Carving the Divine

The Living Stone

February 1958 •English

The Living Stone is a 1958 Canadian short documentary film directed by John Feeney about Inuit art. It shows the inspiration behind Inuit sculpture. The Inuit approach to the work is to release the image the artist sees imprisoned in the rough stone. The film centres on an old legend about the carving of the image of a sea spirit to bring food to a hungry camp. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.

Rolanda Polonsky, Sculptor

January 1971 •English

Enter the imaginative world of acclaimed sculptor Rolanda Polonsky, who had been a resident of Netherne Psychiatric Hospital in Coulsdon, Surrey for 26 years when this film was made. One of the positive aspects of her illness, described in the film as a schizophrenia, is that it "tapped a deep source of mystical vision and human feeling" which finds expression in her work.

La Victoire de Samothrace, une icône dévoilée

January 2014 •French

A documentary about the statue Winged Victory of Samothrace, unquestionably one of the most complete expressions of Hellenistic sculpture

Rodin: A Modernist

April 2017 •French

Nisei (Second-generation)

April 2024 •Spanish

Follows Iwao Ichikawa, a second-generation Japanese Mexican, navigating racial segregation in Mexicali, Baja California during WWII, offering a poignant exploration of identity and belonging amidst adversity.

10 Questions for the Dalai Lama

May 2006 •English

How do you reconcile a commitment to non-violence when faced with violence? Why do the poor often seem happier than the rich? Must a society lose its traditions in order to move into the future? These are some of the questions posed to His Holiness the Dalai Lama by filmmaker and explorer Rick Ray. Ray examines some of the fundamental questions of our time by weaving together observations from his own journeys throughout India and the Middle East, and the wisdom of an extraordinary spiritual leader. This is his story, as told and filmed by Rick Ray during a private visit to his monastery in Dharamsala, India over the course of several months. Also included is rare historical footage as well as footage supplied by individuals who at great personal risk, filmed with hidden cameras within Tibet.

The Big Wheel

January 1980 •English

During the 1980 exhibition of Burden's monumental kinetic sculpture The Big Wheel at Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York, Burden and Feldman were interviewed by art critic Willoughby Sharp. Burden articulates the process of creating The Big Wheel, a 6,000-pound, spinning cast-iron flywheel that is initially powered by a motorcycle, and discusses its relation to his earlier performance pieces and sculptural works. Addressing his motivations and the meaning of this potentially dangerous mechanical art object, Burden discusses such topics as the role of the artist in the industrial world, "personal insanity and mass insanity," and "man's propensity towards violence."

Pelle vegetale. Un'intervista

May 2019 •Italian

Salzillo

January 1983 •English

The Spanish sculptor meditates about his life and work

Voice Over the Bridge

March 2009 •English

For the first time, traditional Burmese singers Khing Zin Shwe and Shwe Shwe Khaing are recording an album that introduces people around the world to the Maha Gita (Great Songs), which have been sung in South Asia for 700 years. They also introduce viewers to life in Myanmar, a Buddhist country of great beauty.

Filamento

November 2021 •Spanish

The odyssey of the Mayice designers, who had to face to bring an impossible-to-manufacture piece to the Rossana Orlandi gallery, in Milan, in time to be exhibited at the Salone.

Mudflat

August 1980 •English

Years ago, artists would walk around the muck at the edge of the San Francisco Bay in Emeryville, and build loads of sculptures out there on the flats, created from driftwood and found objects that drivers would enjoy as they motored south on the old Highway 17 (known in numerous radio ads as 'Highway 17, The Nimitz'). Grabbing material off someone else’s work was considered fair game and part of the fun, and contributed a kinetic dynamic to the ongoing display. Now the place is a park, and the sculptures are gone, but you can see what it used to be like in this neat and funny documentary by Ric Reynolds, augmented by Erich Seibert’s wonderful musique-concrète/time-lapse sequences. The flashback circus sequence includes Scott Beach and Bill Irwin. Sculptors interviewed include Walt Zucker, Tony Puccio, Robert Sommer, Ron & Mary Bradden, and Bob Kaminsky.

The Danish Collector: Delacroix to Gauguin

December 2021 •English

Wilhelm Hansen was a visionary businessman who lived in Denmark in the 19th century. He was one of the few collectors to take an interest in Impressionist painters at a time when they were attacked and denigrated. The film takes us to Hansen's summer house on the outskirts of Copenhagen and takes us on a tour of the extraordinary exhibition at the Royal Academy in London dedicated to his collection.

If Stone Could Speak

August 2008 •English

Stonecutters emigrated from northern Italy to Barre, Vermont, the "Granite Capital of the World." Follow the artisans and their families from quarries, workshops and schools in Italy to granite carving sheds in New England, as they seek their own identities, choosing what to keep and what to cut away from their American and Italian legacies.

Operation Hope - The Children Lost in the Amazon

April 2024 •Spanish

The incredible true story of four children, who survive a plane crash deep in the dangerous Colombian Amazon. They are lost and alone for 40 days while the military and indigenous guard race against time to find them.

Seedbed

January 1972 •English

“In this legendary sculpture/performance Acconci lay beneath a ramp built in the Sonnabend Gallery. Over the course of three weeks, he masturbated eight hours a day while murmuring things like, "You're pushing your cunt down on my mouth" or "You're ramming your cock down into my ass." Not only does the architectural intervention presage much of his subsequent work, but all of Acconci's fixations converge in this, the spiritual sphincter of his art. In Seedbed Acconci is the producer and the receiver of the work's pleasure. He is simultaneously public and private, making marks yet leaving little behind, and demonstrating ultra-awareness of his viewer while being in a semi-trance state.” – Jerry Saltz (via: http://www.ubu.com/film/acconci_seedbed.html)

KSI & The Pauls: Primed for Success

January 2023 •English

KSI and The Paul Brothers, from humble beginnings on YouTube, to mainstream domination. These unrelenting (and controversial) creators show no signs of stopping.

Guido Magnone - The Artist

January 1997 •French

Guido Magnone designs cardboard boxes by hand for his parents' small business. A painter friend loves his brushwork and pushes him to attend the Beaux Arts. He takes an external competition, wins it, befriends the sculptors César and Féraud, surrealists, a handful of bohemians. He then discovered the mountain and quickly became one of the best climbers of his generation. He made prestigious conquests such as the west face of the Drus in the Alps, the first ascents of Fitz Roy in Patagonia with Lionel Terray or Makalu in the Himalayas... Magnone also participated in the creation of the UCPA and will be president of the Groupe de Haute Montagne from 1961 to 1965. From 1977, Guido returned to his first passion: sculpture, to devote himself fully to it around 1990. He began to exhibit again in 1996. In 2002, he exhibited his sculptures in Paris , Bourg-la-Reine, Aosta then in Etroubles in 2009.

The New Monuments

May 2018 •English

Artists like Robert Smithson, Donald Judd and Peter Hutchinson borrowed liberally from science fiction film and literature in their work. This collage treats the marvellous, seemingly indestructible, objects of mid-century science fiction cinema as artworks in their own right.

Leonardo da Vinci and the Bust of Flora

November 2020 •German

Acquired in July 1909 by art collector Wilhelm von Bode (1845-1929), director general of the Prussian Art Collections and founding director of the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum, now the Bode-Museum, the Bust of Flora, Roman goddess of flowers, has been the subject of controversy for more than a century.