Flex (film)

Last updated

Flex is a 2000 video installation by the British video artist Chris Cunningham. It consists of a 15-minute film loop that endlessly depicts a naked man and woman floating in darkness, who by turns embrace and furiously beat one another, culminating in an act of anal sex during which they disappear in a blast of light. The film is set to an electronic soundtrack by Aphex Twin.

It was first displayed to the public in 2000 as part of the Apocalypse: Beauty and Horror in Contemporary Art exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, and subsequently at the Anthony d'Offay Gallery and other art galleries.

It was given an 18 certificate by the BBFC, with no cuts from its original form.

A 3.5-minute excerpt of the 17-minute film was released on the DVD The Work of Director Chris Cunningham .

It was also re-edited for the back-drop screen projection during Madonna's performance of "Frozen" during her Re-Invention World Tour.

The man and woman are depicted by combining the performances of a number of performers and body doubles, including actors Jon and Jo Hadfield, and dancers Rob Tannion and Desiree Kongerod. [1] Post-production work was done at Glassworks and the Moving Picture Company. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Marker</span> French filmmaker

Chris Marker was a French writer, photographer, documentary film director, multimedia artist and film essayist. His best known films are La Jetée (1962), A Grin Without a Cat (1977) and Sans Soleil (1983). Marker is usually associated with the Left Bank subset of the French New Wave that occurred in the late 1950s and 1960s, and included such other filmmakers as Alain Resnais, Agnès Varda and Jacques Demy.

Chris Cunningham is a British video artist and music video director who directed music videos for electronic musicians such as Autechre, Squarepusher, and Aphex Twin on videos for "Windowlicker" and "Come to Daddy", and Björk's "All is Full of Love". All were used in Chris' chapter in Director's Label.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve McQueen (director)</span> British film director and video artist (born 1969)

Sir Steve Rodney McQueen is a British film director, film producer, screenwriter, and video artist. For services to the visual arts, he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2011. In 2014 he was included in Time magazine's annual Time 100 list of the "most influential people in the world". He has received an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and in 2016 the BFI Fellowship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Merce Cunningham</span> American dancer and choreographer (1919–2009)

Mercier Philip "Merce" Cunningham was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of American modern dance for more than 50 years. He frequently collaborated with artists of other disciplines, including musicians John Cage, David Tudor, Brian Eno, and graphic artists Robert Rauschenberg, Bruce Nauman, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Frank Stella, and Jasper Johns; and fashion designer Rei Kawakubo. Works that he produced with these artists had a profound impact on avant-garde art beyond the world of dance.

<i>The Last House on the Left</i> 1972 American horror film by Wes Craven

The Last House on the Left is a 1972 horror film written and directed by Wes Craven in his directorial debut, and produced by Sean S. Cunningham. The film stars Sandra Peabody, Lucy Grantham, David Hess, Fred J. Lincoln, Jeramie Rain, and Marc Sheffler. Additionally, Martin Kove appears in a supporting role. The plot follows Mari Collingwood (Peabody), a teenager who is abducted, raped, and tortured by a family of violent fugitives led by Krug Stillo (Hess) on her seventeenth birthday. When her parents discover what happened to her, they seek vengeance against the family, who have taken shelter at their home.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ron Mueck</span> Australian sculptor

Ronald Hans Mueck is an Australian sculptor working in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alex Ross</span> American comic book artist

Nelson Alexander Ross is an American comic book writer and artist known primarily for his painted interiors, covers, and design work. He first became known with the 1994 miniseries Marvels, on which he collaborated with writer Kurt Busiek for Marvel Comics. He has since done a variety of projects for both Marvel and DC Comics, such as the 1996 miniseries Kingdom Come, which Ross co-wrote. Since then he has done covers and character designs for Busiek's series Astro City, and various projects for Dynamite Entertainment. His feature film work includes concept and narrative art for Spider-Man (2002) and Spider-Man 2 (2004), and DVD packaging art for the M. Night Shyamalan film Unbreakable (2000). He has done covers for TV Guide, promotional artwork for the Academy Awards, posters and packaging design for video games, and his renditions of superheroes have been merchandised as action figures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">All Is Full of Love</span> 1999 single by Björk

"All Is Full of Love" is a song by Icelandic musician Björk from her third studio album, Homogenic (1997). The lyrics were inspired by love in spring and Ragnarök of Norse mythology. Björk's original version is a trip hop ballad with soul influences, harp, strings, and electronic beats; the version on Homogenic is a minimalist ambient remix by Howie B, emphasising Björk's vocals. A remix by the German IDM duo Funkstörung was released as a single in 1998.

Directors Label is a series of DVDs released by Palm Pictures compiling the work of notable music video directors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little Wonder (David Bowie song)</span> Song by David Bowie

"Little Wonder" is a song by English musician David Bowie, released as the second single from his 21st album, Earthling (1997). "Little Wonder" backed by three remixes, was issued on 27 January 1997. The single was a success, peaking at number 14 in the UK and topping the chart in Japan. The accompanying music video was directed by Floria Sigismondi and depicts Bowie at three different ages. Biographer David Buckley considers it a dance-oriented video rather than a rock one, reminiscent of Orbital's "The Box" (1996).

Georges Anthony d'Offay is a British art dealer, collector and curator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stan Douglas</span>

Stan Douglas is an artist based in Vancouver, British Columbia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nina Arsenault</span> Canadian actress

Nina Arsenault is a Canadian performance artist, freelance writer, and former sex worker who works in theatre, dance, video, photography and visual art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cara Cunningham</span> American Internet personality, songwriter, and recording artist

Cara Cunningham is an American internet personality, songwriter, recording artist, YouTuber, and former pornographic film actress. As of October 2010, Cunningham's videos had received a combined 50 million plays on MySpace, and her vlog channel on YouTube was the 100th-most viewed of all time in all categories, with over 205 million video views, before Cunningham closed her YouTube account in September 2015. Her work consists mainly of short-form, self-directed monologues shot in her grandparents' home.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monkey Drummer</span>

Monkey Drummer is a 2.5-minute-long music video created by British music video director Chris Cunningham in 2001. The video was commissioned by the Anthony d'Offay Gallery in London and was meant to be a companion piece to his Flex commercial, but it was not completed in time for the exhibition in September 2000 and instead made its debut at the Venice Biennale's 49th International Exhibition of Art in June 2001. It subsequently went on to run in several exhibitions such as the Edinburgh Festival, Edinburgh College of Art, Scotland. The short is a humorous, kinetic study of a mechanical being with nine appendages—six arms, two legs, and one drumstick penis—all seemingly controlled by the head of a monkey, though it is unclear what is in control. Each flesh-and-blood body part juts from a black steel appendage and acts human, while being controlled mechanically.

Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard are British artists and filmmakers.

Charles Atlas is a video artist and film director who also does lighting and set design.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Twomey</span> American film director

Chris Twomey is an American female multi-media artist and filmmaker. Her work focuses on her life and experience as a springboard for meditations on the human condition where origins and identity in relationship to the individual in society are explored through scientific, psychological, and conceptual art themes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kris Moyes</span>

Kris Moyes is an Australian-born director and producer and founder of KMOYES PICTURES. He is perhaps best known for his innovative music videos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Stubbs</span>

Mike Stubbs is a curator/director and filmmaker based in the UK, currently, the Creative Producer at Doncaster Creates. For 11 years he was the Director/CEO of FACT, the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology, a leading arts organisation for the commissioning and presentation of new media art forms. He has been a key contributor to the development of culture and cultural policy in Liverpool, UK. Stubbs was jointly appointed in May 2007 by Liverpool John Moores University, where he is Professor of Art, Media and Curating. He is father to two daughters Saskia and Lola Czarnecki-stubbs.

References

  1. 1 2 "Director File -- Chris Cunningham -- credits". director-file.com. 29 March 2007. Archived from the original on 29 March 2007. archived at the Internet Archive