Seven well-known artists, including Matthew Barney (The Cremaster Cycle), Larry Clark and Sam Taylor-Wood, were told to go forth and make pornography: the result is this cerebral, challenging series of short films.
Screened as part of NZIFF 2007
Destricted 2006
Intended as "cerebral" work to reinvigorate erotic cinema, Destricted is the product of seven artists who were told to go forth and make pornography: "Do anything you want, as long as you do it in less than 20 minutes." The resulting short films prove, if anything, that artists - especially hot crossover personalities like Matthew Barney (The Cremaster Cycle) and Sam Taylor-Wood - get their jollies in much weirder and more imaginative ways than regular folk. In Barney's film Hoist, an unidentified man, with roots protruding from his body, makes athletic love to a large earthmoving machine. Taylor-Wood chips in with Death Valley, a tale of failed self-stimulation in a majestic desert landscape. Along with spicy offerings from Richard Prince, Marina Abramovic, Gaspar Noé and Marco Brambilla, perpetual bad-boy (still, at 63!) Larry Clark (Kids) delivers Impaled, in which he plays sexual matchmaker to a group of young male wannabe porn stars. Be warned: these films contain sexually explicit material and strobe lighting.