LOGLINE

ARTISTS DID THIS! reveals how artists and determined neighbors reclaimed 1970s –‘80s New York, transforming abandoned spaces into cultural hubs.

SYNOPSIS

ARTISTS DID THIS! reveals how artists and determined neighbors reclaimed 1970s –‘80s New York, transforming abandoned spaces into cultural hubs. Led by Mark di Suvero and visionary women, they proved art can reshape cities – a fight that continues today. Rare archival footage showcases creativity’s enduring power to redefine urban life.

ARTISTIC STATEMENT

New York City is - and has always been - a rapidly changing landscape. This is especially true of the last decades as real estate developers have taken advantage of the resurgence in the city's economy to build increasingly audacious projects. An important part of our history, though, are the cultural movements and personalities that helped fuel these changes. The sculptor Mark di Suvero and other artists lived in a crumbling 17th Century seaport storehouse with no hot water, heat or electricity where he worked with kids from a nearby housing project to make toys and sculptures that would be fundamental to his world-renowned career. Anita Contini lived next to Mark and pioneered Art on the Beach that held exhibitions and performances on the landfill that would become Battery Park City. Civil servants including Ronay Menschel and Margaret Morton worked inside city government to enable public art projects that not only brought communities together but cleverly made areas safer and more locally reliant. As filmmakers, telling these largely unexplored stories is fundamental to a mission of enriching the history of New York City. We are at a key inflection point for this film — Many of the central characters are of advanced age, and these narratives need to be captured as soon as possible. Furthermore, the aesthetics of the pre-digital age will give this story visual punch, grit and voices from that time. We not only have never before seen archives of VHS, Hi-8 and other format video of vibrant performances and installations in the 1970s and 80s but also beautifully staged 16 and 35mm shots of monumental installations and sculpture around the city and the world. We will take full advantage of these archival goldmines. Finally, we have current stories that perfectly echo the previous cultural movements. One with Rosa Chang and the Gotham Park effort in NYC, and we are connected via Jamie Bennett to few incubating out side the city. Footage is in hand and growing, so now is the time tell the story about grassroots urban renewal in increasingly crowded cities that are in the midst of an affordability crisis. Have developers come to see that public space and public art are incentives or burdens - or a mixture of both? What is the legacy of urban visionaries and artists in today's New York City? ARTISTS DID THIS! will explore these stories and themes with texture, drama, humor and the grit that makes New York one of the most vibrant places on earth.

KEY CREW

Williams Cole - Director

Williams Cole has been producing, directing and editing documentary film for nearly 25 years. Feature-length producing credits include "Gumbo Coalition" (2022, produced with Academy Award winner Barbara Kopple), Sundance premieres "Finding Fela!" (2014, directed by Academy Award winner Alex Gibney) and “99% - The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film" (2013), the HBO feature "Gun Fight" (2006, also produced with Barbara Kopple), "Even Though the Whole World is Burning” (PBS 2016) and "Giuliani Time" (2006). He directed "Rebel Wife" (2024, RTE One), "Rebel Rossa" (2017, RTE One, Amazon) and "Barney's Wall" (2018) and a series of shorts. He filmed around the world for the Rockefeller Foundation's "100 Resilient Cities" initiative and produced over 60 short profiles of writers for Open Road Integrated Media. He was a Fulbright Scholar at the London School of Economics and a founder of the arts and culture magazine The Brooklyn Rail.

Dirk Van Dall - Producer

Recently retired as Vice President of Advanced Research for The Walt Disney Company, Dirk has been storytelling with a camera since the 80’s. After creating background films and projections for “Home of the Brave: the Laurie Anderson concert film” (1986), Dirk produced and edited documentaries for the Pew Charitable Trusts on subjects including Emory University and Vowed Life. As a founding board member of Socrates Sculpture Park, Dirk has documented decades of activity there, as well as completing catalog films for Mark di Suvero exhibitions in France, Governors Island in New York, and Chrissy Field in San Francisco.

David Collens - Producer

Director Emeritus of Storm King Art Center, David is an expert on outdoor sculpture. During his tenure at Storm King he curated four major exhibitions of di Suvero’s large-scale sculptures as well as an exhibition of his lithos, drawings and smaller work. David has also written extensively on di Suvero and, while at Storm King, produced the only monograph on his work.

Ivana Mestrovic - Producer

Ivana Mestrovic is the Director of Mark di Suvero’s studio and is president of the board of Socrates Sculpture Park. She has worked for both organizations since 1987.