You all might have noticed that Cat on a Hot Tin Roof has popped up here now and again.
It's a little besides the point that this is a phenomenal movie. My love affair with the film has grown over the years, and at this point, is built on nostalgia as much as anything else. This image was part of an installation I did in 2001: it involved short segments of several films, all from the early 50's (many involving Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman) and an accompanying set of visual instructions for various "matching" scents and flavors. They "matched" in the sense that the flavors were supposed to reflect the emotional tone of the scene. Each of the flavors and scents were given a code so as to avoid bias - it might have an adverse effect on the experience if you already know that this particular scene in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof tastes like salt and smells like mustard.
This is also the project that nauseated Yvonne Rainer during a critique, a fact that aside from being slightly humiliating, I am a shade proud of. Nausea is a reaction, perhaps not optimal, but a reaction none the less.
It took me awhile to realize that there were problems with this piece. It wasn't so much that it made the guest lecturer want to hurl - as far as I know she was the only one who felt this way. But then again, she was the only one who actually sat and tried to participate. With this in mind, I realize that I probably would have puked all over the gallery if I was forced to sit down and participate in this thing. I had made something conceptually pretty interesting, but physically impossible to do. Tricky problem considering the whole piece was very much dependent on the action of the audience.
Which gets me thinking about my previous post and the issue of balance. Concept can go to hell if the thing just doesn't function in the way its supposed to.
But I still love Paul and Liz, and they'll never make me want to puke.
It's a little besides the point that this is a phenomenal movie. My love affair with the film has grown over the years, and at this point, is built on nostalgia as much as anything else. This image was part of an installation I did in 2001: it involved short segments of several films, all from the early 50's (many involving Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman) and an accompanying set of visual instructions for various "matching" scents and flavors. They "matched" in the sense that the flavors were supposed to reflect the emotional tone of the scene. Each of the flavors and scents were given a code so as to avoid bias - it might have an adverse effect on the experience if you already know that this particular scene in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof tastes like salt and smells like mustard.
This is also the project that nauseated Yvonne Rainer during a critique, a fact that aside from being slightly humiliating, I am a shade proud of. Nausea is a reaction, perhaps not optimal, but a reaction none the less.
It took me awhile to realize that there were problems with this piece. It wasn't so much that it made the guest lecturer want to hurl - as far as I know she was the only one who felt this way. But then again, she was the only one who actually sat and tried to participate. With this in mind, I realize that I probably would have puked all over the gallery if I was forced to sit down and participate in this thing. I had made something conceptually pretty interesting, but physically impossible to do. Tricky problem considering the whole piece was very much dependent on the action of the audience.
Which gets me thinking about my previous post and the issue of balance. Concept can go to hell if the thing just doesn't function in the way its supposed to.
But I still love Paul and Liz, and they'll never make me want to puke.
posted by beef at 2:52 PM
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