9.16 (Fri) 19:00-21:20 Cremaster 4 + Cremaster 1 + Cremaster 5

9.17 (Sat) 10:30-12:00 Cremaster 2

9.17 (Sat) 13:00-16:00 Cremaster 3

10.7 (Fri) 10:00-12:00 Cremaster 1 +Cremaster 2

10.7 (Fri) 13:30-16:30 Cremaster 3

10.7 (Fri) 17:00-18:30 Cremaster 4 + Cremaster 5

Cremaster 1

Director: Matthew Barney

Starring: Marti Domination, Gemma Bourdon Smith, Kathleen Crepeau

Genre: Short / Musical

Country: USA

Runtime: 40 min.

The first film in the cycle (second in production) takes place on the blue Astroturf football field of Bronco Stadium in Barney’s hometown of Boise, Idaho. Two Goodyear blimps hover above the arena, each with a glamorous parcel of flight attendants in Isaac Mizrahi–designed uniforms and each with a stowaway played by legendary dominatrix Marti Domination. Using notations made of grapes, she choreographs an armada of chorus girls into patterns of biological cells forming the contours of an androgynous body that symbolizes, for the artist, a state of pure potential.

Cremaster 2

Director: Matthew Barney

Starring: Norman Mailer, Matthew Barney, Anonymous

Genre: Drama

Country: USA

Runtime: 79 min.

The second film in the cycle (fourth in production) is a dark Gothic western that feverishly tracks three generations of condemned murderer Gary Gilmore’s family from the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893 to his execution in 1977. The story line hews closely to the historical Gilmore, while also exploring a fanciful parallel plot linking his clairvoyant grandmother to legendary escape artist Harry Houdini (played by Norman Mailer, author of The Executioner’s Song).

Cremaster 3

Director: Matthew Barney

Starring: Norman Mailer, Matthew Barney, Anonymous

Genre: Drama / Fantasy

Country: USA

Runtime: 182 min.

The final film of the five-part cycle ranks as the most mesmerizing and elaborately designed. It is set in New York’s 1930s gangster milieu against a background comprised of the Chrysler Building’s art-deco interiors, the Saratoga racetrack, the spiraling architecture of the Guggenheim Museum, and monumental landscapes such as the mythological Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland. With Cremaster 3, Barney again combines his outspoken fascination for architecture and his preoccupation with the body, dance, and horror. Look for sculptor Richard Serra, who plays the architect antagonist.

Cremaster 4

Director: Matthew Barney

Starring: Matthew Barney, Dave Molyneux, Graham Molyneux

Genre: Short / Fantasy

Country: USA / France / UK

Runtime: 42 min.

The fourth film in the cycle (first in production) most clearly shows Barney’s consistent utilization of landscape as character and establishes many of the themes that the artist weaves through the subsequent films. Shot on the Isle of Man, it combines Celtic custom and lore with sidecar motorcycle racing and a libidinal quest. Deep in the heart of the film is a tap-dancing ram-in-training (played by Barney) who is aided by a quartet of androgynous fairies as he engages in a series of challenges on the road to maturity.

Cremaster 5

Director: Matthew Barney

Starring: Ursula Andress, Matthew Barney

Genre: Musical / Drama

Country: USA

Runtime: 55 min.

The fifth film (third in production) is a sumptuously moribund romance. Shot in Budapest, its over-the-top components include a spectacularly sepulchral Ursula Andress, a flock of trained Jacobean pigeons, gamboling water nymphs, and the Budapest’s State Opera House orchestra. With a score by Johnathan Bepler (longtime Barney collaborator) and a libretto by the artist, the film is a sustained operatic monologue sung by Hungarian soprano Adrienne Csengery and acted by Andress.

BARCO