Because of it, this space becomes something like an arena, with big screens hanging overhead at its center like those that loom over the court at NBA games. Its mise-en-scène, a dazzling red AstroTurf-like carpet that acts as the video’s football field, is left intact in Barney’s studio for viewers to lounge on. This is a triumphant return to form for Barney, whose icy gaze has rarely felt so personal.Īcross the installation’s 60 minutes-you will want to stay for all of them-oozy fluids fly, rabid football players scream, athletic bodies twist and turn, and a trench built in Barney’s studio gradually fills with muddy water, the sole reminder of all the shit and vomit that pervaded his last big swing in New York, the five-hour slog River of Fundament (2014). With Secondary, Barney returns to what made him famous during the ’90s-sticky substances, surrealist rituals, erotically tinged body horror-while also meeting the moment by exploring death as a form of spectacle. Yet it is so hypnotic that even those repelled by Barney’s machismo will fall under its spell. Set across several screens, the installation would be easy to write off as another macho, pretentious moving-image work from an artist who dabbles in them. Secondary, which runs at Barney’s studio in Long Island City through June 25, is his epic answer to that inquiry. The sport thrives on violence and bodily collapse, and yet, Barney, like millions of other Americans, is drawn to watching it. CTE, as that malady is known for short, is becoming increasingly common among football players.
Monument Wars in the U.K., Matthew Barney-Installed Clock Goes Dark, and More: Morning Links from January 19, 2021Įven that protective gear didn’t help the real-life person Barney is playing: Ken Stabler, a quarterback for the Raiders who, many years after his retirement, was diagnosed with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, a brain disease caused by trauma to the head.
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