#Matthew barney astrup fearnley series

He eventually climbs into the cold storage room, lowers himself down towards the bench, but instead of lying down on it he plugs one of the climbing holds into his anus. The videos show Barney climbing the gallery ceiling and walls wearing nothing but a climbing harness. The erosion of the nature-culture dichotomy is a distinctive trait of Barney’s art, and in this exhibition it is aptly framed by the two works that stand furthest apart chronologically: the new River of Fundament, and the project Transexualis (Decline) from 1991.įeaturing two videos and a workout bench made out of Vaseline, Transexualis (Decline) was a key feature of Barney’s breakthrough exhibition at Barbara Gladstone Gallery in the year of its creation. After all, we are talking about Barney here, a card-carrying post-humanist, so the title might just as well be a wryly ironic comment on Western culture’s faith in moral self-improvement through bland appeal to reason. It is not safe to say whether or not this motif of renewal and rebirth inspired the somewhat insipid exhibition title Bildungsroman, a possible nod to the formation and merciless disciplining of the artist through creative struggle. Matthew Barney, Water Cast 12: White Dwarf, 2015, detail.

#Matthew barney astrup fearnley series

Combined with the explosive energy in the series of new sculptures, only one of which is on display at Astrup Fearnley, this development represents a refreshing reinvigoration of the artist’s oeuvre. Not just because it makes all the hours spent in company with this substance bearable, but also because it makes Barney’s transgressions of generic and cultural boundaries seem less insistent and repetitive than before. And the sheer conviction of this portrayal is a relief.

From posing as the abject, the faeces quickly and quite naturally transforms into metaphorical and concrete images of fertility and creation. Rumours of literal rivers of shit have preceded the film, but the claims to obscenity are exaggerated. Barney’s most recent film piece is an almost six-hour-long techno-carnal orgy.