“I've always thought of the project as a sort of sexually driven digestive system, that it was a consumer and a producer of matter. And it is desire driven, rather than driven by hunger or anything like that”

-Matthew Barney

In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've... I mean... um.. yes, well in my younger and perhaps even more vulnerable years I was at a friends house, flicking through one of his parents coffee table books on modernist art. At the time I wasn't some kind of art devotee although I could appreciated it and knew it had it's place in the world. I came across an image which branded into my mind instantly, it was like nothing I had ever seen before. The photograph was of Matthew Barney costumed as the Entered Apprentice from his last installment of The Cremaster Cycle. The horrifying however beautiful image unfolded it's coloration of cobalt blue and salmon I was familiar, yet so unfamiliar with. I could never forget the expression of atonement manifested on the characters face as he stared at me with gratification, even while some sort of golden cloth material mutilated his mouth. Where was this incredibly inspirational image from? An opera? A CD cover? Throughout the following years I discovered an artist who is perhaps one of the most important contemporary media artists of today.

For years now Matthew Barney's most prestigious work The Cremaster Cycle has only been available for viewing at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. This month, ACMI have very kindly got hold of prints of all of his films and will be playing them between the 1st and 11th of July.

The Cremaster Cycle (1994 to 2002)

(warning: this video contains violence)

The quote at the top of this piece was recorded when Matthew Barney was interviewed by Art:21 on location at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum when his final film of the cycle, Cremaster 3 was finished. The quote describes the system Barney used in his process of producing the five-part Cremaster Cycle. The films represent the different biological processes in which the human body works: Life, the sexual differentiation, the reproductive system, the digestive system and death (a biological 'cycle' in a way). Driven by a narrative, the way characters and objects consume and produce others in this 400 minute epic represent these biological systems while also creating an aesthetic masterpiece.

Cremaster 1

Cremaster 1 kick starts the journey though The Cremaster Cycle (although was the 2nd installment produced: all the films weren't made in chronological order). Filmed in Barney's home town in Idaho, his birthplace if you will, the film is set at night on the bright blue playing field of the Boise Bronco Stadium. The films primarily focus is on the act of ascension, as the protagonist Goodyear (Marti Domination) inhabits two Goodyear blimps that hover above the stadium. On the playing field a number of choreographed dance routines take place forming designs of the female reproductive system. The iconic blimps house a number of 30's style air hostesses tending to each ship while Goodyear, plucks grapes from beneath Barney's cremaster muscle sculpture and forms them into the shapes that play beneath the blimps on the field. There isn't any conflicts between the characters, as though they all feel at one with the world. The bubbling musical score gives the audience this sense of this undifferentiation. Distinction

Cremaster 2

Cremaster 2 is based on the life of Gary Gilmore, an American criminal who was executed for murder in 1977. Barney plays this character of Gilmore who kills an innocent service station attendant and then is executed by riding a bull to his death. In the real world, Gilmore's mother claimed that he was the son of famed magician Harry Houdini, who is also featured in the film (Barney was majorly inspired by the career of Harry Houdini) played by novelist Norman Mailer. As well as some beautiful imagery of a Canadian salt lake and an interesting insight to the spirit of bees, Cremaster 2 is my personal favourite. Barney's obsession with Vaseline and metal are more prominently introduced in this installment and the narrative is a strong one. The tension created by Barney as Gilmore is sentenced then approaches his fate is as disturbing as the final scenes in Patty Jenkin's Monster. High Distinction

Cremaster 3 

Cremaster 3 was the last film of the cycle to be produced. The film functions as the middle chapter of the entire series, as the phase of reassessment, reflecting events and characters that have appeared while anticipating those that will follow. Set in the Chrysler Building in New York, the imagery explores the era of the depression in the 30's and the Irish labour laws and organized crime that occurred. Driving the narrative are the characters of The Entered Apprentice (Barney) working as a masonry and Architect Hiram Abiff (Richard Serra). The superior relationship Abiff has with The Apprentice creates a revenge and chase sequence. As well as scenes involving five 67' Chrysler Crown Imperials literally murdering a 30' Chrysler Imperial in some sort of ritual killing and zombie horse racing, the film certainly takes a turn in the buildings club. Decked out like a traditional Irish pub, a slapstick routine occurs between The Entered Apprentice and the bartender. As well as being the most popular, Cremaster 3 is without a doubt the most accomplished of the cycle, in terms of Barney achieving the vision he went out to create. Distinction

The Order 

The Order is actually the final part of Cremaster 3, running for 30 minutes, The Order is the only footage of the Cycle that has been made available on DVD. In this sequence Barney's character of The Entered Apprentice reappears, although this time as some sort of contemporary Scottish warrior (this is the character I described in the first paragraph). The Apprentice plays a mental and physically challenging game that is staged in the rotunda of the Guggenheim Museum. When Barney exhibited Cremaster 3, he played it on video monitors in the rotunda itself where it originally took place, perhaps to create some sort of echo to what happens on screen. The game has five stages of obstacles that the character must endure. It's an amazing piece of artwork, particularly The Entered Novitiate (Aimee Mullins) who transforms from a couture model with carbon-fiber prosthetic legs to a the body of a cheetah creating some sort of alter ego of the Entered Apprentice, who he must face at the end of the game. High Distinction

Cremaster 4 

As the first film made of the cycle. Cremaster 4 is certainly the weakest. With a strong palette of blue and yellow the film represents the beginning of descension. Set on the Isle of Man, it incorporates the famous TT motorcycle race. Two teams compete: The yellow team that ascend the landscape of the island and the blue team that descend the island (guess who crashes) while the character of Loughton Candidate (Barney) accompanied by three red-haired individuals dances through the floor (literally) falling into a Houdini-esque escape situation. Budget and film making experience burdens the potential of this film as you can see in the difference between Barney's concept drawings and screen result. Credit

Cremaster 5 

Cremaster 5 is a musical and visionary masterpiece, a tie with Cremaster 2. Set in an opera house and baths of Budapest, the film focuses on the process of death and the act of total descension. It becomes a tragic love story between three characters (Diva, Magician & Giant) all played by Barney and The Queen of Chain (played by Ursula Andress, who claimed Hollywood fame in Dr. No as Honeychile Rider, when she emerges from the ocean in a white bikini). The set design throughout this film is absolutely spectacular, from the architecture of the stage to the Chain Bridge in Budapest, they almost become characters themselves. The amazing score by Jonathan Bepler in this in episode is also unlike the remaining films, it plays a homage to an operatic fashion while subtly including the experimental and abstract style of the other film's music. High Distinction

Drawing Restraint 9 (2005)

Drawing Restraint 9 is a love story set on a Japanese whaling ship, the Nisshin Maru. It's a bizarre insight to the history of whaling. The love aspect of the film occurs between two 'guests' that aboard the ship played by Barney and his wife Björk (Dancer in the Dark). Aboard the ship a sculpture is the centrepiece of both the vessel and the story. It is Barney's signature sculpture of 'Restraint' (The oval shape with the line going through it which practically appears in all of his work), during the course of the film the 'line' that restraints the body (oval bit) is removed, symbolizing the body to allow to live free, or in it's essence. While this happens the two guests slowly transform from human mammals into whales. Drawing Restraint 9 is Barney's first piece he has made after completing the Cremaster series. The film remains in his visual style and very subtle narrative although it feels more innovative, or advanced in a sense. He still shows his interpretation of the 'other' culture in his own unique fashion but what differs is it's definitely more spiritually driven rather than the procedure driven style of the Cremaster films. High Distinction

Hoist (2006)

(warning: this video contains nudity)

Barney's 15 minute short film Hoist was featured in Destricted, a film also featuring works by Larry Clark (Kids, Ken Park) and Marina Abramovic (performance composition: Seven Easy Pieces). At the beginning of Hoist, it's unsure to the audience what appears on screen (as shown in the clip). Gradually it becomes apparent that it's a human penis, that grows at a slow pace. Hoist is about the similarities between biological development and mechanical development. To hoist, as the dictionary defines it: To raise or haul up with or as if with the help of a mechanical apparatus. This film explores the concept of sexual transmission of hoisting between man and machine, or flesh and metal. In my opinion this is Barney's most conventional film. Apart from his unique visual style, the film follows a traditional 3-act story structure that allows the audience to interpret the film's meaning a lot easier. Distinction

Ben Plymin