Recipient of important awards in Spain and abroad, Angélica Liddell's…
Chillida: The Depth of Air
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At the age of 19, Eduardo Chillida (1942-2002) was a gifted athlete set to become a football legend. However, a severe injury during a match saw him move away from professional sport. At the time, nobody except for his life-long partner, Pilar Belzunce, could ever imagine that the young goalkeeper from Hernani was at the verge of re-writing his destiny.
Chillida would die a few decades later as one of the most prominent sculptors of the 20th century.
Lo profundo es el aire is not a conventional biography, but the poetic and fast-paced reminiscence of an unparalleled artist. Chillida’s personality is perpetuated through his work, his eight children, and some of his closest collaborators.
“There is always, in Chillida’s sculptures, the sense of a vital living relationship with the space about them. His sculptures clutch at the air, grapple and grab, embrace emptiness and give it a form.” – Adrian Searle, The Guardian
“Working in iron, steel, wood, granite and fired clay, his work also has a strong relationship to the earth, and to the rugged Basque landscape where the Pyrenees meet the Atlantic, a coastline eroded and drawn by the sea.” – Adrian Searle, The Guardian
Citation
Main credits
Barrero, Juan (film director)
Barrero, Juan (screenwriter)
Other credits
Cinematography, Valentín Álvarez; editor, Lupe Pérez; music, Xabier Erkizia.
Distributor subjects
Biography,Visual Arts,Urban Studies,Culture + Identity,Iberian Studies,Keywords
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00:02:52.560 --> 00:02:57.040
How does Eduardo Chillida
make his sculptures?
00:02:57.680 --> 00:03:02.000
Well, I really don’t know.
Nobody knows that, right?
00:03:02.040 --> 00:03:05.320
But I think all of them have
something in common:
00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:08.160
{\\a6}they are made of questions.
00:03:08.200 --> 00:03:12.400
I think they are questions
I ask myself in the field
00:03:12.440 --> 00:03:15.560
that suits me best when
trying to understand
00:03:15.640 --> 00:03:22.000
troubles with space, time, matter,
and a thousand things alike.
00:03:22.040 --> 00:03:26.360
And then, the natural process
of my very being,
00:03:26.400 --> 00:03:29.840
compounded in the desire of
communication with others.
00:03:29.920 --> 00:03:34.600
Eduardo would never start working
with a preconceived idea
00:03:34.640 --> 00:03:38.440
or knowing what their purpose will be
or who they’re meant for.
00:03:38.442 --> 00:03:40.120
These are things he
doesn’t care about at all.
00:03:40.160 --> 00:03:44.040
And that is what
I’ve done all my life:
00:03:44.080 --> 00:03:47.480
giving him complete freedom.
Having eight kids,
00:03:47.560 --> 00:03:51.200
with all the mess this entails,
the noise, the commotion,
00:03:51.202 --> 00:03:54.320
the only thing that mattered Eduardo was
entering his office every morning
00:03:54.360 --> 00:03:59.880
being totally freed from any problem
unrelated to his work.
00:04:17.760 --> 00:04:22.120
Well, there were some
moments in his life,
00:04:23.480 --> 00:04:27.840
maybe not exactly hard, but very important,
that marked his whole life.
00:04:28.480 --> 00:04:34.400
He says it was the first time he really
had to make that kind of decision
00:04:34.440 --> 00:04:37.400
And he realised it was always
going to be that way.
00:04:37.760 --> 00:04:41.000
When he arrived at the
school in Madrid,
00:04:41.040 --> 00:04:43.560
he was making models.
00:04:43.600 --> 00:04:47.240
Many people went there,
artists or not,
00:04:47.960 --> 00:04:52.240
but he always excelled.
A lot...
00:04:52.280 --> 00:04:55.640
Pupils and even
teachers used to say:
00:04:55.720 --> 00:04:59.080
“Wow, Eduardo, you’re awesome,
you’re a real artist”...
00:04:59.880 --> 00:05:07.560
And he went home and I guess
he liked all that at first,
00:05:07.600 --> 00:05:11.320
but over and over again...
00:05:11.322 --> 00:05:14.120
and he drew
loads of pictures.
00:05:14.200 --> 00:05:16.400
We keep a lot of them
here from that time.
00:05:17.280 --> 00:05:21.040
Then, he thought things
could not go on that way,
00:05:21.080 --> 00:05:25.320
because that’s not being
an artist, that’s not art.
00:05:25.360 --> 00:05:29.680
What a dreadful thing art would be if
it’d come down to just that.
00:05:32.520 --> 00:05:37.720
I realised my right hand
was too skillful
00:05:37.760 --> 00:05:40.640
and sensitivity and reason
were left behind,
00:05:40.680 --> 00:05:43.480
Then I decided to draw
with my left hand.
00:05:43.520 --> 00:05:46.920
That was a very useful
elementary idea to me;
00:05:46.960 --> 00:05:49.560
it even marked my
career because
00:05:49.600 --> 00:05:51.400
it wasn’t a matter
of my hand anymore,
00:05:51.402 --> 00:05:55.080
but of being aware that
simplicity can be dangerous.
00:06:26.560 --> 00:06:32.320
My dad started to work
with his left hand
00:06:32.322 --> 00:06:36.200
but he switched hands
because he thought
00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:42.000
simplicity was
counterproductive.
00:06:47.280 --> 00:06:49.800
It was not like that for me.
00:06:49.840 --> 00:06:54.160
I had to do it,
because I lost my right hand.
00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:12.000
I’m the youngest
of eight siblings,
00:07:12.002 --> 00:07:18.200
so I used to get a free pass
for many things.
00:07:18.240 --> 00:07:22.680
Besides, I was the only one
capable of keeping
00:07:22.760 --> 00:07:25.520
the attention of everyone
sitting at our table,
00:07:25.560 --> 00:07:28.520
with my parents and
all my siblings
00:07:29.120 --> 00:07:34.640
listening as I told jokes,
stories and so.
00:07:36.800 --> 00:07:39.120
Until I had the accident.
00:07:39.160 --> 00:07:47.600
Then I went mute and
totally paralyzed
00:07:51.800 --> 00:07:55.320
and I forgot all the stories.
00:07:59.360 --> 00:08:03.640
My father loved this hand
and that one too.
00:08:04.920 --> 00:08:10.200
I showed it to him one night;
I put it on the table and he was awed by it.
00:08:14.600 --> 00:08:17.920
He shaped me
00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:22.080
but didn’t do the same
with my brother;
00:08:22.120 --> 00:08:25.120
not because he liked my work
better or worse.
00:08:25.160 --> 00:08:28.600
It was just he didn’t see Edu
as someone he could shape,
00:08:29.160 --> 00:08:30.280
but he did see me that way.
00:08:31.600 --> 00:08:35.840
At the beginning, he oriented
my process somehow,
00:08:35.880 --> 00:08:39.120
until I put an end to that.
Because, at one point, I thought:
00:08:39.160 --> 00:08:43.840
\"Ok, sure, I do it well but that is
because he won’t let me fail.
00:08:44.560 --> 00:08:46.680
Anyone could do it
well that way.
00:08:46.720 --> 00:08:49.080
I have to see if I can really
succeed on my own;
00:08:49.120 --> 00:08:51.120
otherwise, this makes no sense”.
00:08:52.040 --> 00:08:56.920
So yes, he shaped me.
I’m part of his work.
00:08:56.960 --> 00:09:00.560
If he ever had a disciple,
that was me.
00:09:00.600 --> 00:09:02.240
I don’t mean that’s because...
00:09:02.960 --> 00:09:05.400
This could get a few
backs up at home...
00:09:05.760 --> 00:09:12.000
I don’t mean that was because
he valued my work more or less,
00:09:12.002 --> 00:09:17.800
but because he could
use in me that way.
00:09:18.600 --> 00:09:21.640
We had this very
cool ball at home,
00:09:21.680 --> 00:09:25.880
and we played with it
all the time.
00:09:25.920 --> 00:09:29.160
My mother used to get so mad
because we used to pass it to one another,
00:09:29.200 --> 00:09:31.400
and we always ended up
thumping at something.
00:09:31.440 --> 00:09:37.320
As he had been a goalkeeper,
he taught us how to block.
00:09:37.360 --> 00:09:43.360
He threw us the ball, “Come on,
body back, hands right here,
00:09:43.400 --> 00:09:47.040
thumbs ready to receive,
the body is left behind so,
00:09:47.080 --> 00:09:51.000
should the ball scape,
it hits you and not the goal”.
00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:54.600
Kids of military men
are usually like that,
00:09:54.640 --> 00:09:57.840
and he was the son, grandson
and great-grandson of military men.
00:09:57.880 --> 00:10:01.560
Some of my pictures
are really crashed
00:10:01.600 --> 00:10:05.920
on their backs because
of that game,
00:10:05.960 --> 00:10:09.080
because the paintings were
hanging all over the house
00:10:09.160 --> 00:10:11.760
and they always got hit.
00:10:11.800 --> 00:10:14.000
He loved fooling around.
00:10:17.600 --> 00:10:20.240
This was typical aita.
00:10:21.800 --> 00:10:24.360
He would have liked it here.
00:10:30.160 --> 00:10:33.320
I remember when I was a kid,
00:10:33.360 --> 00:10:36.400
I used to look at his hand
while he was driving.
00:10:36.440 --> 00:10:39.000
He had a fantastic hand.
00:10:39.002 --> 00:10:40.960
I’m sure my sister
has told you about it
00:10:41.000 --> 00:10:43.840
because Susi loved
aita’s hands.
00:10:46.280 --> 00:10:48.320
It was a lot like mine,
00:10:48.360 --> 00:10:54.680
although his was better,
I think.
00:10:54.760 --> 00:10:59.680
That one and also
the other ones,
00:10:59.720 --> 00:11:05.520
the ones he made, were
better than mine.
00:11:05.560 --> 00:11:10.040
This hands world was something...
I made some of them myself,
00:11:10.080 --> 00:11:14.840
but I forbade that
to myself somehow,
00:11:15.520 --> 00:11:18.200
because it’s something
typical of him.
00:11:18.202 --> 00:11:21.000
It pisses me off because a
hand is one of the most
00:11:21.002 --> 00:11:23.360
interesting parts of
the human body.
00:11:24.560 --> 00:11:28.440
It was a wonderful
snowy day,
00:11:28.442 --> 00:11:32.360
unexpected as snow always
is in San Sebastián,
00:11:32.960 --> 00:11:37.360
and I was lucky enough
to witness this picture,
00:11:37.400 --> 00:11:44.040
with Ulia, our dog, Edu who hadn’t
had the accident yet, and Pedro.
00:11:44.080 --> 00:11:48.240
This beautiful silence
and his funny face.
00:11:48.280 --> 00:11:51.960
He really was a kid inside; there was
something childish in him,
00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:54.120
So true. He had a
subtle sense of humor,
00:11:54.160 --> 00:11:55.720
not acid at all.
00:11:55.760 --> 00:11:58.080
He never hurt anybody,
or run down anyone.
00:11:59.160 --> 00:12:03.880
Well, maybe one time, but he
would give them a good clout...
00:12:04.960 --> 00:12:07.000
a good clout...
00:12:07.002 --> 00:12:09.840
that’s why he liked
boxing so much.
00:12:12.200 --> 00:12:14.920
I had never noticed
this hollow.
00:12:14.960 --> 00:12:16.320
It’s very Chilled too.
00:12:17.280 --> 00:12:19.720
-I was standing there,
by your side.
00:12:19.800 --> 00:12:20.600
-Really?
00:12:20.640 --> 00:12:21.480
-Yeah.
00:12:21.520 --> 00:12:24.760
-I don’t remember you
being there that day.
00:12:24.800 --> 00:12:26.920
- That’s because I had
no game compared
00:12:26.960 --> 00:12:28.040
to your dad and
your brothers.
00:12:33.640 --> 00:12:36.720
The story about how the club
signed him is very nice.
00:12:36.760 --> 00:12:41.240
He was playing at the beach.
He looked like flying.
00:12:41.280 --> 00:12:43.960
And they said:
“There’s a kid there,
00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:47.920
something Chillida,
who is really good”.
00:12:47.960 --> 00:12:50.800
And then the couch of
Real Sociedad football club,
00:12:50.840 --> 00:12:53.160
(who invented the
tactical system
00:12:53.200 --> 00:12:56.080
called “the chain”,
almost before Italians did,
00:12:56.120 --> 00:12:59.720
I can’t remember his name
right now) called him.
00:13:00.360 --> 00:13:03.400
He said Atocha
was muddy as usual,
00:13:03.440 --> 00:13:06.240
and he had no sneakers
or football boots.
00:13:06.280 --> 00:13:08.000
They told him: “Ok kid,
stand right there”.
00:13:08.002 --> 00:13:09.640
He was 18 or 19,
00:13:09.680 --> 00:13:13.280
“Stand right there so we
shoot some balls to you.
00:13:13.282 --> 00:13:16.840
He stayed in front of the goal
and they started to shoot.
00:13:16.880 --> 00:13:18.560
Then this guy said:
“Have him signed”.
00:13:21.000 --> 00:13:23.880
Eduardo retired from football
because of an injury.
00:13:23.882 --> 00:13:26.640
I think it was the first year
he was playing in La Real,
00:13:26.642 --> 00:13:29.560
He injured both his
knees and retired,
00:13:29.640 --> 00:13:34.440
because there were no...
I think he had torn ligaments
00:13:34.442 --> 00:13:36.400
and they wouldn’t fix that
kind of injury back then.
00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:43.560
There was a journalist who
was very shocked that
00:13:43.600 --> 00:13:46.680
I was a goalkeeper before
becoming a sculptor.
00:13:46.720 --> 00:13:48.960
What a stupid thing to say.
00:13:49.000 --> 00:13:51.680
He couldn’t find any connection
between these two things,
00:13:51.720 --> 00:13:54.400
so I made him realise
he was wrong,
00:13:54.402 --> 00:13:59.000
since the space between the
goalposts and the area
00:13:59.040 --> 00:14:02.120
is tridimensional,
it’s a dihedral.
00:14:02.160 --> 00:14:04.080
And there stands
the goalkeeper,
00:14:04.120 --> 00:14:07.360
where every real active football
phenomenon happens.
00:14:07.400 --> 00:14:10.000
Therefore, the goalkeeper
has to develop links
00:14:10.002 --> 00:14:11.640
Therefore, the goalkeeper
has to develop links
00:14:11.680 --> 00:14:15.960
to these two mysteries,
that is, space and time,
00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:19.440
which make me think
that the talents
00:14:19.520 --> 00:14:21.840
that make a good goalkeeper
and a good sculptor
00:14:21.880 --> 00:14:23.320
may be nearly the same.
00:14:43.400 --> 00:14:46.320
That is “Torso”. Here we have
the Greek period,
00:14:46.360 --> 00:14:49.080
his training period in Paris,
00:14:50.520 --> 00:14:54.760
that is the beginning
of his work
00:14:54.800 --> 00:14:58.720
based on Greek
pre-classical art,
00:14:58.760 --> 00:15:01.720
on things he had
never seen before,
00:15:01.760 --> 00:15:04.840
the material
itself: plaster.
00:15:05.880 --> 00:15:09.920
But plaster not used as a
soft material to be molded
00:15:09.960 --> 00:15:13.320
but as a block, as a
stone to be sculpted.
00:15:17.240 --> 00:15:19.240
“Forma” is his
first sculpture.
00:15:20.400 --> 00:15:24.800
Despite this figurative
body part,
00:15:24.880 --> 00:15:28.640
it already has several
empty spaces.
00:15:29.240 --> 00:15:36.960
I think it was something
too beautiful to him;
00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:41.960
something he fought against
throughout its entire lifetime.
00:16:13.160 --> 00:16:17.640
There was this time when one
of Michelangelo’s disciples,
00:16:17.720 --> 00:16:21.960
who was also his lover and kept him
company at the end of his life,
00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:26.440
asked him: “Master, how could I tell
the essence of a sculpture?”
00:16:26.520 --> 00:16:29.480
and Michelangelo told him:
“Just throw it down a hill.
00:16:29.520 --> 00:16:32.600
Take what is left at the end and
you will have its essence”.
00:16:32.640 --> 00:16:34.200
This is the same.
00:16:34.202 --> 00:16:37.600
Life and centuries have
thrown them down the hill
00:16:37.680 --> 00:16:39.400
and we have
what we have.
00:16:39.402 --> 00:16:42.840
Aita found art
this way,
00:16:42.920 --> 00:16:47.080
but he found out
later it didn’t
00:16:47.120 --> 00:16:51.160
work as he thought
it would.
00:16:51.200 --> 00:16:56.120
That this clear,
Mediterranean world
00:16:56.160 --> 00:16:59.000
was no world he
could fish in.
00:16:59.720 --> 00:17:02.680
So I rejected
Greek art radically.
00:17:02.720 --> 00:17:05.400
I knew every piece in
the Louvre by heart.
00:17:05.402 --> 00:17:08.280
This Greek art I knew,
I knew it by heart;
00:17:08.320 --> 00:17:10.200
I was totally buckled
down to it.
00:17:10.240 --> 00:17:12.800
But I decided that
was bad for me
00:17:12.840 --> 00:17:17.240
and I walked pass the
Greek art room,
00:17:17.280 --> 00:17:19.920
covering my eyes with my hands
so I couldn’t see all that.
00:17:19.960 --> 00:17:21.520
-It’s hard to resist
the temptation.
00:17:21.560 --> 00:17:22.920
-It hurt me.
00:17:22.960 --> 00:17:26.000
And I spent many years like
that: totally rejecting that.
00:17:26.040 --> 00:17:29.120
But then one day, I
unexpectedly found a hand
00:17:29.160 --> 00:17:32.080
that was supposed to belong to
the Victory of Sahmothrace’s,
00:17:32.120 --> 00:17:34.440
recently found and
exposed in a showcase.
00:17:34.520 --> 00:17:36.800
I stood there,
captivated,
00:17:36.840 --> 00:17:38.880
and I realised it didn’t
hurt me anymore.
00:17:39.680 --> 00:17:42.840
He always said hands were
00:17:42.880 --> 00:17:47.520
the most multidimensional
part of the human body
00:17:47.560 --> 00:17:53.160
because fingers shape
internal spaces and things;
00:17:53.162 --> 00:17:58.480
there’s no other body part where
that can happen so easily.
00:18:00.440 --> 00:18:03.880
It was so nice
watching him draw
00:18:03.960 --> 00:18:07.320
because he put his hand
in this or that position
00:18:07.322 --> 00:18:12.000
and used to choose a Rotring
or some drawing pen
00:18:12.040 --> 00:18:14.480
and went totally vertical.
00:18:14.560 --> 00:18:18.320
He wouldn\'t hold the pen like this,
he held it like this;
00:18:18.322 --> 00:18:23.040
he started from a corner and
a whole hand was created.
00:18:23.042 --> 00:18:29.040
He wouldn’t stop at any time,
and he got it done.
00:18:29.042 --> 00:18:34.040
These moments were...
I always thought
00:18:34.042 --> 00:18:36.800
even birds went quiet
when he was doing that.
00:18:36.840 --> 00:18:39.720
Watching how the
drawing slowly emerged
00:18:39.760 --> 00:18:41.800
was something magical.
00:18:41.840 --> 00:18:45.840
It was the most impressive
thing I ever saw him do.
00:19:51.680 --> 00:19:54.760
On a train like this,
coming back from Paris,
00:19:57.120 --> 00:20:02.000
looking at the sea, going closer to
the French Basque Country,
00:20:02.002 --> 00:20:06.040
he suddenly realised
what was the element
00:20:06.080 --> 00:20:08.440
which wouldn’t
let him progress,
00:20:08.520 --> 00:20:11.800
which was preventing him
from surrendering to
00:20:11.840 --> 00:20:15.360
Greek art and
things like that,
00:20:15.362 --> 00:20:19.600
to the clarity of Brancusi
or Medardo Rosso,
00:20:19.680 --> 00:20:22.240
that were artists
he admired:
00:20:23.000 --> 00:20:24.120
it was light.
00:20:24.160 --> 00:20:25.720
It was a different light.
00:20:25.760 --> 00:20:30.320
His light was darker,
more Atlantic,
00:20:30.322 --> 00:20:33.000
of other nature,
less defining.
00:20:33.760 --> 00:20:37.880
As a solution,
he found iron,
00:20:37.920 --> 00:20:42.200
which was like going back
to the typical Basque somehow,
00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:45.840
back to tradition,
to the tools
00:20:45.880 --> 00:20:50.080
to get that kind of black
light he was looking for.
00:21:17.000 --> 00:21:21.240
I came back here and shut
myself in a little town,
00:21:21.280 --> 00:21:23.000
in Hernani, where I met
this blacksmith.
00:21:23.040 --> 00:21:25.600
When I walked
into that forge,
00:21:25.640 --> 00:21:27.560
the difference
I found between
00:21:27.600 --> 00:21:29.040
the iron I knew
from museums,
00:21:29.080 --> 00:21:31.000
maybe because of the environment
surrounding the sculptures,
00:21:31.040 --> 00:21:33.440
and the real iron,
the iron in a horseshoe,
00:21:34.120 --> 00:21:36.440
the smell in that forge...
00:21:37.040 --> 00:21:41.000
All that made me find out
a telluric world,
00:21:41.002 --> 00:21:43.560
totally different from
what I used to see
00:21:43.562 --> 00:21:45.400
at museums and galleries.
00:22:47.440 --> 00:22:50.640
His work before Paris
00:22:51.560 --> 00:22:54.000
consists of pieces
focused on the form:
00:22:54.002 --> 00:22:57.600
“Torso” and “Concreción”
were formal works.
00:22:57.640 --> 00:22:59.440
Here, sculpture
on itself,
00:22:59.442 --> 00:23:01.960
its title,
Rounded Around,
00:23:02.000 --> 00:23:04.720
lets us know that
the sculpture
00:23:04.760 --> 00:23:06.960
consists not only
of these sickles,
00:23:07.000 --> 00:23:10.880
but everything inside,
outside and around them.
00:23:10.920 --> 00:23:13.360
Long story short: space.
00:23:14.280 --> 00:23:19.040
I think in this work we may see
every ulterior work.
00:23:21.440 --> 00:23:24.160
Here we have something
from “Tindaya”,
00:23:24.200 --> 00:23:26.280
“Lo Profundo Es el Aire”,
\"Mendi Huts\"...
00:23:27.200 --> 00:23:30.200
He used to say his work
was like a spiral
00:23:30.240 --> 00:23:33.240
in which he passed by the
same spaces and places
00:23:33.280 --> 00:23:34.360
many times, but each time
at a different height
00:23:34.400 --> 00:23:37.280
many times, but each time
at a different height
00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:42.480
in terms of training,
compromise and work,
00:23:42.520 --> 00:23:46.640
and all of this made up
different works.
00:24:07.160 --> 00:24:11.120
The economic aspect is something
constant in everyone’s world.
00:24:11.160 --> 00:24:14.120
There has to be someone
in charge of it and,
00:24:14.160 --> 00:24:15.800
of course, that
had to be me.
00:24:15.840 --> 00:24:19.120
The truth is I already knew
before getting married
00:24:19.160 --> 00:24:21.400
that we wouldn’t be earning
any money in a long time.
00:24:21.440 --> 00:24:24.840
My mother wanted to
make embroidered table
00:24:24.920 --> 00:24:28.200
linens for me, and I told her:
“Mum, please, I may not even have
00:24:28.240 --> 00:24:30.640
anything to put on
top of it. Forget it”.
00:24:31.440 --> 00:24:33.440
So I got married
being aware of
00:24:33.520 --> 00:24:35.200
what I was letting
myself in for.
00:24:35.202 --> 00:24:38.200
I was absolutely
sure because
00:24:38.240 --> 00:24:42.880
I never doubted Eduardo
would be a great sculptor.
00:24:46.520 --> 00:24:49.840
Sitting there, smoking a
pipe in a dark corner
00:24:49.880 --> 00:24:53.000
of a huge warehouse,
I saw a giant machine
00:24:53.040 --> 00:24:55.760
they were trying to move
using several cranes.
00:24:57.000 --> 00:24:59.680
I saw this space in
the huge warehouse
00:24:59.720 --> 00:25:05.280
gravitating over this piece,
over this machine,
00:25:05.282 --> 00:25:08.120
flattening it
against the floor.
00:25:08.160 --> 00:25:11.880
This is an irrational
reading, apparently.
00:25:11.920 --> 00:25:14.800
And suddenly, I see
wires tightening,
00:25:14.840 --> 00:25:17.280
and the piece raises
from the ground
00:25:17.320 --> 00:25:20.000
and the whole space
it’s flattening
00:25:20.040 --> 00:25:21.880
goes down and
helps it rise.
00:25:25.840 --> 00:25:27.080
-Lorenzo, how are you?
00:25:27.120 --> 00:25:28.120
-How are you, Luis?
00:25:28.160 --> 00:25:28.920
-Hi.
00:25:28.960 --> 00:25:29.680
-I’m fine.
00:25:29.720 --> 00:25:31.000
-Right.
00:25:31.440 --> 00:25:34.440
I was thinking that
considering the possibility
00:25:34.520 --> 00:25:38.720
of defying gravity
is the most...
00:25:39.160 --> 00:25:42.480
I mean, gravity
affects us all,
00:25:42.560 --> 00:25:46.840
and suddenly this piece
frees itself from it.
00:25:47.960 --> 00:25:51.920
Searching, fighting,
winning quarrels.
00:25:51.960 --> 00:25:53.720
He was always fighting.
00:25:53.760 --> 00:25:56.000
Fighting against Newton,
as he used to say.
00:25:56.002 --> 00:25:58.880
After all, Newton is
what puts us all together,
00:25:58.920 --> 00:26:01.320
the reason why we’re all
stacked to the ground.
00:26:02.360 --> 00:26:04.320
I remember that, when
he talked about concrete,
00:26:04.360 --> 00:26:05.960
he used to say they
were works
00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:09.560
emerging inside out, as
rocks in nature were made.
00:26:09.600 --> 00:26:11.080
How are rocks created?
00:26:11.120 --> 00:26:13.080
A cavity is filled through
millions of years
00:26:13.120 --> 00:26:14.560
and finally becomes stone.
00:26:14.640 --> 00:26:18.760
It is as if matter was
working for Chillida,
00:26:18.800 --> 00:26:21.400
and not the other
way round.
00:26:22.520 --> 00:26:23.960
Look, how much
does it weight?
00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:25.880
Nine tons, right?
00:26:29.000 --> 00:26:30.920
We could carry it
away together,
00:26:31.640 --> 00:26:33.520
lifting it up a little.
00:26:34.120 --> 00:26:36.000
Yes, come on, try!
00:26:44.840 --> 00:26:47.640
I was \"mon petit\"
to Aimee Maeght,
00:26:47.680 --> 00:26:49.640
I was the youngest
artist in the gallery.
00:26:49.680 --> 00:26:52.880
The youngest one by far
because, you know...
00:26:52.920 --> 00:26:59.000
Miró, Brac, Chagall,
Giacometti...
00:26:59.040 --> 00:27:02.240
All of them were
oldest than me.
00:27:09.040 --> 00:27:11.720
-Hi, Ignacio!
-Hello!
00:27:11.760 --> 00:27:12.760
-How are you?
00:27:12.800 --> 00:27:15.160
-So many good memories!
00:27:15.200 --> 00:27:17.640
You will let me drive,
won’t you?
00:27:18.640 --> 00:27:19.640
Let’s go!
00:27:20.560 --> 00:27:25.800
Come on! Let’s go
for a ride!
00:27:26.680 --> 00:27:27.720
-Where are you going?
00:27:27.760 --> 00:27:30.800
-We’re going for a ride.
We’ll be back soon.
00:27:37.840 --> 00:27:40.760
-Has the car
enough gasoline?
00:27:40.800 --> 00:27:44.680
-Yes, there is enough.
Bye, dad!
00:27:46.800 --> 00:27:49.160
-It works!
-Let’s go!
00:27:54.520 --> 00:27:56.480
Miró once said:
00:27:56.520 --> 00:27:59.840
“Modern soul is falling
into decadence since cavemen”.
00:28:01.040 --> 00:28:04.240
There’s a red line.
Why should we classify
00:28:04.280 --> 00:28:07.440
and be restricted
by an ideology
00:28:07.520 --> 00:28:12.800
when every one of us has
their own way of working?
00:28:12.840 --> 00:28:18.080
Exactly! How could
we explain the world
00:28:18.120 --> 00:28:22.400
something new if everything
has already been invented?
00:28:24.040 --> 00:28:31.200
I love to do this, as if a
new sculpture emerged.
00:28:32.520 --> 00:28:35.600
This happens where we live
because it rains frequently.
00:28:58.120 --> 00:29:00.760
Look how wonderful!
00:29:00.800 --> 00:29:02.600
The beauty of nature...
00:29:03.920 --> 00:29:09.200
What I like most here is
I feel wonderful.
00:29:09.240 --> 00:29:13.280
I’m not a nostalgic person;
life goes on.
00:29:13.320 --> 00:29:16.960
It’s life of your and
my childhood!
00:29:17.000 --> 00:29:19.080
This is the only house
which stands.
00:29:20.360 --> 00:29:23.600
It’s really awesome;
I remember everything
00:29:23.680 --> 00:29:26.800
we used to do here.
00:29:28.360 --> 00:29:33.880
Even Madame Kandinsky
with Miró, right here.
00:29:33.920 --> 00:29:36.400
The two of them
standing back there,
00:29:36.440 --> 00:29:38.080
and she always holding
her umbrella.
00:29:38.120 --> 00:29:40.080
There are so many anecdotes,
and even some accident!
00:29:40.120 --> 00:29:41.640
Can you see that cloud?
00:29:41.680 --> 00:29:42.520
Yes.
00:29:42.680 --> 00:29:45.480
During the day, the
weather is so nice.
00:29:45.520 --> 00:29:47.800
But then at night,
the storm bursts.
00:29:47.840 --> 00:29:50.000
It’s a very violent thing
and, as it is so old,
00:29:50.002 --> 00:29:51.560
the house trembles
from its foundations.
00:29:53.440 --> 00:29:55.440
Well...
00:29:56.640 --> 00:30:04.360
It was so nice when kids
were working in those lines
00:30:04.362 --> 00:30:10.520
we made on sieves. These papers
are really magnificent.
00:30:11.880 --> 00:30:14.160
It was a very beautiful idea.
00:30:14.720 --> 00:30:18.000
Maybe the word is not “beautiful”,
00:30:18.160 --> 00:30:21.240
we should avoid that word
when talking about art.
00:30:21.840 --> 00:30:22.880
At least, when it
comes to Chillida;
00:30:22.920 --> 00:30:24.800
I cannot speak for anyone else.
00:30:25.640 --> 00:30:28.880
There was this thing he used to say
when talking about gravitations:
00:30:28.920 --> 00:30:33.480
“Listen, gravitations, as the
name suggests,
00:30:33.520 --> 00:30:38.080
fight against their own weight,
against Newton.
00:30:38.800 --> 00:30:43.000
Any gravitation, even
smaller than this one,
00:30:44.240 --> 00:30:45.880
keeps its own weight.
00:30:52.760 --> 00:30:55.040
Yes, we made paper
from this one
00:30:55.080 --> 00:30:57.440
and it’s very beautiful, it
has so much transparency.
00:30:59.400 --> 00:31:05.400
You can remove all these wax
and lignin in the plant
00:31:05.440 --> 00:31:08.880
and you get clean fiber.
00:32:20.240 --> 00:32:24.240
This is the paper Chillida liked
to make the gravitations.
00:32:24.280 --> 00:32:30.400
We had an old handmade
wire netting
00:32:30.440 --> 00:32:36.440
we found it suitable to make
a paper frame for our infant son.
00:32:37.440 --> 00:32:42.400
He had just finished and it was
on the table when he arrived,
00:32:42.440 --> 00:32:47.800
and he liked it very much,
and I get why he liked it,
00:32:47.880 --> 00:32:53.320
because the lines are so
beautifully blended together.
00:32:53.360 --> 00:32:59.280
There’s something about freedom,
rhythm and musicality in them.
00:32:59.320 --> 00:33:05.320
Sometimes, mistakes were so good
that he wanted us to reproduce them,
00:33:05.360 --> 00:33:07.080
and that’s the hardest
thing to do.
00:34:39.040 --> 00:34:45.440
These doors... at that time,
it was a real adventure because,
00:34:45.520 --> 00:34:49.680
when he made these doors, people
were less open to this kind of things.
00:34:49.720 --> 00:34:53.000
They told him:
“You abandoned mankind”.
00:34:53.002 --> 00:34:55.200
They didn’t like it at all.
00:34:57.800 --> 00:35:01.000
I don’t need to touch
a sculpture to feel him...
00:35:01.720 --> 00:35:04.280
I just need to touch myself.
00:35:33.440 --> 00:35:37.000
Eduardo, do you have doubts
about that foundation
00:35:37.040 --> 00:35:42.160
you want to create in Zabalaga
and bequeath to the Basque people?
00:35:42.200 --> 00:35:45.560
Is there still time to
overcome the obstacles
00:35:45.640 --> 00:35:47.560
that make unfeasible
to do that?
00:35:47.600 --> 00:35:50.600
I don’t know.
I’m not sure at all about that.
00:35:50.640 --> 00:35:55.560
I wanted to do it and now
I feel disappointed
00:35:55.600 --> 00:35:59.080
because I think there’s
no response.
00:35:59.120 --> 00:36:02.440
There is, of course,
response of the people.
00:36:02.520 --> 00:36:04.920
Many people tell me:
“How is it going?”
00:36:04.960 --> 00:36:11.160
But those who could realize
and support what I want to do
00:36:11.200 --> 00:36:13.520
there have not realized anything.
00:37:38.120 --> 00:37:43.440
A mountain hiding
something inside.
00:37:45.560 --> 00:37:49.440
A space for all men.
00:38:06.040 --> 00:38:09.120
I had this idea.
I thought it was utopic;
00:38:09.160 --> 00:38:15.000
a lot of these alabasters
were even first outlines, projects,
00:38:15.040 --> 00:38:17.320
so I could build a
mountain someday.
00:38:17.360 --> 00:38:20.400
But that seemed to me a
utopia of such magnitude...
00:38:20.440 --> 00:38:24.480
I woke up one night
(I have talked about this several times),
00:38:24.560 --> 00:38:26.360
I usually wake up at night
00:38:26.362 --> 00:38:28.960
and all ideas come to me at
four in the morning or so.
00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.400
And suddenly, I told to myself:
Why should this be a utopia?
00:38:34.440 --> 00:38:40.960
If the mountain I build has
appropriate stone, a good stone...
00:38:41.000 --> 00:38:46.000
Besides, as it happens,
what mining workers want
00:38:46.040 --> 00:38:49.200
is stone, and I just want
the space left behind,
00:38:49.240 --> 00:38:50.800
why wouldn’t we reach
an agreement?
00:38:53.160 --> 00:38:58.120
Here I have what is left from the
essays we made in Tindaya.
00:39:04.960 --> 00:39:09.400
This is a stone we took
there at the beginning.
00:39:09.440 --> 00:39:13.760
The main trouble when laying
the foundations of a mountain
00:39:13.840 --> 00:39:16.840
is this kind of fissures.
00:39:18.000 --> 00:39:25.120
It has joints and it works as a kind of
castle made of sugar cubes.
00:39:25.160 --> 00:39:28.880
So it’s ruled by discontinuity.
00:39:30.160 --> 00:39:33.960
In the end, the pressure exerted
by the mountain itself
00:39:34.000 --> 00:39:35.160
is what makes this possible.
00:39:35.200 --> 00:39:39.880
That’s it, there’s an underlying
pressure there and,
00:39:39.920 --> 00:39:43.840
when digging, we have to
keep that pressure.
00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:58.920
I have always lived
somehow isolated.
00:39:58.960 --> 00:40:02.200
Well, I’ve got many friends,
I have met a lot of people
00:40:02.760 --> 00:40:04.640
but I live isolated.
00:40:05.760 --> 00:40:09.680
The only person I
have really had a real
00:40:09.720 --> 00:40:12.840
special relationship with,
is Pili. All my life.
00:40:12.880 --> 00:40:16.840
Pili and I have spent our
whole lives together.
00:40:18.280 --> 00:40:21.640
Eduardo loved me
very, very much
00:40:22.680 --> 00:40:26.320
I never told him
anything at all.
00:40:26.322 --> 00:40:30.920
I helped him,
always believed in him.
00:40:31.360 --> 00:40:35.680
I told him: “Eduardo, this thing
you’re working in now...”
00:40:35.760 --> 00:40:40.920
because his work didn’t have
anything to do with the human body,
00:40:40.960 --> 00:40:44.480
or with this or that anymore.
It was something else.
00:40:44.520 --> 00:40:49.840
There had not been
anything like that here.
00:40:49.880 --> 00:40:54.200
And I told him: “Look, Eduardo,
if you do it and you like it,
00:40:54.240 --> 00:40:57.200
keep doing it. I like it too”.
“Oh, Ok then”.
00:40:58.840 --> 00:41:04.560
So we were lucky enough to
find each other from childhood.
00:41:08.000 --> 00:41:12.080
She is a woman I have
always felt close...
00:41:12.120 --> 00:41:15.800
In the right moment.
She was a visionary,
00:41:15.840 --> 00:41:19.080
she was ahead of her time.
00:41:19.120 --> 00:41:21.480
At the beginning, when
they had no money,
00:41:21.560 --> 00:41:25.320
she would have given up our heating
rather than aita’s iron.
00:41:26.760 --> 00:41:30.520
And one day the youngest of us
—who was that? Anyone, or all of us—
00:41:30.560 --> 00:41:34.320
was in the garden, in the sun.
It started raining and suddenly:
00:41:34.322 --> 00:41:36.680
“Where is Maruchita?”
Well, maybe not you,
00:41:36.760 --> 00:41:38.760
because you hadn’t been born yet.
“Where is Susanita?”
00:41:38.800 --> 00:41:40.680
In Hernani.
And Susanita was lying there,
00:41:40.720 --> 00:41:45.440
sucking raindrops falling
on her face.
00:41:45.442 --> 00:41:51.960
We got so many colds in
the house in Hernani.
00:41:52.000 --> 00:41:54.800
I think we were always
chilled back then...
00:41:54.840 --> 00:41:57.120
You bet. Because we
had no heating.
00:41:57.160 --> 00:41:59.760
We had nothing.
They lend us the house,
00:41:59.800 --> 00:42:03.520
gave us food... and she
put up with all that.
00:42:05.320 --> 00:42:07.600
She dealt with it with
her proud intact,
00:42:07.680 --> 00:42:11.000
with great dignity
because learning to...
00:42:11.002 --> 00:42:13.920
that marked her.
She was right for...
00:42:13.960 --> 00:42:15.000
She was austere.
00:42:15.600 --> 00:42:16.640
Very austere.
00:42:16.680 --> 00:42:19.200
They both were very austere
in everything they did.
00:42:22.360 --> 00:42:24.120
Where do waves come from?
00:42:24.680 --> 00:42:27.600
I went home and looked
at the maps.
00:42:27.640 --> 00:42:30.080
I used to calculate the
direction and thought:
00:42:30.120 --> 00:42:33.920
“Waves have to come from
Labrador Peninsula,
00:42:33.960 --> 00:42:38.040
more or less,
given the direction”.
00:42:38.080 --> 00:42:41.600
I was a kid but I was
thrilled with the idea
00:42:41.640 --> 00:42:44.120
of knowing where the
waves came from.
00:42:44.160 --> 00:42:46.760
I mean, I was already working
in “el Peine del Viento”
00:42:46.762 --> 00:42:50.760
although I haven\'t found
\"El Peine del Viento\"
00:42:50.800 --> 00:42:55.360
or sculpture itself yet but,
I’m a disciple of the sea.
00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:02.800
There is this anecdote with the sea.
00:43:02.840 --> 00:43:05.640
We were on a boat,
at the Mediterranean Sea
00:43:06.760 --> 00:43:09.560
and we made a stop near
the island of Mykonos.
00:43:10.040 --> 00:43:12.880
That night, aita disappeared.
00:43:14.040 --> 00:43:16.000
He woke up and disappeared.
00:43:16.920 --> 00:43:22.120
At one point, we almost thought
he had been swallowed up by the sea,
00:43:22.160 --> 00:43:26.360
that he had went into the sea.
We didn’t know what had happened.
00:43:27.280 --> 00:43:30.680
It was a very tense moment,
very hard,
00:43:30.760 --> 00:43:33.640
because we couldn’t
find him anywhere.
00:43:33.680 --> 00:43:36.360
And finally, he came back.
00:43:36.362 --> 00:43:39.040
He had got off the boat
and walked in mainland.
00:43:39.080 --> 00:43:41.880
He was a little bit bruised because
he banged into some rocks.
00:43:42.520 --> 00:43:48.640
He probably went at night, or at sunrise,
to visit the cliffs of Mykonos.
00:43:49.320 --> 00:43:52.560
We don’t really know, because
he never told us what happened,
00:43:52.640 --> 00:43:54.280
but he came back bruised.
00:43:54.282 --> 00:43:58.160
He was an early riser;
he used to wake up soon,
00:43:59.000 --> 00:44:01.920
he liked to get up early
to watch the sea.
00:44:01.960 --> 00:44:05.200
He liked to go down to \"El Peine\",
to the rocks, at sunrise.
00:44:05.240 --> 00:44:09.760
I think in Mykonos something
called him, the sea called him,
00:44:09.800 --> 00:44:13.400
the cliffs in that island
were calling him,
00:44:13.402 --> 00:44:16.200
and that was the moment
we started to see
00:44:16.240 --> 00:44:18.240
something bad was
happening to him.
00:44:22.000 --> 00:44:24.920
Before that event,
we were having dinner
00:44:24.922 --> 00:44:28.160
in a beautiful place
by the sea and suddenly,
00:44:28.200 --> 00:44:31.640
he stood up and said:
“Well, I’m going home”.
00:44:31.720 --> 00:44:35.520
We told him: “What do you mean
home? We are in Greece”.
00:44:35.560 --> 00:44:38.200
And he said:
“No, my house is right there”.
00:44:38.202 --> 00:44:42.760
and I was like: “He thinks
home is here. Oh, my God, poor thing”.
00:44:44.640 --> 00:44:48.640
At that moment, if there were
any lingering doubt about it,
00:44:49.560 --> 00:44:53.000
if there were any doubt on whether
something was wrong, it faded away.
00:44:53.002 --> 00:44:56.360
He looked very
absent-minded, sad.
00:44:56.400 --> 00:44:58.080
It was Alzheimer’s...
00:44:58.120 --> 00:44:59.920
He would repeat
things all the time.
00:44:59.960 --> 00:45:02.120
He began to read a lot
about himself, to know who he was;
00:45:02.160 --> 00:45:04.840
he didn’t know
who he was anymore.
00:45:04.842 --> 00:45:06.560
He read to know who he was.
00:46:09.120 --> 00:46:12.120
“At this point, Eduardo
had already passed away.
00:46:12.960 --> 00:46:15.600
I was not the same
Pili anymore.
00:46:17.160 --> 00:46:20.040
The years go by but I don’t
know how to keep living”.
00:46:22.360 --> 00:46:24.520
And she never learnt.
00:46:24.600 --> 00:46:26.320
Until she forgot about everything,
00:46:27.240 --> 00:46:29.120
until she lost all her memories.
00:47:26.080 --> 00:47:28.280
From his first work “Forma”,
00:47:29.440 --> 00:47:33.920
which had a hole
inside her belly,
00:47:35.280 --> 00:47:37.080
there were many works.
00:47:38.000 --> 00:47:42.440
Then we had Jorge Guillén’s verse
“The Depth of Air”.
00:47:44.120 --> 00:47:48.440
All his works looked for
that hole, that hollow,
00:47:51.560 --> 00:47:56.320
that space inside them,
and then we have the scale.
00:47:57.320 --> 00:48:01.640
Here, in “Elogio del Horizonte” ,
scale tells us a lot,
00:48:01.720 --> 00:48:04.000
it puts us in our place,
00:48:04.640 --> 00:48:08.720
not only with respect to the
horizon but to the cosmos,
00:48:09.520 --> 00:48:10.960
to the sky.
00:48:12.040 --> 00:48:18.280
Maybe at this scale, although
the work is huge or impressive,
00:48:18.320 --> 00:48:20.840
it doesn’t seem so
when you look at it.
00:48:20.880 --> 00:48:24.280
because everything
around it is huge:
00:48:24.320 --> 00:48:26.120
the immensity of horizon
00:48:26.720 --> 00:48:31.000
which to aita was homeland
of every man.
Distributor: Pragda Films
Length: 52 minutes
Date: 2016
Genre: Expository
Language: Spanish; English
Grade: Middle School, High School, College, Adults
Color/BW:
Closed Captioning: Available
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