ONLY THE PERVERSE FANTASY CAN STILL SAVE US NANCY SPECTORPART I | Pre-Cycle HYPERTRGPY nine 1881 Drawing Retin 988 THE FIELD Matthew Barney's five-part Cremaster cycle is a self-enclosed aesthetic system. Born out of a performative practice in which the human body —with its psychic drives and physical thresholds symbolizes the potential ofsheer creative force, the cycle explodes this body into the particles of acontempo- rary creation myth, Since its inception in 1994, the Cremaster eycle has unfolded in time as well as space to render visible some of the processes by which form —inits biological, psychological, and geological st tobe, Barney visual language is protean: drawing and film unite to engen- der photography'and sculpture, which, in turn, produce more drawing and film ils that deiesany hierarchy of artistic mediums. Driven by narrative impulse, the iconography is multi- an incestuous intermingling of mat valent and allusive. Objects and images, always striking, bizarre, and seduc- tive, function simultaneously on various levels of meaning, Created out of sequence--Cremaster ¢ (1994) was realized first, then followed by Cremasters 1 (1995.5 (1997)-2 (1999). and 3 (2002) the eyele has a least ‘two sets of beginnings, at least two endings, and many more points of entry Iisa polymorphous organism of an artwork, continuously shifting guises and following its own eccentric set of rules, many of which Barney has employed since his earliest body-centric projects. ‘The first and perhaps most fundamental ofthese rules involves the propo- sition that form cannot material resistance in the process, This idea developed out of Barney's own eaperi- ence as an athlete, when he built strength and endurance by withstanding, repetitive physical stress. The phenomenon of athletic training, in which the body strives to surpass threshold afler threshold of corporeal limitation, plays a central role in the conceptual underpinnings of his work. So does the psychosocial dimension of organized sports, a ritualized realm of competi- tion, exhibitionism, and idolization that isassociated in our colle ‘unconscious with masculine identity Barney premised his approach to the creation of form on the technique of hypertrophic muscle development, which involves the tearing down of tissue through repetitive stress in order tocenlange specific areas ofthe body. On the Nautilus machine one can isolate and exert virtually any in flexor, gluteus maximus, pectoral, quadriceps. triceps, and so on. Barney's frst artworks, made while he wasstill in college, were performance-based situa- tions during which he applied this biological model to the practice of draw- ing. Conceived as studio experiments, the earliest of the Drawing Restraint series (1988-93) involved the use of physical resistance in an attempt to create that fundamental component of drawing, a graphic mark. In his obstacle course ofa studio which resembled some hybrid version of Gold Gym and ¢ or mutate unless it struggles against cultural jual Voluntary muscle mass: adductor, biceps, Thee of is esos aque tem cham Woang _Bameysfonsite mbes a cota spo von Goethe. whieh wes used 9s an pian by ty ts presents hae, despite my dou! abot osamar Jackson inher beck Fatay The Vertue sauce Bay, consaton wih heath Fbrar of Subversion Landon and New Yre Mtbe. 161}, 2001 ts aning ton to Bary awl, | “This qottin als appear ae te eprom or Bryant hope, brome lain te pages at low Fare’ review of Jt Batgeret eat here Hs This essay hs beneftd trom te ell qudarce Nelroman( 197 and Netomantk 212 fated of any ealeogues | woul liso schnowldiga Nat on he Wed site Mav deep foeu can/ickey/ Toman Stephen Hota, aan Young fort it tel Z Ihave bean unable olbese he acual ical rasearch assistance. Mst pata. wod ite fours for this quote, however. Resarchers at tht tay god tend ard coleaqu Tyza Nehol Goethe Institut in New York Delve to be an era Gone, wpa owe eva ar alu igh rane ito phone eansaraton, ana 2i, 207). tlwrtngs om Matthew Bane wor have been 2 Nevertheless, the fac hat Nelromant i oe of cost sous inspira.an S/M fetish club Barney climbed ramps, swung from rings, strained against tethers, jumped ona minitrampoline, and pushed blocking sleds in an effort to record the lines of a sketch, a self-portrait, diagram. Employing tools that further compliccted the process by their unwieldiness in scale, eight, or rigidity, he produced images that functioned both as indices of the cewergy expended (o complete them and as representativual markings. Though evocative of t970s Process art, which incorporated the act of making into the material p Restraint project delves intomore psychosexual sources that circulate around the libidinal aspects of expenditure.’ Strenuous athletic competition requires thesuppression of any driveseat the quest for socialization, and other appetites must be sublimated in order forthe body to operate at peak performance level. For Barney the game itself is of lesser interest than theaccumulation, storage, and release of energy in this controlled corporeal environment. Hisart contemplates the potential of “creative repression’ to define new “internal thresholds,” new inner processes by which force may be harnessed and form generated. It also acknowledges how the eroticism inherent in sport—with its emphasis on bodily perfection. its struggle between opposing parties its exertion, its sweat—invokes the fact that desire, like the exhausted muscle, grows when subjected to sell- imposed restraint. The Marquis de Sade, ever the expert on the relationship, between conflict and sexual pleasure, articulated this in his introduction to 120 Days of Sodom: “There s nothing," he explained, that can set bounds to licentiousness.... The best way of enlargingand multiplying one’ desires is, to try and limit them’ As part of his early work Barney identified a three-part internal system that processes the ebb and low of different energies in the body, moving from desire to discipline to productivity! The first zone or level, which he labeled “Situation,” contains pure raw drive. In this state the energy is unorganized and essentially useless, but defintely sexual and ripe with potential. Ina drav- ingof the fetal reproductive system prior to the process of sexual differenti- ation, Barney rendered thiszone of possibility visible through the metaphor of embryonic development For the first six weeksaller conception, embryos, of both XX and XY varietieshover in a gender-neutral condition: growth buds called anlagen wait inertly for sex chromosomesto trigger their inexorable division into male or female states When so catalyzed, a pair of undifferen- tiated gonads develop into cither ovariesor testicles Setsof internal ducts either wollfian or mullerian, become seminal vesicles or fallopian tubes, respectively, and the genital ubercule--a minute protruding nub of tissue {growsinto either clitoris or penis. Asanatomical destiny isrealized, the differ- entsex hormones—estrogen, progesterone, and androgen are activated to ice of the shed work, Barney's Drawing neous to the goal of winning, Sexual desire, |. Pocassat—spctaly tad Sarak ear wor, S68 is arle Mat Barneys Frain wt te with is egos on pysialiy nd matriacy— was Fasc of Space” Para, no. 38 (March 1854 op. Sn inpaat sue for Bane el ep imes- 118-24 ‘gatos 4 Boney discusses tis sstom in his aceview with 2.Bamay inanitniaw wth Glanaland “Mathew Lira Sang, "Matthew Baroy, Mader Hares, Barney" Shit 148, ro, 2 (082). $8. "Tw wok,” Art ress, no. 208 |Juy-August 1885.8 “What Barney ges on, “esto do withthe sutpensian ot ened 9 doing was tng wo locate dierent areas canpeien,ooeng stared pte tats built esi of mse ware dileent energies wae | up. Tat canbe taken on several ayers—thsenial hang tat a dgran col be ade anata ler of sper th iio, let nations Peopla tact tam, eve te contrued ora tn have these ange itu a epesion ding gpme old ays eae ham" Hels mein tine season inervew “Tavels in Hypemopbi: Thyra Nichols 4 Marquis de Sade, quoted in Georges Basie, Goofee Tt wth Math Bate” Artioun 33, ism Death an Sensi wan. Mary Dalwcod [May 1585) 117. An adored is hee part (Sanfroniseo Cy Lights Boks, 1985p. 48. Nelle age as cenit the hme of hie we dung a Wikafld ns leet the Sadan dimersions of lacie ath 2nd Stel New Yor cn ebay 12 Baresi eyelid pal resin, 1388 Drawirg Rosai 1988 ‘rawing Rosai Iocan 1988 eta)NANCY SPECTOR Condon 88,1868 nt BOLUS 191 perform both offensive and defensive functions: they promote development of certain gender-specific organs while guaranteeing the atrophy of others® This momentary sate of genital indeterminacy is emblematic for Barney: it functions in his work asa symbol for unadulterated potential, providing him with a metaphoric vocabulary with which to organize and describe his own aesthetic system. “Condition,” the se nnd of Barney's interior zones. isa visceral “discipli- nary funnel” that processes the body's crude energy Itsanatomical analogue is the digestive tract. phase one consi then the see al of making it useful Processed through the stomach and upper intestines, the raw energy is churned up, broken down, and distilled, Extending thi tion, the third and final zone, “Production,” makes this force manifest in the s of creative but undirected force, nd level manages this foree with the iphor of diges- world via anal and oral channels. Once Barney diagrammed this i inthei rile structure, he became interested caf short ircuiting the entire syst n by skipping the Production stage. The internal matrix would then oscillate evclusively between Situation and Condition, between desire and discipline, ina never-ending, self-refer- ential, autoerotic eyele. According to the artist, “If Production is bypassed the head goes into the ass,” and the form goes into a “talspin.”* Barney repre- sented this concept in the sculpture unit BOLUS (1991), which his early work, fuses biomedical terminology with the trappings ofthe locker oom. In physiological terms a bolus isa wad of ingested or digested food. Here it servesas the ttle for acast-petroleum-jelly dumbbell maintained by a refrigerated rack. The artist described this inherently malleable, double- headed formas a“mouthpiece that could also be inserted analy,” an action that would essentially “close the circle” and seal off the body ina hermetic, perfectly self-contained state! In his video performance FIELD DRESSING (orifl) (1989). Barney emulated this condition by filling each of his body's orifices—ear, nose, mouth, anus, penis—with petroleum jelly. Thestrenuous, repetitive action that produced this tate required loweringhimself from the ceiling wearing nothing but a harness, scooping the substance up from a trough on the floor. and inserting it into the desired aperture. ‘The self-enclosed organism —an instrument of narcissistic gral has ts place inthe history of art. It is manifest in Marcel Duchamp's Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even (1915-29). with its intimations of a ceaseless, mechanical masturbatory cycle, In the lower, bachelor-inhs ited realm of the work, an elaborate automated system of interconnected parts malic molds, chocolate grinder, sieves, scissors, rams, mirrors, oculist witnesses, glider— churns away; forever secluded from the realm of the bride above but defi sd in opposition to i."The bachelor” according to Duchamp, 5.Fara tae hag dte cunt seal fer alopan utes, nd upervagin Development 2s ‘entation athe anton evel ee Joon Morey anda mle eae etecte pul nth ale des Paul Tucker, Sonal Sgnatues Oo Borg 3 Man oan a Gael tage 471 On he sexs 2 Woman (Boson and Tron: Lit, Brown ard ini sch acaunts ol seul ileeniation arc Cnpany, 1975) The autrs’dscraton of prenatal gender dewioprent whch osts heal arent as avelgment suds 0 tat ol ter cone era an aebe fre snd the female a pats sa6 Anne that ararousiypaalies Barrys concept of hyper. Fast Stain, “How to Build @ Man” in Maurice optic growth tough esa: "Your hormone mix Berge, Bian Walls, ard Simon Watson eis steered ya atthe fin the perataloadwhere your Canstacieg Masculinity (New Yor ad Longan ‘eneynicmieral geet strc. found her Podge 195] pp, 127-34, etn. Oe et of stuctres bgan to eval, te EBay etre Feb 12.1886. ‘thet wither ova... eater ale ormane mix 7 Gare. inten Geo,“ n yeep” tome be wolfinstucures develo, adits p17 that pei tore hamone elle inp ‘aller 6 Bany. quoted in he neve “Mathew Barney lanehibing hormone, whichis secrete ding tis Conversation with anne Swpel Toma Cols rede icles, agp malin sites ra (srng 150 p67. from pursing tei aiton to bane utes, 8 Bamey lecur of ean 12,1986“grinds his chocolate himself." This onanisti ‘model, marked by arelent- less erotic pulse, appears again and again in the trajectory of sharedsen: ities (or obsessions) that extends from Duchamp to Barncy. It resides Vito Acconci's Seedbed (1972).a performance’ sculpture in which the artist, lurked underneath a false floor masturbating tothe fantasy of those walking above him, I exists in early videotaped studio exercises of Bru such as Bouncing in the Corner IT (196s). in which the artist’ incessantly repetitive actions serve to abstract his body into images of its own erogenous zones. And itinforms Richard Serra film Hand Catching Lead (1971).amedi- tation on process that shows the artist's hand attempting to grasp pieces of lead as they fall through the space ofthe frame. The continuous motion of Serra’s opening and flexingggrip i pulsatile, and this effect, like the perform- ances of Acconci and Nauman, privileges real friction over the pure, disembodied optics of modernist art." In Barney's onanistic universe, the body—which is always a sign for a more abstract operative structure—attempts to close inon itself through mechanisms of self-restraint. The willis thus regimented by an erotics of physical controt that penetrates into the deepest recesses of the organism. IF this pulsating cycle of desire and discipline repeats itself enough times, according to the artist, “Something that’ really elusive can slip out ~a for that Aas form, but isn't overdetermined."® At the very outset of his pra Barney created a| and the ereative potential itharbors. His “field emblem” an ellipsis bisected horizontally bya single bar signifies the orifice body, an arena of possibility. The motif is ubiquitous in Barney's ccuvt 4 traditional heraldic emblem it encapsulates and translates the artist's ‘complex symbology into visual shorthand, But the field emblem alse func tions like a corporate logo, ensuring a certain brand identity by vietue of its, constant presence in the work. Mixing the archaic and the pop. this graphic image epitomizes Barney's unique aesthetic language. which is continously evolving in its construction of anew-millennium mythology. In addition to the anthropomorphic connotations of the field emblem, it also suggests an architectural framework. “floor plan for actions” anemply stage on which the ritual preparations for self-mastery ean be enacted," At ‘once body and stadium, the emblem represents an interstitial zone through which interior and exterior forces blend in a provoeative mix of biology.activ- ity and edifice Barney’searly sculptures and frames for drawings and photo graphs rehearse the permeable membrane between human and inhuman in their inclusion of (self-lubricating) Teflon and of metals sueh as tta and stainless steel, which are used for external prostheties and surgical implants." These are substances thal enter and extend the biogenetic body visceral eadence or nse corpo iphie symbol for this concept of self-imposed resistance is closure, the hermetic 10. In he conus notes sxompanyng this work 1. This ies and spose exes a indebted to Marco champ doses tha he ger ehanot Rosin Kraus racing othe antec mpl (Giee/OnosrvHoranaV/Buter ol it/Eecnrie Ciné 1825) in parila Krauss has iGetfod ‘epee aan string rebcueng on hs ae” tho ote “pulse™—oton monies in te Onset (uote in char Halon, There time arb work~a5 think between ay, the by. eat Her Btls, Een. facsimile of Duct’ Green agg that vison is insepaate ten coparaiy ox, vans Gate Heard Naito (Stag, Leno, “ite ase opettivenes, he ul associates ‘nd ee: Etion Hari Mayet 176) 9. Tl des ars tee, with i tempo oneocion botwoon Baroy and Ducharp wa fst alia eed, of espns ie of etenian and ated by Swart Mogan in “OF Goats ené Men.” potion of heft ht, wit thse wae Fre, Uanay-Febry 185.9. 4-36, whee mo eget at al va o oe cul hone. he wrote, "Asin Oucanp, he self-sufficiency of the See Yo Alsin Bois and Kaus, Fomless: A User ‘ist ctv wsvers wa paraded charges of stata Gui New Yak: Ze Bol, 17.135, ‘wee ropeted rd sel dino were bared... 12. Barney, quoted in Goode, “Tavels ie ‘td ke tat fueron. Bama’ staining mh Hypa.” p17. ieveod soa, re cirencas tween ale and 13. Ee ect February 1,558, fet (p.38). 1. "This mail eesent te rie anit clore— ‘ONLY THE PERVEASE FANTASY CAN STILL SAVE US oss om ELD ORESSIVG afl 1983NANCY SPECTOR io it rom BLIND PRINEU, 1981 into a cybernetic organism, fusing the evolved with the constructed, the living. with the artificial. In some of his objects Barney even included speculums and slernal reactors the actual devices used to open the body up to outside intervention /alteration extension, In videotaped actions such as W/LE men Threshold: FuiGitr with the ANAL SADISTIC WARNIOR and BLIND enuveum (both 1991), the body is so expanded that it becomes the playing, field itself. Conversely, the site of performance becomesa corporeal cavity that the artist must negotiate while dangling from the ceiling ina full-body harness. He traverses its surface with titanium ice serews, which hang from hisbelt and penetrate hisanus. Subtitled Fornication withthe Fabric of Space, these climbs convert the pitch in which they oceur into an eroticized anatom- ical interior. With his simple diagram of the field emblem Barney libidinizes archi- tectural space and the surrounding environs, which come to represent the externalization or materialization of inner drives. As in J. G. Ballards novel The Atrocity Exhibition (in which a military weapons range transmogrifies into the visage of Elizabeth Taylor, and a multilevel parking garage embod- ies erotic compulsions in its morphological resemblance to female anatomy),”” body becomes landscape, and landscape becomes body. The 1gthe metaphor to dissect a geographical organism-will reveal yet another state of undiffer- entiation, in which all organic and inorganic matter is fused. These zones of potential, akin to the gender indeterminacy ofthe five-week-old embryo, will artist’ efforts to mapa somatic topography or, inver ‘te bya its seinpnssrestant—adas he SADISTIC WARROR tat anbvopompies the arch avy explodes in clits the stadium ad fld ecu olthe pefrmance space. “Tha Mir Sap tat house the vied action” Bay, quoted in examines momen when tein, oe langue, "Matte Boney AConerstin with eae Sege.” asthe mera capac [nis esas el the por imi, ye lls the ross moto kl 1 hol its 15. sta ou” Barney hs explain ros epg Mishel toe mio by its moi, or teckin thai paste as ames fr drawings The caings an apparatus of support a sig, 2 hares. Ute ‘became an internat sace tht a poste oiler babs Barney mate is way aces the space the peed up torre Afr that stad mang anes aly, ke, hanes, aglig, ly ‘hat had specloms mae rom the se poste ng tterokcimbng oquart xk, sna at teal wih pasty te eile casted hangs ram js bay ike jewelry, ening Wi real ite cw spc oop it wider soon oud eat The architecture of the galery tee bacmes an (heparin ie imtaral ee" ey. quoedinSens, expafed matenal body. © cllag fn which the “Mathew dey Modem Heroes. 31 rset infantis toy nang suspended” See 16. tir bet bot ext on Brn is ple Dik "Mattaw Bae” Howard Sgarman ed cenbin, held atthe Start Ragen Gallery, Les Public Otferigs, eh cat (as Angels: Museum of ogee. 1981 ese Dick igs cain racing Contemporary rt. nd New Yok Thames nd Han to fe ait vide action FIGHT withthe ANAL 2001 pp. 20-21‘ONLY THE PERVENSE FANTASY CAN STILL SAVE US TRANSEUAUS, 1991 0 serveas the eccentric and mutating settings for Barney's epic Cremaster proj- ect, But before this eyele could find its form, Barney had to introduce conflict into the system ‘THE HUBRIS PILL Barney’searly objects and installations imagine the perfectly engineered body. Well-equipped mise-en-scénes for the rituals of athletic training, they offer wrestling mats, curl bars, dumbbells, and weight-lifting benches as so ‘many propositions for hypertrophic development. Metabolic substances such as sucrose, glucose, amino acids, and anabolic steroids—the core ingredients ‘of livingmatter—serve as sculptural mediums. And like the molten lead that Serra used in Casting (196g), they stress preparation and process over the stasis ofan inert artwork. Thisiis the arena in which the body is sculpted, where contenders for the ultimate physique subject themselves to extreme regimens of resistance ig doping their bodies on cocktails of painkillers and performance- ‘enhancing stimulants that range from the standard but illegal anabolic or androgenic steroids to more bizarre chemical compounds. (For example, Naoko Takahashi of Japan, winner of the women’s marathon at the 2000, ‘Olympics,creditsher stamina to drinking the stomach secretions of giant Ikller hornets) Barney acknowledges this athletic: sion toachieve the humanly impossible within the very human confines of l-to-power, this compul- 17.Fors dsisson J. 6.Balad asnct body and it te Dream: A Thematic Sua oft Fin 6 ‘tein The Arty ExbienSan Francs e(Scarh Bald (New York, Westar, Com, and Loder: Publestons, 189; 1970}— impart souce for Geena rs, 18 9. 64 ‘Bomey—s86 Greer Stesenson, Oa he Night andNANCY SPECTOR TRANSEXUAL deci 188 (et) (ri) TRANSEXUAUS eine 98 (eta) the physical body. In each of the walk-in coolers of his twin TIAASENU ALIS installations (both 199i), he included — along with cast-petroleury-jelly exer- cise benches~ human chorionie gonadotropin, a hormone found only inthe urine of pregnant women. Secreted by the growing placenta shortly after implantation in the uterus, HCGensures the viability of pregnaney by stop- ping ovulation and promoting hormone secretions in the growing embryo. Because exogenous HGG has characteristics almost identical to those of the Juteinizing hormone (LH), which stimulates the fetal testes to produce testos- terone, athletes use it to inerease muscle mass and endurance, Barney's inclusion of HCG in the refrigerated units of raaxsewwuss ‘metaphorically transforms these arctic gymnasiums into wombs, uterine 1s where life itself is conceived and nurtured. This is Duchamp’ bachelor-machine model metamorphosed into architecture. Entirely self- sufficient, these installation-cum-organisms propose the possibility of creation through parthenogenesis, akind of virgin birth, elevating the human reproductive cycle to that ofthe gods." Such autonomous procreation would signal the deification of man, But this is the realm of the impossible, the Jonged:-for zone of omnipotence that, asa fantasy, drives the weight lifter and the bodybuilder to deny the reality of their esh. Its the otherside of the always receding performance wall that lures an athlete into attempting the ‘suprahuman, whatever the risks ™ The mad desire to become a deity on earth {is pure hubris, a disease of the soul that afflicts the most ambitious, creative, and inquisitive ILis the power that surges through the hypertrophic body, 11. The mth ofthe tacolr macho hs eter ar-bans ofeawy, sting thet own envelope, the tistical recetens besides Duta, incwang human fame, pling the cling and ropeting partly, Dae and Surealat a sch 2s Hons sowado the eer a ate to egret bey Pata’ Gir or With» Maher. 1316-18) rd The dangers the alae How much you wg to Max Eins Set Corse Smal Machine Fer slat ahve you ais! Like rocket el-powared ‘nanoipiso his rary and aestete wpe, ee my cog cer, soo Sal and speod shies, they rn a fesse “Neither Bachelors nor Brides: The Hyd fee twee travers reads, east nd shines of tera Hann Rebeca Hone eat. folly” Sar Fassel, Bodybuilder Amescanw.” in (New Yor: Ggpeniim Museum 1931p. 54-87. Laurence olds. ed, Tho Mate Body Features, 19 Professioneller, whose cited bess 2 stn, gnsrestAn a Unive of Mian ara for exam sport fens, oe inh Pss, 184 pp. 48-80 ft ut, rth practice dpe ore ws o! 20, Fran sightl and bavi rst dsssion ‘Seis which, scardng tthe AngboeStrigs of huis in lain o Barnes wok partly bis Cano et of 181, arog unless pes tr Drawing Hestaint 7 (182, ee Nevibe Woetos mecca press. Sterol ab canbe tl. Dtfar unit assay in Mttew Barney: ACE CA fer the the bdybuldet the benef apparent atwsgh the HUBRIS PL x, cat (otra: Maser Boys fargers. Here ison devotes penn othe spr vor Buringn, 155] pp. 1-18 "bers are thle aw ext pts, rekeng teONLY THE PERV EASE FANTASY GAN STILL SAVE US the pe form in Barney’ssculptural imagin PACECAL FON THE NL BIS PILL (1991) Whether steroid, hormone, or placebo. the hubris pill isa catalyst for contlicl2" Asan excess of pride, rebellion against the natural order of things, hubris always begets retribution. Thisisits curse. The gods of ancient Greece routinely smote those who aspired to their ranks, lusted after their para mours, or challenged their authority. Barney's Drawing Restraint 7 (1993) a deadly tournament between two satyrs attempting to create form inthe back ofa movinglimousine—recalls this memory of defiance and its punish- ment. This is the myth of Marsyas, the woodland satyr who dared to play the music ofthe gods and was flayed for his trespasses. In Barney's retelling of the legend, a third, much less developed, hybrid creature futilely chases his own tail in the front of the vehicle. Attempting to completethe circle, to close off and complete his own form, the“kid” pursues the intangi- blespace of hubris, the elusive sphere ofimmoriality on earth. In Barney's cosmology the hubris pill is a reminder of the seductive danger of these anabolic dreams. the hypertrophic quest were ever full realized ifthe onganism should attain a purely hermetic stale that would be the end of the story In fact there ic drive behind the excess of extreme self-discipline. And it finds in the shape of a pill: Anabol AJ: would be no story: This state of nothingness, a void approaching that of the Lacanian Re: the artist himselfhas said, “With a particular type of horror, you can realy it ‘your head up your ass—turn yourself inside out to form a kind of vis landscape—where you can chase the demons around.” Barney's art teststhe ‘edge of this void but never succumbs to the fall. It remains emphatically ng process instead of completion, confronting the inner cand physiologic ndence. These elusive interior forces are manifest materially inthe isthe true horror of hubristic yearning for omnipotence. As narrative, re ‘conflicts experienced by an organism in search of psy tran works separate characters who represent different facets of the same drives In the first cycle of projects constituting Barney's early work—which begins ‘with The Jim Otto Suite (i993), courses through [facility of CLINE] (1991) orroshaft(19g2).and (facility of DECLINE] (i991), and ends with raouat onus (199)—the confit ispersonified in the figures of Harry Houdini and Jim Otto: As individuals who have captured the artists imagination, both of them, embody the athletic paradigm, but to divergentends, Escape artist extraordinaire, Houdini symbolizes hermetic practices; he is the "Characterof Positive Restraint” who refuses differentiation, seeking instead to seal offand transform his body through extreme discipline. In real~ ity, Houdini metamorphoses—escapes from locked trunks, jail cells, hind- cuffs and the like were the result of rigorous physical preparation coupled PTR PENETATOR, 001 21, Barer has eescibnd the bp as “egease 2. Samay, uted in "Mate Barney ACen ‘able, 2nd of placebo in ths naratve thas fl of wih Jeane Sool”. 6. lad Fond eens = ‘ina elaonsipsbemeen someting he leebo see a na fara’ ee le, Sain ‘2nd sarod, between dierent cm an rd Yra 188, nahi Ye pote saves i step eromiotad form, botwoun to eat of hubris anda the ntagnist's aus, bs hs ea pli ino te taf that sits ust enh ter side ofthe resold, bod dou rough sa,” Sae lod. "Nats on ‘sme omnia, heightened sate that cones at of Digetion ar Fi,” in PACE CA rhe HUBRIS PL, this hemete stale of undestandng” Quoted in an. ‘tei with JonatanRaroey, “Mathew Barney.” 23.ie Borays Cremasteyl this srs of wos anes va. 3198 9.28 wascrested out feNANCY SPECTOR Veo til rom MIE HIGH Tho FUGHT wth he ANAL ‘SADISTIC WARRIOR, 881 2 with an intuitive understanding ofthe forms that would shackle him. Barney ofien cites the claim that Houdini could pick locks that had yet to be invented byanticipating and then ingesting their mechanisms through his finely tuned instincts Jim Otto, the legendary center for the Oakland Raiders who finished his fifteen-year career with two artificial knees, is for Barney an inverted mirror to Houdini: though equally fanatical about his métier,and as seemingly immune to pain, he is open, extroverted, theatrical. If Houdini ‘operates through internalization, Otto whom Barney describes as the “hypothermal penetrator”—achieves through outward aggression. A cele- brated offensive player, Otto exulted inthe field of competition, His relevance to Barney’ narrative system, however is primarily pictorial: the double-zero insignia on his football uniform suggests a twin orifice, a“rovingrectum,” a body susceptible to mutation, penetration, and differentiation, Otto and Houdini are two incarnations of an internal horizon that ares toward hubris. The outward-looking Otto secks to consume or incorporate ‘what is separate from him in a mad fusion with the universe. His foil, the introspective Houdini, strives for omnipotence through the exercise of sheer will. They enter into combat over which direction the organism will ake. Struggle ensues and the narrative unfolds. These characters, as two mula- tions of the will, function like a system of checks and balances. Their inter- nal struggle maintains the system by holding it taut between implosion and explosion. The TanSEXUALIS project, with its related video actions, MILE ‘cit Threshold: FLIGHT with the ANAL SADISTIC WARIUON and BLIND PERINEUM, is essentially one protracted chase scene between Otto and the Character of Positive Restraint (Houdini) As the action begins the Character of Posi Restraint, played by Barney, is attempting to fill in his nemesis’ dual zeros before lacing together his own anusand mouth with a synthetic cord and the titanium ice screws used for his climb. Itis once again the metaphor of prena- tal development that provides the artist with his vocabulary: the battle between Otto and Houdini circulates around the notion of an embryo's inevitable drift toward differentiation. Bach character has a different rela- tionship to this process and, thus, a different set of desires. In Freudian terms these might be defined as the pleasure principle versus the reality principle. Barney represents the path of analomical differentiation through a metaphoric device that involves fluctuating temperatures and their effect on the (male) body. Otto, or instance, is particularly sensitive to elimatie change, since he isan entity pervaded by orifices (hence, the different temperatures, in the walk-in coolers of TRANSEXUALIS, the colder of which was meant to disable him). In the bioscape of Barney'sart temperature change invokes the ascension ordescension of the testicles, a normal biological function governed by the 24 For Baney on Hout, 0 Helland, "Mattw oe fs. foryiht degrees (when ede Barton” p38, Sas, "Mataw Barney’ Moder stopped in several ines down ori dat Hes”. 78 and Sondre, “vein Hipervphia,” least wie down to thrtysixdges bey above 9.68 ttn eliespline wat extaornay One Mooi. Aleta whl he got ued to being bone ‘xample may ste “Fou dsiplinad imge to cls. Hut ao acon! sting esa in he dure oid water and to fold Rs beath while [a ocasnaly at athe catia he wo sbneged Gating up at seven in the marin, he ung exes, He woud hen practice staying heodd sight forte bath Thee ha auteted underwata an iebth One el ou fo: iy ise to eve cole wate ang ever ngersvme-eigt seconds” Kenneth Silverman, Houdini! The sion He hile he batwatr with ie, bring its Caer af ich Weiss (Naw Yer: HrperClins tenperaure dwn. in one ilo aot: ye, Pblser. 196)» 12.eremaster muscle. This action of suspension or retraction protects the male reproductive system~in particular the production and maintenance of sperm—by regulating testicular temperature. Since live sperm need air- conditioning for survival, the testicles normally hang freely in the scrotum. But when itis too cold (or the subject experiences fear), the testiclesare