Following the success of Future Relic 03, the third post-apocalyptic installment of the film series which premiered at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, Daniel Arsham is revealing his newest Future Relic alongside Galerie Perrotin at the Frieze Art Fair, which opened to the public today.
At Frieze, Daniel Arsham also brings a new technique to his signature static objects, which are cast in volcanic rock and crystal and have taken the form of guitars, clocks, and even Pharrell’s first Casio keyboard. Taking a full year to complete, the newest edition is a 1993 Bulls Starter Jacket made of pulverized quartz crystal, which appears as if worn by an invisible body.
We caught up with Daniel to pick his brain on his diverse realms of work, visions of the future, and experiences collaborating with Pharrell and Merce Cunningham.
MONIKA GILMORE: Congratulations on the third edition of Future Relic! In terms of storytelling, has this series been an evolving narrative, or was it a comprehensive vision that you decided to break into nine pieces?
DANIEL ARSHAM: This film really began after a trip that I made to Easter Island. I was there painting the famous Moai statues. There were some archeologists excavating some Moia that had already been excavated hundreds of years ago, and they discovered things that the archeologists previously overlooked. In looking at this, I realized there was this sort of confusion of time between the two different periods. And when I returned I began making contemporary objects cast in geological materials, almost as if they had been discovered in the future and brought back in time. The film derived from that idea. I wanted to create a series of films that would link together the objects, and be released almost in chapters. These chapters introduce the audience into this future world, but they don’t know much about it until they have seen a number of the chapters.
The concept of a civilization lost could evoke panic and despair, yet your film establishes a sense of quiet calm and an appreciation of moments passed—much like your objects. What inspires your idea of the future?
This film takes place entirely in the future. My vision of the future is derived from the past in many ways. A lot of the locations I have chosen are pivotal architectural landmarks. Bell Laboratories, designed by Eero Saarinen in 1962, was used as a location in Future Relic 03. So was a John Lautner house, the Sheats-Goldstein residence. I feel like when I’m depicting the future, I often try to make it appear somewhat pedestrian. I don’t want to take it too far away from the present. I feel like this is a mistake often made—that the future is foreign from now. There are still things around now that were around 50 to 100 years ago. Architecture still looks a certain way and these remnants of the past are still around.
It’s hard not to notice the level of detail in the film. From the Kaws objects to the Converse and Hender Schemes kicks, they’re all so deliberate.
I went to my son’s room and took a bunch of toys and things that were in there. Kaws is a good friend and we show at the same gallery. The costume design for Future Relic 03 was done by Borre [Akkersdijk]. He’s the one that actually
At Frieze, Daniel Arsham also brings a new technique to his signature static objects, which are cast in volcanic rock and crystal and have taken the form of guitars, clocks, and even Pharrell’s first Casio keyboard. Taking a full year to complete, the newest edition is a 1993 Bulls Starter Jacket made of pulverized quartz crystal, which appears as if worn by an invisible body.
We caught up with Daniel to pick his brain on his diverse realms of work, visions of the future, and experiences collaborating with Pharrell and Merce Cunningham.
MONIKA GILMORE: Congratulations on the third edition of Future Relic! In terms of storytelling, has this series been an evolving narrative, or was it a comprehensive vision that you decided to break into nine pieces?
DANIEL ARSHAM: This film really began after a trip that I made to Easter Island. I was there painting the famous Moai statues. There were some archeologists excavating some Moia that had already been excavated hundreds of years ago, and they discovered things that the archeologists previously overlooked. In looking at this, I realized there was this sort of confusion of time between the two different periods. And when I returned I began making contemporary objects cast in geological materials, almost as if they had been discovered in the future and brought back in time. The film derived from that idea. I wanted to create a series of films that would link together the objects, and be released almost in chapters. These chapters introduce the audience into this future world, but they don’t know much about it until they have seen a number of the chapters.
The concept of a civilization lost could evoke panic and despair, yet your film establishes a sense of quiet calm and an appreciation of moments passed—much like your objects. What inspires your idea of the future?
This film takes place entirely in the future. My vision of the future is derived from the past in many ways. A lot of the locations I have chosen are pivotal architectural landmarks. Bell Laboratories, designed by Eero Saarinen in 1962, was used as a location in Future Relic 03. So was a John Lautner house, the Sheats-Goldstein residence. I feel like when I’m depicting the future, I often try to make it appear somewhat pedestrian. I don’t want to take it too far away from the present. I feel like this is a mistake often made—that the future is foreign from now. There are still things around now that were around 50 to 100 years ago. Architecture still looks a certain way and these remnants of the past are still around.
It’s hard not to notice the level of detail in the film. From the Kaws objects to the Converse and Hender Schemes kicks, they’re all so deliberate.
I went to my son’s room and took a bunch of toys and things that were in there. Kaws is a good friend and we show at the same gallery. The costume design for Future Relic 03 was done by Borre [Akkersdijk]. He’s the one that actually