Goodyear blimps, blue turf, and zero dialogue. Matthew Barney's testicular fever dream begins.
CREMASTER 1 is a musical revue performed on the blue Astroturf playing field of Bronco Stadium in Boise, Idaho - Matthew Barney's hometown. Two Goodyear Blimps float above the arena like the airships that often transmit live sporting events via television broadcast. Four air hostesses tend to each blimp. The only sound is soft ambient music, which suggests the hum of the engines.
Production
Stadium-scale minimalism with obsessive color coordination
Cinematography
Blimp's-eye view shots that feel like alien surveillance
Costume
Air hostess uniforms as fetishized feminine machinery
Director
Matthew Barney
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The Cremaster cycle is named for the muscle controlling testicular position, making this literally a meditation on male anxiety disguised as high art.
Barney originally trained as a football player at Yale; this is his bizarre homecoming to the sport's visual language stripped of all action.
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