Browse content similar to 06/06/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
Lest we forget, 70 years on, speeches, song and silent tears. The | :00:00. | :00:12. | |
veterans of the day that changed the course of the Second World War | :00:13. | :00:16. | |
gather. But how does the act of rembering shape new memories. A lot | :00:17. | :00:24. | |
of them people talking to children about the war, are they doing a good | :00:25. | :00:29. | |
thing or not? Because you are encouraging people to join. We talk | :00:30. | :00:33. | |
to the former head of the British Army about what today means to him. | :00:34. | :00:38. | |
Is the world's biggest book-seller just an internet monster on a | :00:39. | :00:43. | |
mission to destroy? They decided they wanted an extra 5% this year, | :00:44. | :00:47. | |
next year they could decide they want another 5%, the next year | :00:48. | :00:51. | |
another 5% and as far as I can see that is exactly what they intend to | :00:52. | :00:55. | |
do until they destroy the existing publishing industry. And are you | :00:56. | :01:10. | |
quite ready for this? I'm in the Serpentine gallery, this is my | :01:11. | :01:14. | |
house, I'm doing 512 hours interaction with the public and I'm | :01:15. | :01:26. | |
on Newsnight. Only the hardest of hearts could fail to have been moved | :01:27. | :01:32. | |
by the sight of 2,000 veterans, their jackets weighed down with | :01:33. | :01:37. | |
medals, revisiting the beaches of Normandy, where seven decades ago, | :01:38. | :01:42. | |
as young men, even teenagers, they landed. Uncertain of what would | :01:43. | :01:47. | |
greet them. The commemorations were crammed with military top brass, | :01:48. | :01:51. | |
royals and world leaders too. Even as they remembered that great and | :01:52. | :01:57. | |
terrible day there were diplomatic manoeuvrings in the margins over | :01:58. | :02:00. | |
current European tensions surrounding Ukraine. Our diplomatic | :02:01. | :02:06. | |
editor has been assessing the day's events and the changing meaning of | :02:07. | :02:11. | |
these D-Day observances. It was the most ambitious and daring | :02:12. | :02:15. | |
operation in military history, little wonder that its commemoration | :02:16. | :02:22. | |
should also be on a grand scale. TRANSLATION: What did these young | :02:23. | :02:26. | |
men have in mind? The French President, host and ring master, | :02:27. | :02:31. | |
said his country would never forget its liberators. In speeches at | :02:32. | :02:37. | |
events across Normandy, the key leaders emphasised freedom and | :02:38. | :02:40. | |
democracy, and kept veterans to the fore. The US, British and French | :02:41. | :02:45. | |
demonstrated the closeness of their alliance, but the Russian President | :02:46. | :02:49. | |
sometimes looked a lonely figure, invited here because of Russia's | :02:50. | :02:54. | |
enormous war time sacrifice, but deemed by the others to have | :02:55. | :02:58. | |
infringed the rules of modern diplomatic behaviour. Mr Putin took | :02:59. | :03:02. | |
the chance to meet his Ukrainian counterpart, even to exchange words | :03:03. | :03:06. | |
with Barack Obama, trying to mend fences, and when peace was uppermost | :03:07. | :03:18. | |
in everyone's minds. For all today's polished political messages, never | :03:19. | :03:24. | |
forget that this was total war at horrendous human cost. Stiffening of | :03:25. | :03:33. | |
resistance was to be expected. A man with his face bashed joins his | :03:34. | :03:37. | |
fellow prisoners. Today the relationship with Germany is managed | :03:38. | :03:42. | |
with the utmost care. The British this week have added memorials at | :03:43. | :03:49. | |
what's called the Peace Garden on the outskirts of Caen, a city the | :03:50. | :03:53. | |
Allies devastated while capturing it. Each British division was | :03:54. | :03:59. | |
commemorated with a blood-red rose. Sitting beside the French | :04:00. | :04:03. | |
dignitaries the Mayor of A German city. Now the reactions are very | :04:04. | :04:12. | |
positive, more interested than negative, we have the same view back | :04:13. | :04:15. | |
to history and we have the same looking forward for the future and | :04:16. | :04:20. | |
that's a very interesting thing between the youth in Europe and I'm | :04:21. | :04:27. | |
very greatful for the veterans, what they did to enable us to live in | :04:28. | :04:33. | |
this Europe we live in today. So how is this cermonial conceived when | :04:34. | :04:40. | |
Germany is today an ally and the Governments concerned want to avoid | :04:41. | :04:48. | |
any allegation of war. Words like "victory" and "enemy" are difficult, | :04:49. | :04:52. | |
because we are serving with the Germans. The victory was democracy, | :04:53. | :04:56. | |
the defeat was the defeat of tyranny, I don't think we need to | :04:57. | :04:59. | |
talk about the Allies and the Germans, we know that the Germans | :05:00. | :05:03. | |
now are very different people and that the Germans feel that we | :05:04. | :05:06. | |
liberated Europe. So I think that's really what we are here to | :05:07. | :05:09. | |
celebrate. The victory of democracy and freedom. And if few want to harp | :05:10. | :05:19. | |
on about old empties, how about the state of the -- emanyoneties, how | :05:20. | :05:23. | |
about the state of peacetime alliance, lately troubled between | :05:24. | :05:27. | |
Russia, America and Britain. These events have brought together many | :05:28. | :05:35. | |
nations, at Pegasus Bridge they commemorated the launch of D-Day. | :05:36. | :05:41. | |
And then, suddenly, amid the festive crowd a Russian patriotic song and | :05:42. | :05:46. | |
dance combo appeared. I asked the Colonel in charge whether today's | :05:47. | :05:50. | |
political tensions might have marred their reception. No, no. | :05:51. | :05:56. | |
TRANSLATION: We have been made very welcome. We're so happy to be here. | :05:57. | :06:01. | |
To commemorate an event of such global importance with the local | :06:02. | :06:06. | |
people and the English and American participants. Nearby were two | :06:07. | :06:11. | |
Dutchmen dressed as war time American paratroopers. They weren't | :06:12. | :06:17. | |
pleased to see Russians. They are taking parts of land which aren't | :06:18. | :06:23. | |
belonging to them. That is one of the reasons why this Second World | :06:24. | :06:29. | |
War started and it is something we have to keep an eye on. I don't | :06:30. | :06:34. | |
think I want things to escalate over there. We are rembering the peace | :06:35. | :06:38. | |
that the British and American troops brought us. Starting a new war in | :06:39. | :06:46. | |
the east of Europe is not something we are wanting. The commemorations | :06:47. | :06:52. | |
have seen literally thousands of re-enactors and military vehicle | :06:53. | :06:56. | |
enthusiasts descend on Normandy, among hundreds of thousands of | :06:57. | :07:00. | |
sightseers. They come from all over Europe with a mixture of motives, | :07:01. | :07:06. | |
from the noble to those posing, profiteering, or simply having a | :07:07. | :07:11. | |
good time. The bitter fighting to break out of the Normandy beachhead | :07:12. | :07:16. | |
lasted three months, and chewed through entire battalions and | :07:17. | :07:22. | |
villages. Fintan was one of those who did much but talks little. He | :07:23. | :07:26. | |
was here for the unveiling of a statue of his old CO. He's not sure | :07:27. | :07:32. | |
about these events, lest they give young men dreams of glory. They have | :07:33. | :07:40. | |
tried to keep the thoughts of the war to myself. When I say, when I | :07:41. | :07:52. | |
see a lot of people talking to children about the war, are they | :07:53. | :07:56. | |
doing a good thing or not? Because you are encouraging people to join. | :07:57. | :08:05. | |
I know they are only adventurers and they like adventure, but should we | :08:06. | :08:14. | |
not be teaching children more education about, there is lots of | :08:15. | :08:20. | |
things out there to do. There is one more version of D-Day too, that of | :08:21. | :08:26. | |
the French communities that still feel an enormous sense of gratitude | :08:27. | :08:30. | |
to their liberators. Tonight we joined a twilight ceremony in the | :08:31. | :08:35. | |
village here. Taken by the British 70 years ago today. These | :08:36. | :08:42. | |
commemorations are changing as the last veterans pass, so the | :08:43. | :08:47. | |
first-hand voice of experience fades with them and other narratives and | :08:48. | :08:51. | |
other versions of what D-Day was about will come to predominate. The | :08:52. | :08:56. | |
children here will at least be able to say that they met some of those | :08:57. | :09:03. | |
who wrote this page of history. General Sir Mike Jackson the former | :09:04. | :09:08. | |
head of the British Army is here. As we saw in the film there are all | :09:09. | :09:13. | |
sorts of interested partns trying to draw their own lessons from today, | :09:14. | :09:17. | |
what should we take from it? I will start with a personal reflection, my | :09:18. | :09:28. | |
fatherlanded on Gold Beach in the military speak at H+ two, when the | :09:29. | :09:36. | |
amphibious operation started. He survived but his immediate commander | :09:37. | :09:41. | |
was killed, he had to take over. I think of my father. The much wider | :09:42. | :09:52. | |
issue though, I'm struck, yet again by the scale, the complexity and the | :09:53. | :09:56. | |
stakes. My goodness the stakes were so high. Had overlord failed and | :09:57. | :10:01. | |
D-Day failed, it is almost unthinkable how events would have | :10:02. | :10:07. | |
turned out. Thank the Lord it did not. It was momentous. It did | :10:08. | :10:18. | |
change, the whole of the western war against Nazism, we should not forget | :10:19. | :10:22. | |
the Titanic struggle on the eastern front as well, also taking place at | :10:23. | :10:27. | |
this time. And there is, as we saw today, almost sort of a neverending | :10:28. | :10:33. | |
pot of goodwill for that generation. Do you think that applies still to | :10:34. | :10:37. | |
our attitude towards the Armed Forces in this country? Well, I | :10:38. | :10:45. | |
believe it does. I think anybody serving, or indeed my case retired, | :10:46. | :10:54. | |
has been hugely encouraged by the obvious warmth of the standing which | :10:55. | :10:57. | |
we are held, the Armed Forces are held by the public. Despite the fact | :10:58. | :11:02. | |
there have been wars that have been much more controversial and | :11:03. | :11:05. | |
unpopular wars? I think the British public are perfectly able to | :11:06. | :11:10. | |
distinguish between a Government decision made on political grounds | :11:11. | :11:16. | |
and those whose duty it is, constitutional duty it is to | :11:17. | :11:19. | |
implement them. They can make that difference. Do you think with these | :11:20. | :11:23. | |
events of today in mind, do you think we now take peace in Europe | :11:24. | :11:28. | |
for granted. We saw there on the sidelines Putin and Obama having a | :11:29. | :11:32. | |
small private conversation, do you worry that we take for granted this? | :11:33. | :11:39. | |
I hope we don't, I was much moved listening to one of the veterans | :11:40. | :11:44. | |
earlier on tod was saying we don't want to go through this again. And | :11:45. | :11:52. | |
certainly we do not. And so in a way not only did D-Day begin, the end of | :11:53. | :12:01. | |
the war in the west and in Europe, but it shaped Europe afterwards. And | :12:02. | :12:06. | |
Europe's shape does now potentially seem to be evolving again today. Are | :12:07. | :12:10. | |
you concerned by some of the moves we have seen in recent months, | :12:11. | :12:13. | |
particularly the situation in Ukraine and what's happening there. | :12:14. | :12:18. | |
Crimea splitting away, Putin flexing his muscles all over the place? | :12:19. | :12:24. | |
There was some interesting vignettes were there not of conversations | :12:25. | :12:27. | |
between this and that leader. Does that worry you? Yes, we have | :12:28. | :12:35. | |
instability in that very far south eastern corner of Europe. I'm not | :12:36. | :12:44. | |
entirely inexperienced in the Balkan region. Yeah, there is still, I'm | :12:45. | :12:49. | |
afraid dust yet to settle after the end of the Cold War. Do you feel, | :12:50. | :12:55. | |
briefly, that if there were to be such a challenge again that current | :12:56. | :13:00. | |
generations would be able to achieve what those remembered today have | :13:01. | :13:04. | |
achieved. There has been a lot of speculation that generations now | :13:05. | :13:07. | |
nobody would ever be able to be willing to give that sort of | :13:08. | :13:10. | |
sacrifice? I'm not sure about that at all. The British Armed Forces | :13:11. | :13:15. | |
have been pretty hard at work over the last two decades, two-and-a-half | :13:16. | :13:20. | |
since the end of the Cold War. I for one have not found today's | :13:21. | :13:24. | |
generation who decide to become soldiers or sailors or whatever | :13:25. | :13:29. | |
lacking in any way at all. On the contrary. Was it at that point a | :13:30. | :13:33. | |
conscription army, something extremely difficult. Do you think | :13:34. | :13:36. | |
ever again we would see something of that scale where that national | :13:37. | :13:39. | |
sacrifice would be required? I hope not, you are asking me to call the | :13:40. | :13:43. | |
future and that I cannot do. I don't know if anybody else can, but I'm | :13:44. | :13:48. | |
not claiming to do that, let us hope not. But I also feel that if in | :13:49. | :13:59. | |
extreme situations that if the country had to be mobilised in that | :14:00. | :14:03. | |
way we wouldn't be found wanting. Thank you for your reflections on an | :14:04. | :14:08. | |
extraordinary day. Coming up, Katie Razzle gets into a stair-off with | :14:09. | :14:24. | |
the artist Marina Abramovich. It is not easy. Now all this week the Home | :14:25. | :14:28. | |
Secretary and the Education Secretary have been throwing tops | :14:29. | :14:33. | |
over their joint handling or mishandling of accusations of Muslim | :14:34. | :14:37. | |
extremism in some schools in Birmingham. Next week there could be | :14:38. | :14:41. | |
a bit more clarity, maybe, Chris Cook is here, what can we expect? | :14:42. | :14:46. | |
Next Monday we are expecting 21 Ofsted reports into schools in | :14:47. | :14:49. | |
Birmingham. That is a lot for one day. We expect half-a-dozen | :14:50. | :14:53. | |
recommend schools get put into what they call "special measures", that | :14:54. | :14:57. | |
means the heads will get fired and probably a lot of the governors. The | :14:58. | :15:00. | |
reason for that is they found in most of those schools, not all of | :15:01. | :15:03. | |
them, but most of them, that those schools had become places that might | :15:04. | :15:08. | |
become conducive to Islamic extremism. If it is only | :15:09. | :15:11. | |
half-a-dozen schools, serious as it is for them, if it is only | :15:12. | :15:14. | |
half-a-dozen why does it really matter for the rest of the country? | :15:15. | :15:17. | |
Next week it will turn the corner from being a local story to national | :15:18. | :15:22. | |
one, that is because a number of these schools were converter | :15:23. | :15:25. | |
academies, taking part in Michael Gove's flagship policy. The idea was | :15:26. | :15:30. | |
schools got a lot more freedom, less regulation, less supervision, they | :15:31. | :15:32. | |
were supposed to use that to innovate and compete with one | :15:33. | :15:37. | |
another, the idea was competition and innovation would drive up | :15:38. | :15:39. | |
standards. The freedom to innovate is also the freedom to make | :15:40. | :15:44. | |
mistakes. The Labour Party and oddly Theresa May this week, both think | :15:45. | :15:48. | |
that Michael Gove may have drawn the line in the wrong place and perhaps | :15:49. | :15:52. | |
there is too much freedom and not enough of a rigid structure. This | :15:53. | :15:56. | |
will be a tough thing for Michael Gove to defend. And next week we are | :15:57. | :16:00. | |
expecting a reshuffle, it will be pretty high stakes. Some speculation | :16:01. | :16:04. | |
tonight that he might have to look for a different job. Yes. Publishing | :16:05. | :16:09. | |
is dead! Hardly the most original cry of the doom-monger, we have | :16:10. | :16:12. | |
heard it often enough. But the massive force of Amazon, appears to | :16:13. | :16:17. | |
be employed in a new and perhaps more brutal axe particular against | :16:18. | :16:21. | |
the traditional publisher, but making it trickier for customers to | :16:22. | :16:25. | |
get hold of shipments of books from a company that Amazon is in dispute | :16:26. | :16:39. | |
with, is it for real this time? So many of the bookshops lining | :16:40. | :16:43. | |
charring crossroad have gone. Even Britain's most famous bookshop | :16:44. | :16:50. | |
Foyles shut its doors on Monday, the shelves empty and the last books | :16:51. | :16:54. | |
packed away. For Foyles this isn't the final chapter but the start of a | :16:55. | :16:59. | |
new one, moving a few doors down to a new store. This is a multimillion | :17:00. | :17:03. | |
pound gamble that despite what some predict, the physical book sold in | :17:04. | :17:09. | |
high street stores has, not just a past, but a future. For Foyles this | :17:10. | :17:16. | |
is about coexisting with Amazon, not competing. Doing it on the computer | :17:17. | :17:20. | |
is fine, it is convenient, it is a transaction, if you move it a shop | :17:21. | :17:23. | |
and it is done correctly it is an experience. We are social animal, | :17:24. | :17:30. | |
all the things, eye connection and physical space is very important. | :17:31. | :17:32. | |
This is something a physical store can do really well. Not everyone is | :17:33. | :17:37. | |
as optimistic about the future of the publishing industry. At the | :17:38. | :17:42. | |
moment book people are gripped by an unput downable dispute between the | :17:43. | :17:45. | |
world's biggest bookseller and one of the world's biggest publishers. | :17:46. | :17:51. | |
It looks like an ideolgical battle between Amazon who wants to sell | :17:52. | :17:56. | |
books at relentlessly low price, under the value the publishers | :17:57. | :18:00. | |
produce them at and sell them at, and publishers that want a diversity | :18:01. | :18:04. | |
of the book market and doing that through decent prices for books and | :18:05. | :18:09. | |
they can sustain a book-selling, author-community that includes great | :18:10. | :18:16. | |
bookshops like Foyles. That dispute is between Amazon and the Hichet | :18:17. | :18:22. | |
book group, it is over the terms on selling e-book, without an | :18:23. | :18:26. | |
agreement, Amazon has stopped taking preorders or keeping large stocks of | :18:27. | :18:31. | |
Hichet's books leading to large delays for readers. One publisher | :18:32. | :18:35. | |
who tried holding out against Amazon said they ended up giving up. I | :18:36. | :18:39. | |
thought with a small company like mine, specialist, selling to | :18:40. | :18:42. | |
schools, libraries, universities, that I could probably manage and | :18:43. | :18:49. | |
that my customers would go around, go to other channels, I found my | :18:50. | :18:52. | |
revenue had dropped enough that I felt that I had been forced to go | :18:53. | :18:59. | |
back and accept that deal. They simply decide, they decide they want | :19:00. | :19:04. | |
an extra 5% year, they could decide next year, they want another 5%, the | :19:05. | :19:09. | |
next year another 5%, as far as I can see that is exactly what they | :19:10. | :19:13. | |
intend to do until they destroy the existing publishing industry. Amazon | :19:14. | :19:18. | |
says in a blog it is simply doing what retailers have always done. | :19:19. | :19:21. | |
Suppliers get to decide the terms under which they are willing to sell | :19:22. | :19:26. | |
to a retailer, resipically it is the right of a -- reciprocally it is the | :19:27. | :19:31. | |
right of the retailer to determine whether the terms of the offer are | :19:32. | :19:36. | |
acceptable and to stock items. Other publishers don't seem to have a | :19:37. | :19:40. | |
problem with Amazon? We have a much better time dealing with them than | :19:41. | :19:45. | |
anybody else. They don't send books back, or over-order, they pay within | :19:46. | :19:49. | |
a month and they level the playing field. At the moment the battle is | :19:50. | :19:53. | |
being fought out in the US, but make no mistake, say industry watchers, | :19:54. | :19:57. | |
it will end up affecting British readers. We are very similar to the | :19:58. | :20:01. | |
US market. There are countries such as France and Germany which have | :20:02. | :20:04. | |
very different systems for selling books, they still have fixed prices | :20:05. | :20:09. | |
and you see Amazon having less success there, because the market is | :20:10. | :20:13. | |
so similar because publishers have a common parentage now, these things | :20:14. | :20:19. | |
are not isolated geographically. Anyone with anything to do with | :20:20. | :20:22. | |
publishing in the UK will be watching the new Foyles's store. The | :20:23. | :20:29. | |
industry faces a fight to survive. In the end bookshops and publishers | :20:30. | :20:35. | |
will only thrive if the public is willing to support them. Will with | :20:36. | :20:40. | |
us tonight is Caroline Michelle, the chairman of literary agency PFT | :20:41. | :20:45. | |
representing authors like Janet winterson, and Sam Jordison head of | :20:46. | :20:54. | |
a publishing firm. Isn't anyone in publishing who doesn't buy into | :20:55. | :20:58. | |
Amazon a bit like a farrier who is protesting about the Model T Ford? I | :20:59. | :21:04. | |
don't think it is the issue of technology, that is the myth that is | :21:05. | :21:08. | |
put about that people who oppose Amazon are some how opposing the | :21:09. | :21:11. | |
technology, I'm all for the technology, what I'm against is the | :21:12. | :21:15. | |
way they use the technology and their practices which seem to me to | :21:16. | :21:24. | |
be monopolistic. Are they a monopoly, is it healthy to have such | :21:25. | :21:29. | |
a dominant force in an industry? It feels as if it has been ever thus. | :21:30. | :21:34. | |
Publishing is always fighting the growth of large retailers, sume | :21:35. | :21:38. | |
markets at one point, the emergance of Water stilled stones and how they | :21:39. | :21:44. | |
decided to trade. That is not a good thing? But it is always good to have | :21:45. | :21:48. | |
traders about negotiating different terms with different retailers. | :21:49. | :21:52. | |
Without getting into the details, the company in the US is a $10 | :21:53. | :21:58. | |
million business, and they are feeling threatened by Amazon, isn't | :21:59. | :22:02. | |
it new? I don't think it is new, our publishers have always been fighting | :22:03. | :22:06. | |
on terms. You have one big company fighting another big company. I | :22:07. | :22:09. | |
think it is very different in terms of scale, and Amazon they can make | :22:10. | :22:14. | |
books to all intents and purposes disappear now, they have so much | :22:15. | :22:19. | |
power if you are not in Amazon you are not in the world? I don't think | :22:20. | :22:23. | |
that is true, you say it is not about technology, it is about the | :22:24. | :22:26. | |
fact that now books have to keep up with how people want to deliver | :22:27. | :22:31. | |
their entertainment. We had with film and music, if you want books | :22:32. | :22:35. | |
you have to know how and when and where you want them. What Amazon | :22:36. | :22:41. | |
provided the first platform to deliver 82% of e-books and a vast | :22:42. | :22:47. | |
proportion of print books, surely this is an opportunity for other | :22:48. | :22:50. | |
retailers to do something about it. You say you don't have a problem | :22:51. | :22:53. | |
with the technology, what would you have us do? I don't have a magic | :22:54. | :22:57. | |
machine that can change everything around. What I would like to see is | :22:58. | :23:01. | |
many more players in the game, I would like to see the players that | :23:02. | :23:08. | |
aren't bullies, the tactics that Amazon use against publishers and | :23:09. | :23:12. | |
other retailers... How would you do that? At this stage it is very hard | :23:13. | :23:17. | |
because Amazon are so powerful, I would urge people to boycott them. | :23:18. | :23:22. | |
You are suggesting a boycott, you had a huge success this week, one of | :23:23. | :23:29. | |
your books, The Girl Half Formed, won the Bailey's Prize, and today | :23:30. | :23:34. | |
you can order it on Amazon to be delivered on Monday. You can order | :23:35. | :23:41. | |
it other place, I am using it and I have a duty to authors, removing | :23:42. | :23:45. | |
their books from them would have damage to them. That is the power | :23:46. | :23:48. | |
that they have. It is a good power, that book is number four of all | :23:49. | :23:54. | |
books on Stamm son, on the best seller list, that is fantastic for | :23:55. | :23:58. | |
an author on a first novel. OK I don't particularly want to talk | :23:59. | :24:01. | |
about one book. But a book that sells in different places where it | :24:02. | :24:04. | |
is getting better margins that is a better thing. When a book sells on | :24:05. | :24:09. | |
Amazon the author and publisher get less money? It depends, because it | :24:10. | :24:14. | |
has provided a place where writers can make money as writers for the | :24:15. | :24:17. | |
first time, it is a beginning. We are in a big transition for all of | :24:18. | :24:21. | |
us. Briefly as an agent you are the go-between here between authors and | :24:22. | :24:26. | |
publishers, there must be people like Sam, often afraid to speak up, | :24:27. | :24:32. | |
who feel squeezed, who feel maybe bullied to use your word, is that | :24:33. | :24:37. | |
not happening? I think, my job is to get the writer to the reader, the | :24:38. | :24:42. | |
fastest, the best, the most profitable for the writer in a way | :24:43. | :24:47. | |
possible. It has opened it up and made it a level playing field, | :24:48. | :24:52. | |
whether a self-published, small publisher, major publish e you can | :24:53. | :24:56. | |
get out and earn money. I will leave this for you two to thrash out, you | :24:57. | :25:01. | |
will never agree, thank you very much indeed. There aren't many | :25:02. | :25:06. | |
artists prepared to die for their trade. Marina Abramovich is one of | :25:07. | :25:11. | |
them. She has been striped, burnt and stabbed in the same of art. At | :25:12. | :25:18. | |
one point invited audience members to point a loaded gun at her head. | :25:19. | :25:22. | |
She's only one of two artists to make it on to Time Magazine's 100 | :25:23. | :25:30. | |
influential artist in the world. Her new exhibition is about to open in | :25:31. | :25:47. | |
London. We went to meet her. Waiting to meet Marina Abramovich is | :25:48. | :25:52. | |
a nerve racking business, what do you expect from a performance artist | :25:53. | :25:57. | |
who has always brought the unexpected. Her last show had people | :25:58. | :26:07. | |
crying just looking at her. In the end I didn't cry, our face-off took | :26:08. | :26:14. | |
place at the Serpentine Gallery in London, where Marina Abramovich will | :26:15. | :26:17. | |
spend most of the next three months. It is not easy. I'm removing even | :26:18. | :26:22. | |
these two chairs, there will be nothing, absolutely nothing. And | :26:23. | :26:27. | |
what will happen? I don't know, that is why I'm in such a panic. I just | :26:28. | :26:31. | |
want to see what we can do with pure energy, what we can do from the | :26:32. | :26:36. | |
personal contact. Will you be talking? Maybe silence but maybe | :26:37. | :26:42. | |
talking later, or maybe we all talk, maybe we cream or lie on the floor. | :26:43. | :26:51. | |
It is so important to see how we can actually create that create that | :26:52. | :26:55. | |
sense of here and now, that is all. Being in the present, the here and | :26:56. | :26:59. | |
now is where Abramovich wants her audiences, she got America excited | :27:00. | :27:04. | |
when she performed there four years ago. | :27:05. | :27:06. | |
50,000 people queued and queued for a chance to sit opposite the silent | :27:07. | :27:11. | |
staring artist for as long or short a time as they wanted. New York is a | :27:12. | :27:16. | |
pretty lonely place and lots of pain, that's something like an | :27:17. | :27:22. | |
eruption from the inside outside. That was the incredible reaction. I | :27:23. | :27:25. | |
didn't expect it. How do you think the Brits will feel about it? I | :27:26. | :27:29. | |
worry about the British, they are sarcastic and make money of | :27:30. | :27:35. | |
everything. It is like I don't know maybe the drink, I'm worried about | :27:36. | :27:39. | |
the Friday and Saturdays, this work in a way you have to open yourself | :27:40. | :27:43. | |
to have experiences, in order to experience you have to be | :27:44. | :27:47. | |
vulnerable. The British don't like easily to show their vulnerability. | :27:48. | :27:53. | |
Not many 67-year-olds would be dancing with Jay-Z, but celebrity | :27:54. | :28:01. | |
America fetes Abramovich. Lady Gaga is her protege. Here they are | :28:02. | :28:05. | |
practising the called Abramovich method, explained as exercises to | :28:06. | :28:10. | |
heighten awareness in the moment. Suspect? A bit Emperor's new | :28:11. | :28:14. | |
clothes, there are plenty who think that. Often it was no clothes, for | :28:15. | :28:18. | |
an artist who has remained true to performance for more than four | :28:19. | :28:22. | |
decades. For her it is other parts of the art world that are dubious. | :28:23. | :28:30. | |
When Francis bacon picture sold for $140 million, it is incredible, how | :28:31. | :28:34. | |
you could possibly ever see this painting without seeing money in the | :28:35. | :28:38. | |
front. You know, the essence of painting is lost. I wanted to take | :28:39. | :28:43. | |
everything away, I want to see, I want to bring back to the pureness | :28:44. | :28:49. | |
of art which is about energy. It could never be said that Abramovich | :28:50. | :28:53. | |
hasn't suffered in her quest to share that energy. In a show in the | :28:54. | :28:58. | |
1970s she placed 72 items on a table, from feathers and roses to a | :28:59. | :29:03. | |
loaded gun, for six hours audiences could use anything against her | :29:04. | :29:08. | |
passive body. I didn't feel any control. I was just an object for | :29:09. | :29:11. | |
them. And that was frightening because I understood the public can | :29:12. | :29:16. | |
kill you. But in this other case. Did anyone pick up the gun? They | :29:17. | :29:20. | |
picked it up and put it in my hand. They tried to see if I was ready to | :29:21. | :29:25. | |
pull the trigger myself and pushing it in my hand. And I started to do | :29:26. | :29:31. | |
it, and someone else freaked out and took the gun, they started fighting. | :29:32. | :29:35. | |
It was a very strong experience that actually when you completely become | :29:36. | :29:39. | |
an object what can happen to you. Does she get a thrill from pain or | :29:40. | :29:44. | |
is it something else? We just don't want pain in our life. But we are | :29:45. | :29:49. | |
afraid of these things, afraid of dying and pain. I go through this | :29:50. | :29:54. | |
pain for experience, and I push limits, physical and mental on my | :29:55. | :29:58. | |
body, as far as I can. If I can do this and liberate myself from the | :29:59. | :30:02. | |
fear of the pain, they can do that themselves in their own life. Now | :30:03. | :30:07. | |
came the test, a preview of how her interaction with audiences will | :30:08. | :30:11. | |
begin when the show opens. Remember Abramovich is one of two artists on | :30:12. | :30:16. | |
Time Magazine's 100 most influential people, so she's doing something | :30:17. | :30:24. | |
right. I will hold your hand, we will find this really great spot and | :30:25. | :30:29. | |
I try to give all my energy. Cynical Brits may mock, but performance art | :30:30. | :30:33. | |
is about experience, perhaps none of us can judge this unless we see it | :30:34. | :30:41. | |
for ourselves. That's it kids. As the longest day draws to a close, we | :30:42. | :30:45. | |
leave you tonight with images from 70 years ago, and today. Accompanied | :30:46. | :30:53. | |
by what else, Dame Vera Lynn's war time classic, We'll Meet Again, not | :30:54. | :30:58. | |
just any recording, her original from 1939. A very good night. | :30:59. | :31:03. | |
We'll meet again # Don't know where | :31:04. | :31:10. | |
# Don't know when # But I know we'll meet again | :31:11. | :31:20. | |
# Some sunny day # Keep smiling through | :31:21. | :31:26. | |
# Just like you # Always do | :31:27. | :31:31. | |
# Till the blue skies # Chase those dark clouds | :31:32. | :31:39. | |
# Far away | :31:40. | :31:44. |