Etel Adnan : “It was a little catastrophe that maybe prevented a bigger one”

15 May 2020
Paris (FR)

Etel Adnan, artist 
In conversation with:
Maja Hoffmann, Founder and President Luma Foundation, Luma Westbau, Luma Arles
Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director, Serpentine Galleries, Core Group, Luma Arles

As part of the It's Urgent! exhibition for which Etel Adnan has imagined a poster, Maja Hoffmann and Hans Ulrich Obrist mention the topics that inspire the artist on a daily basis. 
Through a conference given by Etel in 2014, in which she expressed the future in such a visionary way, they are discussing the transformations experienced as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. In this video, Etel Adnan shares her opinion on this unsual period, but also approaches in a philosophical way the relationship she has with the city of Arles, the Luma project, the architecture and the environment.

“The trees are resurrecting, the benches are waiting. The tree came back to life, stopped crying, like we will all do. Times are hard, but in the '60s, we were singing ‘We shall overcome’, and we did. Good things repeat themselves, like spring does.”
Etel Adnan

Etel Adnan
Etel Adnan is an American-Lebanese poet, writer, and visual artist. She taught the philosophy of art at Dominican University of California, in San Rafael, for several years, and lectured at several universities in the United States.