Join BookitisSave favorites, build lists, and follow creators.

Matthew Barney

Work detail

Bookitis Pick
Cover for Matthew Barney
MB
Image source: Open Library
Neville WakefieldFrancis MckeeMatthew BarneyItsuko HasegawaFirst published 19913 editions

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.

Overview

Shared work-level identity and catalog context.

First publish date 19914 credited authorsSearch language english

Bookitis keeps work pages focused on the shared book identity and the editions that actually belong to it. Unrelated books should not appear here as primary content.

Contributors

People credited with this work in the active catalog.

  • Neville Wakefield

    Author profile in the active Bookitis catalog

    Open Author
  • Francis Mckee

    Author profile in the active Bookitis catalog

    Open Author
  • Matthew Barney

    Author profile in the active Bookitis catalog

    Open Author
  • Itsuko Hasegawa

    Author profile in the active Bookitis catalog

    Open Author

Editions

Publication-specific versions linked to this work only.