Matthew Barney and Björk Back, With Constraints

If like Gothamist you were thrilled by Matthew Barney's Cremaster film cycle and its subsequent exhibition of stills, sculpture and clips at the Guggenheim, your wait for more of Barney's weird brilliance is over. For his newest project, Drawing Constraint 9, set aboard the whaling ship Nisshin Maru in Japan's Nagasaki Bay, he's paired up with the musician Björk who composed the score and also appears in the film with Barney.

Barney's major theme in the work is "the relationship between self-imposed resistance and creativity" and like in the Cremaster works, Barney again plays with Vaseline to illustrate it. This time, Barney constructs "The Field," a sculpture of goo molded, poured, bisected and reformed on the deck of the ship during the film. Barney and Björk play "the Guests," two passengers aboard the ship who dress in traditional garb for a Shinto wedding, perform in a tea ceremony and then nearly drown in a flood of Vaseline. Sounds like a completely average day, right?

For Björk fans, her work here is apparently similar to her involvement in Lars Von Trier's Dancer in the Dark and subsequent album, Selmasongs with an emphasis on Björk's voice as an added instrument. Also, because of the Japanese aesthetic, the soundtrack features music on the sho, one of Japan's oldest instruments.

The film opens this weekend and Barney will be on hand tonight at the 6:40 pm and 9:30 pm screenings at the IFC Center, 323 Sixth Avenue. (These special screenings will probably sell out, but it's also playing at 1:00 and 3:50 every day.) Tickets cost $10.75.

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By Karen Wilson in Arts & Entertainment on March 29, 2006 3:33 PM

Comments [rss]

Nick

The film is called Drawing Restraint 9, for sticklers who care. The official website is fantastically detailed about the entire Drawing Restraint series: http://www.drawingrestraint.net

Gwinny

Emily: I'll give Bjork the "flashes of brilliance," sure, but if you look at my earlier comments, you'll see I definitely don't feel that way about Matthew Barney :)

emily

They can both be pretentious and annoying, Gwin, with intermittent flashes of brilliance.

Joe said exactly what I was going to -- the Gothamist post seemed oblivious to the Bjork-Barney "offscreen" relationship.

Gwinny

Joe: yes. So? That doesn't give her some unalienable right to be pretentious and annoying.

joe

you guys know that bjork and barney are married with a kid, right?

not a fan

Word, JESUS CHRIST, word. Bjork is no fun anymore. She went straight from quirky and cute to pretentious and annoying.

JESUS CHRIST

isn't the cremaster like the cum muscle or something? it makes your tapioca factory go right? Bjork's music sucks now ever since pagan poetry. What happened B? now she takes herself way too seriously. Go back to instruments.

ann

i went to the MOMA screening last night and felt the film was a disappointment. two talented people, tons of money and resources and that was all they could come up with?! bjork's score was the only saving grace. on a side note, all the usual hipster suspects looked much better at the MOMA. must have been the change of environment.

Gwinny

Bjork was in "Dancer in the Dark." I think Mothra and I both know Lars von Trier directed those two films. I mentioned "Dogville" simply because he thought "DITD" was bad, and I didn't, but thought that "Dogville" was. Sorry if the free-association was a bit much for you.

troy

"I mean, I hated Dancer in the Dark as much as the next snob (Pennies from Heaven did it better) but the new Barney could be fun."

"I guess Matthew Barney's just not my thing... and actually, I liked Dancer in the Dark but hated the subsequent Dogville."

do you guys think barney directed 'dancer in the dark' and 'dogville'? if not, then what are these statements suppose to mean?

La Joconde

These two artists: a complementary couple!

I'm impatient to see all their new projects.

Nice blog!

To be continued...

Bye!

bootsy

I wonder if the Bjorkestra will play from this new soundtrack at Joe's Pub next month.

Gwinny

Mothra: I have seen the Cremaster cycle too - I went to the retrospective at the Guggenheim a few years ago. I don't believe in harshing on something I haven't seen/heard/etc.

I guess Matthew Barney's just not my thing... and actually, I liked "Dancer in the Dark" but hated the subsequent "Dogville."

The New Yorker has a pretty damning paragraph on this particular project in the front section of this week's issue.

threetoedsloth

I saw the preview for this movie at IFC a few weeks back, and I gotta say it looks dubious. Who knows, maybe in its full lubricated glory it'll actually be mind-blowing, but during that preview my eyes were rolling and I couldn't pay my lips to quit pursing in disapproval.

Mothra

I dunno Gwin, my school got a chance to screen the Cremaster cylcle a few years ago and wow. I mean, I hated Dancer in the Dark as much as the next snob (Pennies from Heaven did it better) but the new Barney could be fun. But I suspect you want to be f'd up for it...

Gwinny

I wish Bjork would go back to making the fun, interesting music she used to make and stop with the artsy-fartsy pseudo-intellectual stuff. I blame Matthew Barney, whose work is totally pretentious and a bunch of hooey.