Page 11 - 50.La Biennale di Venezia issue of World of Art Magazine

Since 1992 Barney has participated in CREMASTER 4, 1994 (00:42:16)
numerous important international group Written and Directed by Matthew Barney
exhibitions includingDocumenta IX, Produced by Artangel, London; Foundation Cattier pour l’Art
Kassel (1992); Post Human, organized Contemporain, Paris; and Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York
by FAE Musêe d’Art Contemporain,Pully/ Director of Photography: Peter Strietmann
Starring Matthew Barney
Lausanne, Switzerland (1992); 1993
Biennial Exhibition, Whitney Museum of CREMASTER 4, the first of the cycle’s installments to be completed, adheres most
American Art, NewYork (1993); Aperto closely to the project’s biological model. This penultimate episode describes the
‘93, 45th Venice Biennale (1993); Hors system’s onward rush toward descension despite its resistance to division. The
Limites: L ‘Art et la vie 1952-1994, logo for this chapter is the Manx triskelion- three identical armored legs revolving
MuséeNational d’Art Moderne, Centre 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
Georges Pompidou, Paris (1994); The race. Myth and machine combine to narrate a story of candidacy, which involves
Masculine Masquerade, MIT List Visual a trial of the will articulated by a series of passages and transformations. The
Arts Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts film comprises three main character zones. The Loughton Candidate (played by
(1995); Yksityinen/julkinen = Private/ Barney) is a satyr in an Edwardian suit. He has two sets of impacted sockets in
Public: ARS 95,Museum of Contemporary his head-four nascent horns, which will eventually grow into those of the mature,
Art, Helsinki (1995); Ripple across the Loughton Ram, an ancient breed native to the island. Its horns- two arcing
upward, two down-form a diagram that proposes a condition of undifferentiation,
Water, Watari Museum ofContemporary with ascension and descension coexisting in equilibrium. The second and third
Art, Tokyo (1995); Hybrids, De Appel, character zones comprise a pair of motorcycle sidecar teams: the Ascending and
Amsterdam (1996); 10th Biennale of Descending Hacks. These primary characters are attended to by a trio of fairies
Sydney:Jurassic Technologies Revenant who mirror the three narrative fields occupied by the Candidate and the two
(1996); the Hugo Boss Prize: 1996, racing teams. Having no volition of their own, these creatures metamorphose in
Guggenheim Museum Soho, NewYork accordance with whatever field they occupy at any given time.
(1996); De-Genderism, Setagaya Art Cremaster 4 begins and ends in a building on the end of Queen’s Pier. As the
Museum, Tokyo (1997); 4e Biennale film starts, the Candidate is being prepared by the fairies for a journey. They fit
d’art contemporain deLyon: L ‘Autre taps onto his brogues and fill his pockets with large pearls. The motorcycle race
(1997); Wounds: Between Democracy begins, and each team speeds off in opposite directions. The camera cuts back and
and Redemption in Contemporary Art, forth between the race and the Candidate, who is tap-dancing his way through a
ModernaMuseet, Stockholm (1998); slowly eroding floor. As the bikes vie for the title, the camera pulls in for close-up Guggenheim
shots of the riders’ torsos. Gelatinous gonadal forms-undifferentiated internal sex
Regarding Beauty: A View of the Late organs-emerge from slots in their uniforms in a migratory quest for directionality.
Twentieth Century, Hirshhorn Museum In the case of the Ascending Hack, the organs move upward toward a second set
and Sculpture Garden, Washington, of slots in the leather. With the Descending Hack, they ooze downward.
D.C. (1999); Carnegie International
1999/2000, Carnegie Museum of Art, Back at the pier, the Candidate plunges through the floor into the sea and heads
toward the island. At the moment of his fall-a transition from the utopian realm
Pittsburgh (1999-2000); Voilà: Le monde of pregenital oneness to that of bifurcation-the Ascending Hack collides with a
dans la tête, Musée d’Art Moderne de stone embankment and the Descending Hack pulls off the course for a pit stop,
la Ville de Paris (2000); media city Seoul where the fairies service its motorcycle. The Candidate reaches land and begins
2000, Seoul Metropolitan Museum of to burrow his way up into the body of the island through a curving channel that
Art (2000); and Public Offerings, The he must navigate in order to reach the finish line. This conduit leads him to a
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los bluff, where the fairies are having a picnic. They frolic in a game that mirrors the
conflict enacted by the principal characters, but with none of the tension. Still
Angeles (2001).
in his underground tunnel, the Candidate finally reaches his destination. The
Loughton Ram stands at this junction-a symbol for the integration of opposites,
Barney was awarded the Europa 2000 Prize the urge for unity that fuels this triple race. But before the Candidate and Hacks
at the 45th Biennale di Venezia in 1993; the meet, the screen goes white. The Candidate’s dream of transcending his biology to
GuggenheimMuseum’s Hugo Boss Prize in dwell in the space of pure symmetry embodied by the Loughton Ram is shattered.
1996; the Skowhegan Medal for Combined In the final sequence the narrative returns to the pier, where the Hacks are parked
Media in 1999; the James D.Phelan Art on discrete ramps sloping down from the building’s exterior. In the closing image
Award in Video by the Bay Area Video the camera peers through an open crotch at the top of the frame toward the end
Coalition, San Francisco, in 2000; and the of the pier. A tightly retracted scrotum is pierced with clasps connected to vinyl
IrishMuseum of Modern Art Glen Dimplex cords, which trail off to the awaiting Hacks, who will drive toward the island to
Artists Award in 2001. pick up the slack. Full descension is guaranteed.

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