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Post by Diane Merkel on Aug 11, 2008 14:06:17 GMT -6
I'm hoping one of our UK friends can see this so you can explain it to me! Like much of [Shezad] Dawood’s work Feature engages with mythologies, (in)authenticity, multiple authorship and intercultural interpretations. It was conceived and filmed as a series of performances linked by an overarching narrative of The Battle of Little Big Horn, perhaps the most famous war between the Federal Government and Native Americans. The re-enactment departs from a traditional or revisionist interpretation as it takes on Billy the Krishna (a merging of Billy the Kid and Hinduism’s Lord Krishna), a Valkyrie opera singer and dead cowboys reawakening as zombies. The film deconstructs the Western film genre as it interweaves other fictional and factual characters. The relocation of the battle to a Cambridgeshire landscape further challenges the residual idea of authenticity and creates a new open-ended text that feeds back into a narrative dynamic – that of the process itself.
The performances were written by Dawood with improvisation from collaborators that he invited to take part. They include the artist Jimmie Durham, cast as Sioux Holyman Sitting Bull and David Medalla, cast as Chief Crazy Horse both of whom have dealt with performance issues of cultural colonisation within their own work. It also includes the artist Doug Fishbone, Royal Danish Opera mezzo-soprano Hetna Regitze Bruun, Manchester based artist/musician Mike Chavez-Dawson and Dawood himself. Other casting was sourced through open submission including jockeys from Newmarket racecourse, a Cambridge based Chinese football team and children from the local area. Source: www.castlefieldgallery.co.uk/Default.asp?eKey=289&eP=1 |
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Post by markland on Aug 11, 2008 14:43:48 GMT -6
I'm hoping one of our UK friends can see this so you can explain it to me! Like much of [Shezad] Dawood’s work Feature engages with mythologies, (in)authenticity, multiple authorship and intercultural interpretations. It was conceived and filmed as a series of performances linked by an overarching narrative of The Battle of Little Big Horn, perhaps the most famous war between the Federal Government and Native Americans. The re-enactment departs from a traditional or revisionist interpretation as it takes on Billy the Krishna (a merging of Billy the Kid and Hinduism’s Lord Krishna), a Valkyrie opera singer and dead cowboys reawakening as zombies. The film deconstructs the Western film genre as it interweaves other fictional and factual characters. The relocation of the battle to a Cambridgeshire landscape further challenges the residual idea of authenticity and creates a new open-ended text that feeds back into a narrative dynamic – that of the process itself.
The performances were written by Dawood with improvisation from collaborators that he invited to take part. They include the artist Jimmie Durham, cast as Sioux Holyman Sitting Bull and David Medalla, cast as Chief Crazy Horse both of whom have dealt with performance issues of cultural colonisation within their own work. It also includes the artist Doug Fishbone, Royal Danish Opera mezzo-soprano Hetna Regitze Bruun, Manchester based artist/musician Mike Chavez-Dawson and Dawood himself. Other casting was sourced through open submission including jockeys from Newmarket racecourse, a Cambridge based Chinese football team and children from the local area. Source: www.castlefieldgallery.co.uk/Default.asp?eKey=289&eP=1Please notify me when this is on TV so I can ensure that the damned thing is unplugged! Billy |
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Post by biggordie on Aug 11, 2008 18:58:27 GMT -6
Sounds to me that one must be pretty much zonked to be able to enjoy and understand this opus. I was alright up to the point where the Newmarket jockeys joined the proceedings.
Does anyone know if the children portray the cavalry troopers, or are they the hitching rail ornaments at the Fort?
Gordie
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Post by gary on Aug 12, 2008 0:52:00 GMT -6
Sorry, can't help... Maybe Elisabeth can do better.
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Post by elisabeth on Aug 12, 2008 1:14:59 GMT -6
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Post by Dark Cloud on Aug 12, 2008 8:16:25 GMT -6
It sounds horrible, but is it any worse than our Ambulatory Action Figures in their dotage and crippling weight stripping down to loin cloth or tight uniform blouse and trousers for audience edification atop cruelly burdened mounts? No animals are hurt in Dawood's effort, anyway, and his cast members don't try to insert themselves as necessary into LBH events. Be grateful.
Very, very grateful.
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