Cremaster 3

CREMASTER 3, first presented in February 2002, concludes Matthew Barney's CREMASTER cycle that consists of five films. He began working on the cycle in 1994. The individual parts, however, were not produced in chronological order. Each of the five films is accompanied by a publication; the present volume was uniquely designed as an artist's book by Matthew Barney and contains a multitude of photographs and film stills from CREMASTER 3. Just like the other parts of the cycle, the film manipulates narrative genres, in this case zombie films and classical gangster movies. The action is staged in the thirties' New York, Saragota Springs and Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland. It revolves around a variety of topics such as the "Irish Mob," Irish-American organized crime, Freemasonry and Celtic legends--symbolizing forces that have an impact on Barney's mythological system. The film was made in the Chrysler Building and in the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, which both create a type of sculptural back-drop for the dramatic plot.