Page 13 - 50.La Biennale di Venezia issue of World of Art Magazine

CREMASTER 5,1997 (00:54:30) WORLD of ART
Written and Directed by Matthew Barney
Produced by Barbara Gladstone and Matthew Barney
Director of Photography: Peter Strietmann
Music composed by Jonathan Bepler
Starring Ursula Andress and Matthew Barney CONTEMPORARY ART MAGAZINE

When total descension is finally attained in CREMASTER 5 ISSUE 7 VOLUME 3 2003
(1997), the concluding chapter of the cycle, it is envisioned Editor and Publisher PETRU RUSSU
as a tragic love story, a lamentation on separation and loss
set in the romantic dreamscape of late-nineteenth-century
Budapest. The film is cast in the shape of a lyric opera. WORLD OF ART ISSN 1404-3408 published bimonthly
Biological metaphors have shifted form to inhabit emotional Creative &Art Director PETRU RUSSU Stockholm
states-longing and despair-that become musical leitmotivs Senior Editor ANDREA PAGNES Venice
in the orchestral score. The opera’s primary characters- Contributing Editors CÉCILE BOURNE Paris
the Queen of Chain (played by Ursula Andress) and her CHRISTOPHER CHAMBERS New York
Diva, Magician, and Giant (all played by Matthew Barney)-
enact collectively, as a musical ensemble, the final release EMMA HILL London
promised by the project as a whole. MARKUS SCHALLER Berlin
Editorial Director MARTA DIMITRESCU Stockholm
Cremaster 5 opens with an overture that introduces the Design Director ANDRE RUSSO Beyond Silence
opera’s characters and lays out the map of Budapest that Photo Research ANDREA ZANATTA Venice
the narrative will traverse. The Magician crosses the Lánchid Style and Corrections
Bridge on horseback. The Queen ascends the staircase of MARLIE BURTON-ROCHE Calgary
the Hungarian State Opera House with her two ushers. She Translation LEMMY CAUTION Venice
settles onto her throne in the royal booth, and the ushers Production Director ÅKE WALLEN Birger Gustafsson AB
arrange a fleet of Jacobin pigeons around her. Pearls float on Production Assistant JOAKIM ZAAR Birger Gustafsson AB
the surface of the pools in the Gellért Thermal Baths, partially Stockholm Editorial WORLD OF ART, Mörbylund 19, 9tr SE-182 30 Danderyd
concealing the Füdór sprites, which inhabit their underwater & Business Office
realms. The curtain rises to an empty theater, the conductor Stockholm Sweden
readies his orchestra, and the opera begins. As the Queen Tel & Fax +46 8 85.72.64
begins to sing, her Diva appears on the stage before her. He Mobile +46 70 30 86 200
delineates the proscenium arch of the stage by laying ribbons E-mail: info@worldofartmagazine.com
across its floor and then scaling its contours. The Queen’s E-mail: info@artaddiction.net
mind wanders to memories of her beloved Magician. She Venice Editorial Office
reinvisions him standing on the Lánchid Bridge, preparing for ANDREA PAGNES
a leap into the waters of the Danube below. Stripped naked, San Polo 559, IT-30 125 Venezia, Italy
he positions plastic shackles over his wrists and ankles, then Mobile +39 0340 49 38 121
fits molded gloves on his hands and places weighted balls E-mail: andreapagnes@hotmail.com
between his toes. Standing on a plinth jutting out from the New York Editorial Office CHRISTOPHER CHAMBERS
bridge, the Magician recalls the famed bridge jumps of Harry
Houdini, who was born in Budapest in 1874. The Magician is 187 Lafayette Street 4th floor, New York, NY 10013 USA
seeking transcendence, but the Queen misunderstands his E-mail: cchambers@gis.net
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Her focus shifts back to the opera house, and the ushers Postmaster Send address change to WORLD OF ART
direct her attention to orifices in her throne through which
she can see into the Gellért Baths below. The Queen’s retinue Mörbylund 19, 9tr SE-182 30 Danderyd, Sweden
of birds plummets through the passages in her throne, trailing Legal ANDREAS OLSON info@worldofartmagazine.com
long satin ribbons into the bath. Her Giant enters the watery Typography VECTORA & Sabon. Printed on Silk and Gloss Paper
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hip level. The sprites cluster around him with a garland of Distribution INGRAM PERIODICALS North America
ribbons they have woven together out of those attached
to the birds. They reach up through the water and affix the E-mail: Krystal.Wenzlick@ingramperiodicals.com
garland to the Giant’s scrotum. The Queen’s thoughts return UBIQUITY DISTRIBUTORS USA
to the Magician. She relives his leap into the river and swoons E-mail:ubiquitydist@yahoo.com
from the recollection. At this point the narrative mirrors the SELECTAIR DISTRIBUTION SERVICES Australia
path of descension just revealed: having completed his climb, +61-2-9371-8866 dcmc@bigpond.net.au
the Diva tumbles to the stage, in an accident that ends his
existence. Meanwhile, the Magician plunges to the bottom GORDON & GOTCH New Zealand
of the river, landing, manacled, on a flowerbed. Water sprites Mailing Agent MERCURY INTERNATIONAL United Kindom
caress his fallen body and insert a black pearl into his mouth. On-line www.worldofartmagazine.com
The Queen performs her mournful aria, preparing to join her First Cover CARSTEN HÖLLER “Waterwalker” 2000
lover in death. A thin stream of liquid emanates from her
mouth, trickling onto her ruffle and throne, then falling into All right reserved. No part of this publication may be
the pools below. On its descent, the stream divides into two reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted
droplets that strike the water simultaneously. Two perfect in any form or by any means, electronic, photograph-
circles resonate outward, filling the surface of the bath ing or otherwise, without the prior permission of the
publisher and copyright owner.
with their waves, suggesting, in turn, eternal renewal or the Postage and a self-addressed return envelope must
echoes of a system expiring. The Cremaster cycle defers any accompany unsolicited manuscript, photographs, and
other submitted materials. However, World of Art is not
definitive conclusion. Made in the European Union responsible for unsolicited submissions.
WORLD of ART 13