ADVANTAGES OF A NEWER SOCIAL STRUCTURE
“Someones got to come out, be outrageous, and break the rules. God save us from the normal, PLEASE! Be silly. Make it fun! The world needs madness and creativity so badly. Gardening, cooking, dressing, the way we entertain our friends, the grace we exude – it’s all art. It’s what makes us deep, rich, astonishing and miraculous creatures. I’m talking about love here. Bliss. Joy. Having a ball. To lose touch with this is tragic.”
STEVEN ARNOLD
DRESSED FOR DALI
“Although androgyny is rooted in antiquity, it carries a powerful message for our own time. Spiritual perfection depends precisely on rediscovering one’s androgynous nature. Androgyny knows no boundaries. It leads us beyond the tyranny of convention. Androgyny may indeed be the guiding principle of the new age. It is the incarnation of totality.”
STEVEN ARNOLD
REMINDER: BARCELONA SCREENINGS THIS THURSDAY
A still from Steven's film "The Liberation of Mannique Mechanique."
WHAT: SCREEN FROM BARCELONA FESTIVAL
WHEN: THURSDAY, JANUARY 19
WHERE: Palau de la VirreinaDESCRIPTION:
SESSION 4 : QUEER SURREALISM (I)
Presentation by James Boaden
Screenings: Steven Arnold, The Liberation of Mannique Mecanique, (1967,15 min., mute)
+ Luminous Procuress (1971,74 min., V.O.S.)
Taking as a starting point Cahun’s relation to surrealism, this session explores, what could be called “queer Surrealism” in the films of Steven Arnold. Photographer and filmmaker, Arnold created, in the early 70′s, movies with wild, bizarre and psychedelic worlds, in which the actors blurred the gender boundaries. Protected and influenced by Salvador Dalí (who invited the actors of the film at the opening of his museum in Figueres), his works share with Cahun the use of masquerade and the subversion of gender identities using sharply surreal resources. At the same time, the figure of Arnold links surrealism with the work of renowned contemporary artists like Mike Kelley and Ryan Trecartin. Proposed and conducted by James Boaden, this session meticulously weaves multiple references, materials and time frames.
PANDORA-A-LA-GAGA
This San Franscisco Magazine cover, which could nearly pass for a modern day Lady Gaga article, was taken from Steven’s 1971 full-length surrealistic film Luminous Procuress, and features Pandora, Steven’s life-long friend, muse, and collaborator.
ruth weiss in Messages, Messages
Steven prepares ruth weiss for a scene in "Messages, Messages."
Of Steven’s third film, Messages, Messages, Michael Wiese has said, “It is a journey of the psyche into the world of the unconscious, influenced by Dali, Buñuel, and the German expressionists.” The film was well-received at Cannes Film Festival, being included as a part of the Director’s Fortnight. Pioneering beat poet ruth weiss, a close friend and a favorite subject of Steven’s, appeared in 3 of his 4 films. ruth recently published two masterpiece long-form poems under the title, Can’t Stop the Beat.
Dragonfly: A Collaboration with Kaisik Wong
A never-before-seen still from the play “Dragonfly,” which Steven and Kaisik Wong wrote, directed, designed, and performed in at Steven’s 17th Street studio in San Francisco in the mid 1960s. Steven is on the far-left, Kaisik is second from the right.
BEFORE “THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW”
Steven in the early 70s, before the stage musical “The Rocky Horror Show” (later made into the film “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”) made it’s debut, clearly anticipa…ting Rocky Horror’s anti-hero, Frank N. Furter. Styled by Nikki Nichols.
Theatre of Atlantis
“Travel through Europe in a wagon with a troupe of occult clowns
Wear long black capes navy wigs powder
Iodine falls – rings of coal around the eyes
Red patent leather platforms
Leather jumpsuit with studded gauntlets
Don’t speak for weeks, pretend you can’t hear
Live in drag at age 70
Long chocolate nails ropes of emeralds
Make insane secret unshowable films
Build a secret underground garden
Learn hypnosis cast spells
Expand psychic powers write volumes sculpt
Crude primitive jewelry and diamonds
Live in a vast cave and mural every surface
Sleep in a giant clam
Eat only off silver
Wear insufferable amounts of perfume
Click your tongue hiss and stare
Use fame and fortune to highest zone advantage
Let poverty teach.”
STEVEN ARNOLD
