Cremaster Cycle

2 Pages 550 Words

Cremaster Cycle.
“The perfect cube must pass through the metamorphosis of the cross”-the starting line of the Cremaster 3 made no sense to me what so ever. At that point I was exhausted already but not physically, mentally-trying to figure out what meant what and how it all was connected. I almost got disappointed at myself because The Cremaster Cycle by Matthew Barney did not come to me as the harmonic integrated piece. The whole rotunda represented a large puzzle to me filled with many interesting but inconsistent works of art.
I felt strange because Pierre Huyghe’s piece located in the Solomon R. Guggenheim museum as well left me pleasantly surprised because unlike my friend who is unfamiliar with art of a new era I was able to interpret the meaning behind the light/kinetic/sound sculptures using my knowledge received through College lectures. I was mostly amazed by the installation Les Grands Ensembles (represent the Morse code conversation between two buildings) that incorporated sound, light and movement through the means of film and space to create such a great tension and intensity of life of two completely alienated architectural structures.
After reaching the top of the rotunda, I finally realized my mistake. The problem was that unlike others who inform themselves before coming to the specific installation, I deprived myself of such an opportunity. However, my reward was probably more significant then other’s due to this disadvantage. When viewing all the sculptures I lacked the knowledge of their “fundamental interrelationship” with the 35-mm films screened throughout the installation. With this realization my head stopped spinning from infinite guessing and everything not only found its unity within my mind but also gained a completely different perspective.
The installation done by Mattew Barney perfectly fits the museum’s 5 level rotunda. Each level contains one cycle. In the center of the rotunda the...