GDGDA, 2011
Tacita Dean
United Kingdom, b. 1965, active United States
Two 16mm color films, mute, looped
4 minutes; 3 minutes
Courtesy of the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York/Paris; Frith Street Gallery, London With: Julie Mehretu and Erika Fortner, Cormac Graham, Eric Kuhl, and Damien Young; camera: Tacita Dean; assistant: Ariane Pauls; rushes: Geyer, Berlin; neg cut: Reel Skill Film Cutting Ltd; first printed by: Soho Film Lab, London, with thanks to Len Thornton; installation: Kenneth Graham, KS Objectiv; originated on: Kodak Motion Picture Film; with thanks: Julie Mehretu and her studio assistants, Jessica Rankin and Mathew Hale; filmed on location at Julie Mehretu Studio, Ludwig Loewe Höfe, Berlin
© Tacita Dean
In GDGDA Tacita Dean captures Mehretu working in her studio, offering spectators a glimpse into a practice that is often shrouded and solitary. The camera looks over Mehretu’s shoulder as she works deliberately and intensely on Mural, a monumental corporate commission, in Lower Manhattan; “GDGDA” translates to “wall” or “mural” in Amharic, one of the Semitic languages of Ethiopia.
With this and similar works, Dean endeavors to create a new kind of biographical film, based on observation rather than narration. Simultaneously, she carries on the tradition of artists documenting one another in the midst of creation.