as a child,
loving going to the planetarium.
loving going to the planetarium.
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And back then, the planetarium,
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there was always not only
these amazing images on the ceiling,
these amazing images on the ceiling,
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but you could see the projector itself
whizzing and burring,
whizzing and burring,
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and this amazing camera
in the middle of the room.
in the middle of the room.
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And it was that, along with seeing
the audience around you looking up,
the audience around you looking up,
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because there was an audience
in the round at that time,
in the round at that time,
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and seeing them, and experiencing,
being part of an audience.
being part of an audience.
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So this is an image from the web
that I downloaded
that I downloaded
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of people who took images
of themselves in the work.
of themselves in the work.
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And I like this image
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because you see how the figures
get mixed with the work.
get mixed with the work.
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So you have the shadow of a visitor
against the projection,
against the projection,
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and you also see the projections
across a person's shirt.
across a person's shirt.
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So there were these self-portraits
made in the work itself,
made in the work itself,
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and then posted,
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and it felt like a kind of cyclical
image-making process.
image-making process.
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And a kind of an end to that.
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But it reminded me and brought me back
to the planetarium,
to the planetarium,
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and that interior,
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and I started to go back to painting.
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And thinking about how a painting
is actually, for me,
is actually, for me,
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about the interior images
that we all have.
that we all have.
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There's so many interior images,
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and we've become so focused
on what's outside our eyes.
on what's outside our eyes.
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And how do we store memory in our mind,
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how certain images emerge out of nowhere
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or can fall apart over time.
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And I started to call this series
the "Afterimage" series,
the "Afterimage" series,
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which was a reference to this idea
that if we all close our eyes right now,
that if we all close our eyes right now,
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you can see there's this flickering
light that lingers,
light that lingers,
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and when we open it again,
it lingers again --
it lingers again --
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this is happening all the time.
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And an afterimage is something
that a photograph can never replace,
that a photograph can never replace,
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you never feel that in a photograph.
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So it really reminds you of the limits
of the camera's lens.
of the camera's lens.
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So it was this idea of taking the images
that were outside of me --
that were outside of me --
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this is my studio --
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and then trying to figure out how
they were being represented inside me.
they were being represented inside me.
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So really quickly,
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I'm just going to whiz through
how a process might develop
how a process might develop
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for the next piece.
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So it might start with a sketch,
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or an image that's burned in my memory
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from the 18th century --
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it's Piranesi's "Colosseum."
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Or a model the size of a basketball --
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I built this around a basketball,
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the scale's evidenced
by the red cup behind it.
by the red cup behind it.
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And that model can be put
into a larger piece as a seed,
into a larger piece as a seed,
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and that seed can grow
into a bigger piece.
into a bigger piece.
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And that piece can fill
a very, very large space.
a very, very large space.
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But it can funnel down into a video
that's just made from my iPhone,
that's just made from my iPhone,
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of a puddle outside my studio
in a rainy night.
in a rainy night.
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So this is an afterimage
of the painting made in my memory,
of the painting made in my memory,
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and even that painting can fade
as memory does.
as memory does.
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So this is the scale of a very small image
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from my sketchbook.
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You can see how it can explode
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to a subway station
that spans three blocks.
that spans three blocks.
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And you could see how going
into the subway station
into the subway station
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is like a journey through
the pages of a sketchbook,
the pages of a sketchbook,
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and you can see sort of a diary of work
writ across a public space,
writ across a public space,
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and you're turning the pages
of 20 years of art work
of 20 years of art work
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as you move through the subway.
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But even that sketch
actually has a different origin,
actually has a different origin,
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it has an origin in a sculpture
that climbs a six-story building,
that climbs a six-story building,
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and is scaled to a cat from the year 2002.
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I remember that because I had
two black cats at the time.
two black cats at the time.
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And this is an image of a work from Japan
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that you can see
the afterimage of in the subway.
the afterimage of in the subway.
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Or a work in Venice,
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where you see the image
etched in the wall.
etched in the wall.
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Or how a sculpture
that I did at SFMOMA in 2001,
that I did at SFMOMA in 2001,
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and created this kind of dynamic line,
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how I stole that to create a dynamic line
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as you descend down
into the subway itself.
into the subway itself.
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And this merging of mediums
is really interesting to me.
is really interesting to me.
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So how can you take a line
that pulls tension like a sculpture
that pulls tension like a sculpture
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and put it into a print?
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Or then use line
like a drawing in a sculpture
like a drawing in a sculpture
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to create a dramatic perspective?
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Or how can a painting mimic
the process of printmaking?
the process of printmaking?
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How can an installation
use the camera's lens
use the camera's lens
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to frame a landscape?
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How can a painting on string
become a moment in Denmark,
become a moment in Denmark,
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in the middle of a trek?
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And how, on the High Line,
can you create a piece
can you create a piece
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that camouflages itself
into the nature itself
into the nature itself
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and becomes a habitat
for the nature around it?
for the nature around it?
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And I'll just end with two pieces
that I'm making now.
that I'm making now.
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This is a piece called "Fallen Sky"
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that's going to be a permanent
commission in Hudson Valley,
commission in Hudson Valley,
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and it's kind of the planetarium
finally come down
finally come down
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and grounding itself in the earth.
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And this is a work from 2013
that's going to be reinstalled,
that's going to be reinstalled,
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have a new life in the reopening of MOMA.
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And it's a piece that the tool
itself is the sculpture.
itself is the sculpture.
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So the pendulum, as it swings,
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is used as a tool to create the piece.
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So each of the piles of objects
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go right up to one centimeter
to the tip of that pendulum.
to the tip of that pendulum.
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So you have this combination
of the lull of that beautiful swing,
of the lull of that beautiful swing,
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but also the tension that it constantly
could destroy the piece itself.
could destroy the piece itself.
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And so, it doesn't really matter
where any of these pieces end up,
where any of these pieces end up,
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because the real point for me
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is that they end up
in your memory over time,
in your memory over time,
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and they generate ideas beyond themselves.
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Thank you.
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(Applause)
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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Sarah Sze - ArtistSarah Sze's immersive works challenge the static nature of art.
Why you should listen
Sarah Sze's work questions the value society places on images and objects and how they both ascribe meaning to the places and times we inhabit. Widely recognized for expanding the boundaries between painting, sculpture, video and installation, Sze's work ranges from intimate paintings that collapse time and space to expansive installations that create complex constellations of materials and public works that scale walls and colonize architectures.
Sze was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2003 and a Radcliffe Fellowship in 2005. In 2013, she represented the United States at the Venice Biennale. Her work is exhibited in museums worldwide and held in the permanent collections of prominent institutions such as The Museum of Modern Art, New York, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and The Tate Modern. Sze has created many public works including pieces for the Seattle Opera House, The Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York and The High Line in New York. She is the author of Timekeeper and is featured in Sarah Sze (Contemporary Artists Series).
Sarah Sze | Speaker | TED.com