Matthew Barney : the Cremaster cycle /
CREMASTER 1 (1995) is a musical revue performed on the blue Astroturf playing field of Bronco Stadium in Boise, Idaho, Barney's hometown. CREMASTER 2 (1999) is rendered as a gothic Western that introduces conflict into the system. On the biological level it corresponds to the phase of fetal dev...
| Other Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
New York :
Guggenheim Museum,
[2002].
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| Subjects: |
| Summary: | CREMASTER 1 (1995) is a musical revue performed on the blue Astroturf playing field of Bronco Stadium in Boise, Idaho, Barney's hometown. CREMASTER 2 (1999) is rendered as a gothic Western that introduces conflict into the system. On the biological level it corresponds to the phase of fetal development during which sexual division begins. CREMASTER 3 (2002) is set in New York City and narrates the construction of the Chrysler Building, which is in itself a character, host to inner, antagonistic forces at play for access to the process of (spiritual) transcendence. CREMASTER 4 (1994) adheres most closely to the project's biological model. This penultimate episode describes the system's onward rush toward descension despite its resistance to division. The logo for this chapter is the Manx triskelion - three identical armored legs revolving around a central axis. Set on the Isle of Man, the film absorbs the island's folklore as well as its more recent incarnation as host to the Tourist Trophy motorcycle race. When total descension is finally attained in CREMASTER 5 (1997), it is envisioned as a tragic love story set in the romantic dreamscape of late-nineteenth-century Budapest. The film is cast in the shape of a lyric opera. Biological metaphors shifted form to inhabit emotional states, longing and despair, that become musical leitmotivs in the orchestral score. The opera's primary characters, the Queen of Chain (played by Ursula Andress) and her Diva, Magician and Giant (all played by Barney), enact collectively the final release promised by the project as a whole. |
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| Item Description: | Published on the occasion of the exhibition Matthew Barney: the Cremaster Cycle, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, June 6-September 1, 2002, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, October 10, 2002-Jan 5, 2003, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, February 14-May 11, 2003. Designed by Roy Brooks and Abbott Miller of Pentagram--AIGA Design Archives. |
| Physical Description: | xv, 522 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 33 cm. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 517-518). |
| ISBN: | 0810969351 9780810969353 089207258X 9780892072583 |