Under the Shanghai sun, a team of workers, aided by a crane, assembles an Urs Fischer sculpture. They are tense. The scale of the colossal work they are dealing with requires great precision from the engineers, so that its constituent parts - four bronze casts, each the size of a boulder - hold together and do not collapse. They scramble over the sculpture, making painstaking adjustments as the pieces are slowly moved into place. Eventually, Fischer's modernist behemoth attains its intended proportions, towering above its creators. Looking at it, one would never guess its origins. "It's based on a small lump of clay, that Fischer produced in about 15 seconds", reveals Foundry worker Christian Meier.

It's a similar story for all of the sculptures made on the site; they begin life as artists' models or sketches, which the team at the Foundry then transform into monumental artworks. Since the early days, when, Lehman jokes, they resembled "scrap metal dealers", they have managed to garner a roster of clients that includes the biggest names in the modern art world. Now, typical commissions are large works destined for prominent galleries and public spaces, such as Katharina Fritsh's giant blue cockerel, which stood on the fourth plinth in London's Trafalgar Square. The team, who bring together the ancient art of metal casting with modern techniques such as 3D printing, are fully equipped for ambitious projects of this type.

"Above all, it's about respecting the work. Good artists take great risks", stresses Lehman, who has worked with his fair share. But it is his team of workers who are the true focus of this film. Whatever the vision, the combined expertise of this dedicated and talented group of men and women can make fantasy into reality.

Official Selection - Visions Du Reel 2014

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