anatsui at work: eight short films

Anatsui at Work: Eight Short Films

for museums and classrooms (28 minutes)

These swift, instructive shorts accompany the feature length Fold Crumple Crush. They show Anatsui demonstrating his artistic process, and discussing his theories in concise sequences on specific media and ideas. They are designed for use either as stand-alone statements, or as a 26 minute film. Anatsui at Work, shot on three continents over two years with Fold Crumple Crush, contains little duplication of the longer film aside from condensed sequences of the artist’s studio. The eight shorts present Anatsui’s comments as he creates in Nsukka and installs one of his most ambitious works on the façade of the Palazzo Fortuny Museum in Venice. The sections are:

Materials –

From the Environment 4:54)

Tin Can Lids –

Shaping and Reshaping (3:26)

Pottery –

Tradition and Modernity (2:43)


The Studio Process –

Many Hands (4:42)

Wood –

The Non-fixed Form (3:55)

Composing –

Shifting and Arranging (3:52)


Monumental Sculpture –

University of Nigeria Nsukka (1:48)

The Nomadic Aesthetic –

Freedom to Move [Palazzo Fortuny] (3:33)