This month, the New York cinema Metrograph will present the work of Matthew Barneythe American concept, video and performance artist with sound projections Cremaster cycle series (1994-2002), a five-part aesthetic storytelling system that was built over a decade.
Cremaster 1 (1995) and Cremaster 4 (1994) will be screened as a double program on May 17 at 7 p.m., and Cremaster 5 (1997) will be screened on May 23 at 7 p.m. Cremaster 2 (1999) will project the week of May 30, and the three hours Cremaster 3 (2002) will show the week of June 5.
Matthew Barney and writer Maggie Nelson, literary critic and author of The Argonauts, will have a conversation at Metrograph on June 4 after a screening of Barney’s remastered early works. Subsequent cremaître screenings will be announced in the coming weeks.
The Cremaster cycle put Barney on the cultural map in the 1990s, challenging and gripping viewers with his lavish visuals and ambitious, often gruesome subject matter, ranging from sexual development to Celtic mythology to the act of creation itself. Named after the muscle that controls testicular temperature response, The Cremaster cycleThe ambitious, interdisciplinary approach of looks as bold and fresh today as it did when the first film was released nearly 30 years ago. The work has not been screened in New York since 2015 and its return coincides with the simultaneous broadcast of Secondarya new moving image work by Barney that will be presented to the public at his studio in Long Island City from May 12 to June 25.
Matthew Barney, CREMASTER 11995, producing again © Matthew Barney.
Pictured: Michael James O’Brien. Courtesy of the artist and Gladstone Gallery
The Cremaster cyclein keeping with Nelson’s literary work, functions as its own kaleidoscopic, surreal autofiction, marrying aspects of Barney’s life and body (he plays the protagonist in most of the films) with dizzying feats of transformation and dramatic expression.
Barney, who was born in San Francisco and raised in Boise, Idaho, is known for his varied practice, encompassing performance, photography, sculpture and film. His work has been exhibited around the world, including at the 21st Century Museum for Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, Japan, and the Guggenheim Museum in New York, where parts of The Cremaster cycle were filmed.
