The World Within Paul Sietsema’s Empire

    Paul Sietsema’s film Empire; a slow swirling tour through blooming, meticulously curated scenes and structures. Some forms are recognisable like the cricket, while some are abstract and undefinable. The titles initially sparks reflection, about what that word means. What is an empire and what is it built on? Perhaps Sietsema is even referencing Andy Warhol’s own 1965 film by the same name. The content highlights Clement Greenberg’s apartment, a grand Parisian rococo room, and nods to many artworks as well as the medium of film itself. It all feels as though it is challenging the viewer to look deeply and to sit with the scenes. Paul Sietsema plays with colour and with perspective, challenging the viewers perception and identity. Comparing Clement Greenberg’s home to that of a luxurious rococo palace forces a reflection of what these spaces mean to each other in their respective contexts. Is Greenberg’s space perhaps as untouchable as the Parisian rooom? Further, his intentional inclusion of symbols like the cricket sparked conversation amongst my peers about the French tale of La Cigale et la Fourmi. In the tale the cricket (la cigale) sings all summer long while the ant works hard to gather food, inevitably when the winter comes the cricket must beg the ant for a morsel of sustenance. This to me poses the question of the value of an artist’s work. As we know through research, Sietsema put grueling hours into creating models and sourcing information for this film. It feels as though the cricket model he included in the beginning is an effort to frame the film with the question of the value of his work in this world. Roberta Smith’s review of this work does a commendable job at deconstructing and essentially translating the work for the average viewer. As she states in her last paragraph, “Mr. Sietsema's work needs to be more accessible, but it rewards intense study.” I agree, though the film at first seems inaccessible and endlessly complex, the viewer is rewarded for spending the time on seeing the layers upon layers of meaning. I think I have come to see the appealingly funky beauty that is Paul Sietsema’s Empire.