LE GRAND MAGASIN SYMPOSIUM on Artyčok

LE GRAND MAGASIN dedicated itself to the investigation of collective forms of production. This initiative not only facilitated cooperation between artists and European cooperatives, but for over a year also operated a model department store in Berlin, for goods manufactured by producer cooperatives. In conclusion, artists and curators introduce the results of the 2-year process and, with their invited guests, discuss the redefinition of the concept of work and artistic entrepreneurship.

My project also deals with cooperatives,00:31:24.284
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but perhaps in a different way00:31:27.582
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than the other projects.00:31:30.582
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The project has been categorized00:31:33.019
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as conceptual art with a social component.00:31:35.610
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I disagree with both.00:31:39.204
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I think that the most important part00:31:42.060
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is the visual form.00:31:45.315
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At first, 16 farmers sold their fields,00:31:47.861
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then 7 others. Finally, only one farmer remained.00:31:50.837
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They threatened him and his family.00:31:54.331
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He had an idea that everyone in the village00:31:57.562
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can get a 100,000 of compensation00:32:00.831
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if all 16 farmers sold their fields.00:32:03.450
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The village desintegrated absolutely.00:32:06.063
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were delivered00:32:08.563
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the last threatening letters, and finally,00:32:11.659
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everyone agreed.00:32:14.704
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The new village is as big as an airport.00:32:16.786
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It took the whole space of the original village.00:32:19.931
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The cooperative took00:32:24.042
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and spread it on surrounding fields.00:32:27.536
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The rest was covered in concrete.00:32:30.311
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A high levee rose around the car factory00:32:33.028
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to make the place nicer,00:32:36.294
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so suddenly there were dead end roads everywhere.00:32:39.613
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From the beginning, my idea was00:32:43.695
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to connect the people, as I find no sense00:32:47.063
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in connecting people who betrayed each other.00:32:50.680
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I thought about the car factory,00:32:54.424
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illuminated at night,00:32:57.571
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as a kind of light that makes people blind00:32:59.907
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because it is turned against them.00:33:03.407
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So my purpose was to try to turn the light00:33:06.148
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back towards the factory,00:33:09.726
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realizing at the same time that I came late,00:33:12.111
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that I need a place where this hasn't happened yet.00:33:15.123
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I came to a village named Trautenfels,00:33:18.805
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in Austria, under the Groebming mountain.00:33:21.956
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When I first got there, I had a feeling00:33:24.591
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of approaching it in a Czech way.00:33:28.205
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Czech people see hills as obstacles00:33:31.853
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hiding the view.00:33:34.771
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I wanted to find out how it works here.00:33:36.754
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That's why I asked the Austrians00:33:39.870
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to draw and describe00:33:43.288
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what lies behind the hill.00:33:45.788
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The result was incredible, when compared00:33:48.490
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to Czech people:00:33:51.785
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The Austrians could describe every detail00:33:54.029
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behind the hill.00:33:57.568
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They saw the hill as a joint,00:33:59.782
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but Czech people see it as an obstacle.00:34:02.782
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I also asked the people in Trautenfels00:34:06.352
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about what they would like to change there.00:34:09.940
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And they said they wouldn't change anything!00:34:13.498
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When I came back a month later,00:34:17.282
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the mood in the village was very different00:34:19.826
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because the government decided to build00:34:23.277
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a huge traffic circle right next to the village,00:34:26.524
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without asking anyone,00:34:30.396
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seeing it as the best thing for the area.00:34:34.267
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So it was the same situation00:34:38.753
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as in the Czech village.00:34:41.253
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The people had no idea about what was going on.00:34:43.393
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I wanted to connect them00:34:48.002
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in this initial phase00:34:51.385
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through the blinding light,00:34:53.621
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so it occured to me00:34:57.417
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that they should see the whole thing00:35:00.117
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in dark colors.00:35:02.617
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I wanted to connect them by everything00:35:04.619
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that separated them.00:35:07.619
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But first I had to create the dark outline.00:35:09.944
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I could only do that if the individuals00:35:13.834
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looked in the same direction00:35:17.334
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through the blinding light I talked about00:35:20.130
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in the case of the car factory.00:35:23.651
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I made them draw their vision00:35:26.008
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of the traffic circle, which was very hard00:35:28.863
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as they had to feel a little insecure00:35:32.439
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so I gave them some limitations.00:35:35.953
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Although they saw it in dark colors,00:35:38.570
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they couldn't draw it in dark colors.00:35:41.362
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I didn't show them what they drew afterwards,00:35:44.464
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so the whole village was in turmoil00:35:49.762
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because they felt tricked.00:35:52.969
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And that's the end so far.00:35:56.017
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My plan is to show them what it looks like00:35:58.682
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when I join all their visions together.00:36:02.273
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The project is still in progress.00:36:05.273

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