ACMI: Matthew Barney on Film
Thurs 1 July – Sun 11 July 2010

Drawing Restraint 9, Matthew Barney

This July the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) invites you to enter the surreal world of visual artist and filmmaker Matthew Barney with the essential season of Matthew Barney on Film.

Art and film world darling Matthew Barney shattered genre’s with his legendary “visual opera” the Cremaster Cycle and broke new ground with Drawing Restraint 9. His work in avant-garde video making and art has earned him riotous praise from critics and audiences the world over.

This season of Barney classics explores his singular vision and unique combination of art and film that fuses sculptural installations with performance and video. Barney’s work is gender-bending, body-oriented and idea-laden, but also wickedly funny and in its visual extravagance, creates its own awe-inspiring glamour.

Cremaster Cycle, Matthew Barney

ACMI was the first to screen the Cremaster Cycle in 2004, and also enjoyed successful encore screenings in 2006 to coincide with the release of Drawing Restraint 9 (2005) and No Restraint (2006). This encore season is a must for established Barney fans and a chance for new audiences to experience these rarely screened works.

The individual episodes of the Cremaster Cycle will screen over three nights July 3-5. On Sunday 11 July ACMI will present the Cremaster Cycle marathon, this is a rare chance to witness one of the most ambitious series of films ever made. The full Cremaster Cycle is not readily available on DVD, meaning that the only way to see it is on the big screen.

No Restraint, Alison Chernick

Drawing Restraint 9 is the spectacular cinematic collaboration between flagrantly unrestrained Barney and Icelandic songstress extraordinaire Björk. Myth and biology collide in this visually spellbinding movie/installation piece that combines Barney’s unique visual sensibility with Björk’s electro/orchestral soundtrack. The film takes place aboard a Japanese whaling ship, where two occidental tourists (Barney and Bjork) celebrate their love in a most unusual tea ceremony below deck while a huge petroleum jelly sculpture sets above.

Alison Chernick’s documentary No Restraint a film that literally gets on board the whaling ship set of Barney’s Drawing Restraint 9 and charts the creation of this poetic Japanese love story. No Restraint explores both the process and history of Barney’s artistic practice, from his artistic influences to the logistical and artistic challenges of making his films, such as hoisting 45,000 pounds of petroleum jelly into a mold on board a Japanese whaling vessel. Featuring interviews with those who know Barney best (including his father, gallery owner Barbara Gladstone and former Walker chief curator Richard Flood), it sheds a fascinating light on the artist’s mythology.

Matthew Barney on Film runs from 1-11 July at ACMI.
Visit ACMI for more information.