Metropolis II by Chris Burden (the movie)

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A short doc about a kinetic sculpture that took four years to build. We had the honor of spending three days in Chris Burden's studio filming this sculpture before it was moved to the Los Angeles Country Museum of Art (LACMA) where it is being reinstalled.
The installation opened fall 2011.
Chris Burden is one of our favorite artists of all time. For more about him and his work en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Bu...
www.gagosian.com/artists/chris...
and for a video about his awesome tv commercials/video art go here
• Chris Burden - The TV ...
Directed by Henry Joost & Ariel Schulman
Edited by Max Joseph
Cinemtography by Schulman, Joost & Van Neistat
Music by Tortoise (Ten-Day interval) & Mahogany (Windmill International A)
Special Thanks to Zak Cook and everyone at the Burden studio...Tortoise, Mahogany, Jaclyn Slimm & Andrew Prinz.

[@benjaminvolk3566]

Imagine all the cars get replaced by ones with headlights and tail lights and then viewing this with all the lights off. Add small bursts of fog here and there. Would be amazing.

[@joshman501]

Ben Volk I agree! That would look awesome!

[@chefke7722]

And some with underglow

[@jonaszeidler8804]

This really nails the image of an actual city. It's all just about being fast, being quick in any ways, yet being stopped and slowed down by traffic jams and masses of people where nobody really cares about each other at all. It's all tiny and yet huge, tight but so wide at the same time. I'd love to see this in person.

[@BBRemy]

I FINALLY got to see this at LACMA yesterday! The best way to describe it is FUN! Adults and kids were mesmerized. I know I walked around it with really big grin on my face. I noticed that the kids would find a favorite viewpoint, then sit down as close as they could. The people watching became part of the shared experience.

[@therealgassypanda]

I would love it if there was less artistic panning shots of the same sections over and over and something logical that showed the track in its length, like what the route was. I literally have no idea and feel like i saw the same corners panned over half in focus like ten times.

[@PetrMores]

Pure poetry, pure art, and wonderfully filmed. I'm really thankful that there are people who spend years on such "useless" magic.

[@pezazul2917]

Beautiful, yes, but Art im not so sure. He does good marketing

[@DownShiftRecords]

As someone with intense ADHD, I would love to just sit in the middle of this and get lost in thought.

[@bimosalexandres]

yea me too

[@ProudTwinkie]

yesyesyes me toooooo

[@aggysmeets1694]

Chris time has proofed that you were a driven visionary. RIP. Aggy Smeets, Amsterdam

[@chrisbinckes2732]

its rewarding itself just to watch the young spectators flow with the installation chris burden had his heart in the right place....... may he be rewarded eternally

[@667shotwell]

Chris Burden never fails to surprise me. one of the best parts of video is the silence of the film and the sounds of cars outside my home.

[@wmnoe]

It is AMAZING to see this sculpture, I've viewed it several times and it never gets boring or old. It's truly a remarkable piece

[@jnickence]

I love the train passing through the city at the end.

[@TheCoolMhs]

My childhood dream was to make this (and I still want to). Hopefully someday I will.

[@marrrtin]

This is conceptual art I can relate to. "Metropolis II" is completely and utterly awesome.

[@bagelofthefuture]

Song in the beginning is: *Tortoise - Ten Day Interval*

[@TheresaLoong]

It's a great song.

[@kevinrameau4291]

My dream as a child in 5 minutes...

[@kam-ic9pq]

Loved this. Especially the ending shot showing the massive scale of it all. WOW!

[@ldiller98]

My wife, 25 year-old son and I were at LACMA for the first time (he lives here, we were visiting from SF). Hadn't really heard of Metropolis II until we arrived. Saved it for near the end. A complete hit for all of us. Saw children as young as three and I'm sixty completely enthralled. We all loved it. Would love to see a video of the view from one of the cars (It might be too fast to see much at a purported 240 mph at scale). The future...?

[@superbrit3845]

Absolutely mind bending this is.

[@kanoslayer2735]

WOW... Just, WOW.... I wish could have seen this in person

[@wishdj]

Words can't express how amazing this is!

[@GeorgeOhan]

Art.... indeed! Great work by the film crew and the artist!!!

[@rc21pitt]

That was beautiful..Absolutely mesmerizing..Wonderfullly shot as well. My compliments to the filmmakers and to the artist

[@danielt2482]

Absolute hell to live there..

[@pflichtvergessen]

simply awesome...

[@Endymion766]

I saw this today at LACMA but it's only turned on at certain hours on the weekend. I guess it would wear out fast if it ran constantly. It's so cool. I love how it comes to life in the video here.

[@timrs2001]

Absolutely outstanding!

[@tabolihk1]

I am sure , almost every boy had imagine the plays like this~ AWESOME WORK

[@MilesQuatermass]

Saw this at LACMA yesterday. It's a thing of beauty.

[@PlayNowWorkLater]

Wow! Thanks for sharing

[@MaggieAnton]

I saw the exhibit at LACMA yesterday and it was incredible - awesome in its true sense of the word. The buildings are even more interesting than the cars and trains.

[@cdlimbo]

Pure joy to see at LACMA. Loved the train cam.

[@VenenoLuna]

@DoctorLea yes for sure doctorlea the guy only studied visual arts physics and architecture, accomplished a series of performance in the 70s where he would always push himself to the limit and expose his body to dangerous situations...and became one of the major performers of contemporary art....

[@BlackSifichi]

Merci - your video is beautiful and respects the ideas behind this incredible work. Thanks.

[@MitsTheTiger]

Fantastic job!

[@RDI64Channel]

Awesome! 🥰

[@coolersmoke]

Very, very good camera work. And a fantastic subject.

[@jonesisdying]

astounding

[@cosmosjester]

This is the kind of things i could watch for hours

[@raymondmartucci2049]

I think this is so cool how you made this video. The cars are awesome 👍 thank you for sharing. All those cars in one room must take along time to build this city and to get all those cars

[@littleerica23]

just saw this today! it was so awesome!

[@UrbanHELLNER]

Amazing....

[@wills4915]

i went on a sunday and all the cars and trains were standing still. it was still amazing to look at though.

[@733835]

Reminds me of Koyaanisqatsi, and an awesome creation.

[@johnnys.diecast]

Super cool

[@annemariequillin9105]

Saw it at LACMA. Sooo cool!!

[@tanpopo24]

It is a beautiful forming.

[@teamnoob9380]

You have to stick a camera on a train and car to show what it would be like to travel through Metropolis II in first person view! PLEASE!! :D

[@Pittmail88]

Wow, nice to see OCD put to good use. Beautifully shot by the way. Sounds great too. Big fan of Max, Henry and Rel's.

[@darelldd]

My absolute favorite part is at 3:00 after the STOP buttons have been pressed.

[@Sompeetalay]

This is just amazing ! :D

[@darknirvana9]

Wow!! this is so amazing and inspiring to me. excellent video by the way....

[@Louis4031]

Tout simplement génial ce jeu de course...

[@ryanthomastew]

awesome.

[@psychosulk]

holy moly... seeing the entire thing in the end was a little too much for me. so cool!

[@hinrg80sradio70]

Que maravilla!! A eso es lo que en verdad se le puede llamar un sueño hecho realidad, por que no hay mas gentes como el?

[@marlenestrauss]

Beautiful film. Nicely captures the perpetual motion of Los Angeles. Marlene Strauss

[@drspeed01]

Well done.

[@DecoratingMagic]

very cool!

[@MsPeperonata]

I read about this in April 2012 Wallpaper* magazine, had to take a look!

[@swtx518]

Maaaan, I like the shot at the end of the train with the camera. I seen a guy suggest on IG of an idea to put a cam on a car while traveling in traffic. That would be an awesome shot.

[@lolded1786]

EPICOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@Rad_the_Inhaler]

Very cool. Invokes in me a childlike sense of wonder. I also like how you played tortoise at the begining of the video. They rock!

[@wiredstranger]

Genius!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@HansDorsch]

cool traffic and cool soundtrack.

[@anatiae]

Tortoise's "Ten day interval"!!! yeah! Burden is great

[@zerho21]

Amazing! This could easily be a scale model in a futuristic city for filmaking.

[@ShadoHHR]

could watch this for hours

[@bimosalexandres]

me too

[@pnelmatirian]

This sculpture makes me anxious as hell.

[@OneTwentyMN]

The kid in me loves the idea of a giant Hot Wheels tracks, the more analytical adult loves the statement that's made about how we travel. Especially when it comes to how efficiently we travel.

[@darknessplague]

OMG I would LOVE to live in a city like this

[@zoltanie]

went to see it today in the LACMA, very cool. Hope he makes a bigger one!

[@clistere2]

this is, like, dude. really. thank you.

[@corneliaomir]

Such a beautiful model! However I came here from Aeon's article "the city of the future" and was ready to complain that hopefully this is not the city of the future at all!. Then I read the actual video description and found it beautiful for what it is, a cinetic sculpture.

[@NewPaltzIndie]

he pulls off creating the energy of a city with a childlike sense of wonder. pardon the expression, but a truely "moving" piece!

[@jsmith8964]

shit that remind my childhood. Love to see the cars keep running on the track.

[@dill__pickles]

Saw this today at LACMA, the little kids were all over it

[@ArtamonofMr]

R.I.P. Chris Burden

[@colg8_]

+Sergej Artamonov feeling that again right now

[@explosivemodesonicmauricet1597]

HE DIED?!

[@phildawgydawg]

Awesome! Done by the Catfish guys, I see - so long as that's a proper moniker for Joost and Schulman. It's worth mentioning in the event that J/S check these things, Catfish was an AMAZING name for your film given the story told by the husband. The Joost/Schulman style is also present. Now to the star of this film, the artist and more so the installment. This "thing" goes beyond comprehension - there is something mesmerizing about the functionality and continuity that leaves me captive. A+

[@mrcheektocheek]

@Borin81 WOW. what a strange and awesome reaction to a video.

[@hotwheels2479]

I'm eating MnMs right now. Just ate a red one.

[@TicoMachi]

+Hotwheels Nation Let me know when you eat some more. Thrilling stuff right there.

[@wildansdz475]

Ohh god this is was 11 years ago! woahhhh

[@anastasia9618]

I like . it is nice

[@dmorg05]

LACMA brought me here. Unfortunately, it wasn't running, so I had to see it in action.

[@DoctorLea]

So this guy spent 4 years playing with hot wheels and a couple of train sets...LETS GIVE HIM 20 MILLION DOLLARS!

[@andytithesis5720]

My nephew now wants to be an artist. This is your burden Chris.

[@elporto]

a second in and I recognise the TNT track.. and I'm even more intrigued.

[@TheChillzoneX]

where's godzilla when you need him... fantastic i like the vid! keep the good work

[@Dragonas77]

Man, do i hope this is a city of the past, not the future! Its so crowded, i hope somthing new comes along to free us! Amazing piece though, really captures the chaos of the city

[@ninalogan]

It's wonderful and amazing and i'd love to see/hear it. Music is perfect - sound like something from Bjork?

[@HipJipC]

Wow, profound. It's like what we're going through now during this pandemic. Like the switches got turned "down" at least and much quietude has taken hold. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ...

[@ks1rkz]

very nice *_*

[@russellhuston6481]

Canada Russ here... i never heard of this.. wow.. id love to run my 2022 Lamborghini ice blue edition anniversary edition on this track. Lol

[@nickdempsey8309]

reminds me of the movie

[@w1ndwr1t3]

So cool. It brings to mind imo of the 1927 epic silent movie by German director Fritz Lang. I wonder if it was his inspiration to build this.

[@thomasdudley8627]

+Don Roberts Given that the name of the film you're fondly recalling is "Metropolis", I'm willing to bet there was some thread of inspiration ;)

[@EflamDePerceval]

wow

[@mrcheektocheek]

thanks...it took burden and his team 4 years. then 3 months to de-assemble and another 3 months to re-assemble in the museum. we used a canon 7D, a canon rebel and a canon powershot 300.

[@WeblionX]

I imagine the future will be opposite of what the video shows, with rail-based transport getting faster and faster, and vehicles keeping about the same speed and being used more for areas that are low enough in population that high speed rail access isn't particularly useful or where long commutes are rare.

[@brt051]

This is pretty fantastic!!!! :D wow =n.n=

[@bredlo]

Ah. Agreed.

[@yoimalex]

This reminds me of the Koyaanisqatsi films so much