Screening Matthew Barney’s Di Lama Lamina and Cremaster in EYE

Within the framework of the present exhibition Topsy Turvy, de Appel presents two unique screenings of Matthew Barney's Di Lama Lamina and Cremaster in EYE on 14 and 16 June.

Inspired by the cultural diversity of the carnival in Salvador, the capital of Bahia (Northeast Brazil), the artist Matthew Barney (US, 1967) and the musician Arto Lindsay (US, 1953) made an exceptional float in the form of a deforestation truck, in collaboration with the Cortejo Afro bloco. Surrounded by thirty drummers and more than a thousand costumed dancers, the float was part of the local carnival parade in 2004. The film subsequently produced by Barney was an edited recording of that large-scale performance.

Barney, who is well known for his baroque and bizarre Cremaster films, refers to Di Lama Lamina as his “only political work”. He says that he made this performance film 'to detox’ after working on the Cremaster Cycle.

Barney was inspired by Candomble, amongst other things, a collection of religious practices rooted in slavery, in which Christian elements are combined with an African animist belief in spirits. In addition, Barney was inspired by the eco-activist Julia Butterfly Hill, who lived in a tree for two years in protest against industrial deforestation. In the film Barney combines his personal mythology with a web of existing metaphors and symbols in a spectacular way, and at the same time protests against the cutting down of the rainforest.

Thursday 14 June, 7 p.m. - Screening of the film Di Lama Lamina by Matthew Barney with an introduction by the director Ann Demeester – venue : EYE Amsterdam. Tickets : www.eyefilm.nl

Saturday 16 June – Screening of the film cycle Cremaster by Matthew Barney – venue: EYE Amsterdam. Tickets : www.eyefilm.nl
- Parts 1 and 2 (4.30 p.m.)
- Part 3 (7.15 p.m.)
- Parts 4 and 5 (11 p.m.)