Tom Sachs and Werner Herzog Discuss Their Film ‘Paradox Bullets’ – 汤姆·萨克斯和沃纳·赫尔佐格讨论了他们的电影《悖论子弹》。

‘Do the easy thing first,’ Tom Sachs’s film Paradox Bullets (2018) begins, while a time-lapse video follows workers moving around an artist’s studio with the efficiency of a pit crew. ‘Do the easy thing first. As a warm-up to ease into the hard thing.’ After a moment of reflection on the approach, the scene starts up again. ‘The opposite is equally valid,’ continues the unmistakable voice of Werner Herzog. ‘Do the hard thing first because it takes more time, you are fresh, you can work in daytime, stores are open, and help is not out to dinner.’ In the studio, a team constructs and erects the geodesic dome that they had struggled with just a few seconds earlier. 

Themes familiar from Sachs’s other industrial film-style video works – the mid-shot camera angle, desertscapes, vintage cars, a practising faith in analog mechanics – come in handy for artist Ed Ruscha, who’s managed to get his off-white Chevy booted on an isolated desert road, likely on account of the stack of tickets he’s let pile up next to him. His phone just died; he’s truly alone in the elements. ‘Avoid frustration, and keep attacking the problem until it dies. Never yell.’ In the same unorthodox methodology to problem solving – subjects of Sachs’s previous films include How to Sweep (2012), and assembling the fully functional Waffle Bike (2008) – Ruscha empties the contents of his trunk onto the street and gets to work. Something will work out. ‘We are mystics, not rationalists […] Irrational thought must be followed absolutely and logically.’

After its special screening at Frieze Los Angeles, Sachs was quick to share the credit of the film’s concept with his fellow artists. ‘We’re mystics, not rationalists’ is from Sol Lewitt’s Sentences on Conceptual Art (1968). Ruscha is a ‘conceptual father.’ He turned to his narrator. ‘I think you wrote the motto for the film, which is that the opposite is equally valid,’ he said. ‘It’s on the back of the zine!,’ he laughed.

Jennifer Higgie, frieze editorial director, jumped in. ‘Actually,’ she noted, ‘it says that the contradiction is equally valid.’ Also true.

Tom Sachs, Paradox Bullets (2018) was screened at Frieze Los Angeles on 15 February, followed by a discussion featuring Sachs, Werner Herzog and Van Neistat, moderated by Jennifer Higgie. For more information regarding the fair’s talks programme, click here.

Ed Ruscha in Tom Sachs, Paradox Bullets, 2018, film still. © the artist

Jennifer Piejko

Jennifer Piejko is a writer and editor living in Los Angeles.

Frieze Week /

Frieze Los Angeles
Tom Sachs
Werner Herzog

汤姆·萨克斯(TomSachs)的电影《悖论子弹》(2018年)以“先做容易的事”开始,而一段延时视频则关注着工人们在艺术家工作室里以一个维修站工作人员的效率移动。“先做简单的事。作为一个热身,轻松进入困难的事情。'经过一段时间的思考,接近,场景又开始了。“相反的情况同样有效,”维尔纳·赫尔佐格明确的声音继续说道。“先做艰难的事情,因为这需要更多的时间,你很新鲜,你可以在白天工作,商店是开放的,帮助不是出去吃饭。”在工作室里,一个团队建造和安装了他们在几秒钟前就已经挣扎过的测地穹顶。从萨克斯的其他工业电影风格的视频作品中熟悉的主题-中期-摄影角度,沙漠景观,老爷车,对模拟机械的实践信仰-为艺术家埃德·鲁沙(Ed Ruscha)提供了便利,他成功地在一条孤立的沙漠道路上驾驶他的白色雪佛兰,很可能是因为他让一堆票堆积在他旁边。他的手机刚坏了,他真的是孤身一人。“避免受挫,继续攻击问题直到问题消失。千万不要大喊大叫。“在解决问题的非正统方法中——萨克斯以前的电影主题包括如何清扫(2012年),以及组装功能齐全的华夫格自行车(2008年)——鲁沙把后备箱里的东西倒在街上,开始工作。”会有结果的。“我们是神秘主义者,而不是理性主义者,非理性思维必须绝对地、合乎逻辑地遵循。”萨克斯在洛杉矶的弗里泽特别放映后,很快就与其他艺术家分享了这部电影的理念。“我们是神秘主义者,而不是理性主义者”,摘自索尔·勒维特(SolLewitt)1968年关于概念艺术的句子。鲁沙是一个“概念上的父亲”,他转向他的叙述者。他说:“我认为你为这部电影写了一句座右铭,也就是说,事实恰恰相反。”“它在杂志的背面!“他笑了。JenniferHiggie,弗里泽的编辑总监,跳了进来。“事实上,”她说,“它说矛盾是同样有效的。”这也是事实。Tom Sachs,《悖论子弹》(2018年)于2月15日在洛杉矶的弗里泽放映,随后由Jennifer Higgie主持的Sachs、Werner Herzog和van Neistat的讨论。欲了解更多关于展会会谈计划的信息,请点击此处。《汤姆·萨克斯》中的艾德·罗斯查,《悖论子弹》,2018年,电影《Still》。礼貌:艺术家詹妮弗·皮耶科·詹妮弗·皮耶科是居住在洛杉矶的作家和编辑。中楣周/洛杉矶中楣汤姆·萨克斯·沃纳·赫尔佐格


FRIZE特稿
ARThing编译



Comments are closed.