{"id":873,"date":"2008-05-20T22:15:44","date_gmt":"2008-05-21T06:15:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.godammit.com\/?p=873"},"modified":"2008-05-20T22:15:44","modified_gmt":"2008-05-21T06:15:44","slug":"the-genius-of-matthew-barney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/godammit.com\/the-genius-of-matthew-barney\/","title":{"rendered":"The Genius of Matthew Barney"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was intrigued by a review<\/a> in the Los Angeles TImes of Matthew Barney’s latest performance piece, called REN. \u00a0 The two hour event took place in a car lot, and featured the destruction of a 1967 Chrysler Imperial.<\/p>\n

The car was dragged by “four dozen dirt-smeared laborers” into a showroom, where it was smashed by a backhoe. The shattered glass injured three people in the audience, but hey, they came to see Art and they got it!<\/p>\n

After the paramedics left, the audience was ushered into a fake tomb where Lila Downs sang to a corpse and – this is my favorite part – <\/strong>“a menstrual shroud was extracted from the loins of a masked nude woman.”<\/p>\n

Is Matthew Barney a fucking genius or what?!<\/p>\n

If you’re not convinced, how about this: Just last month in New York<\/a>, Barney used another Chrysler to fascinate a crowd of 200, wearing a dog on his head. A legless athlete in a silver ballgown and a marching band in terrorist masks were there to bring Barney’s vision to life, as were a pair of semi-nude girls who peed in an arc onto the floor. Then a bull was led over to the Chrysler but refused to mount it.<\/p>\n

I’m not too good as symbolism, but I think it’s obvious that the bull was a witty reference to shit. Right?<\/p>\n

Poor Bjork!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"