A neon-orange Arnold Schwarzenegger as Conan the Barbarian appears boldly on the screen, wearing little but a headband and a defiant scowl, swinging his sword in a swift, slow motion. The slow, electronic crescendo of noise and drums pounds the audience. The image suddenly cuts away Conan to a puke-green collage of a motorcycle multiplied four times, crashing in from all corners of the screen. The music continues to build, and as Conan reappears, slowly raising his fist and staring at it, the image suddenly explodes in a clash of neon colors and clanging cymbals. Now the screen cuts to an insane barrage of video-collages drawing scenes from various Schwarzenegger films, all delivered in a nauseating fluorescence and set to an incredible soundtrack of heavy synth keyboards and devastating drums. This is Ultimate Reality.
Ultimate Reality was the final performance piece in an innovative showcase at the Walters Art Museum last Friday, Feb. 23. The evening was composed of a variety of performances and presentations by local artists, all affiliated with a group called Wham City, opening with a quirky ukulele-beatbox duo called Santa Dads. Santa Dads' set was followed by a fashion slideshow by Dina Kelberman, a more traditional fashion show by April Camlin, a play by Adam Endres and the brilliant Ultimate Reality.
Santa Dads set a good tone for the evening, even if they were a little repetitive, highlighting that the performances were going to be primarily unconventional presentations. Kelberman's fashion slideshow was a series of very short, eccentric comedy skits, featuring the artist's minimalist sense of style and unorthodox humor. Camlin's fashion show followed, set to a soundtrack of bells and chimes, showcasing an interesting array of layered dresses and skirts. After Camlin's show, Endres' play was a satire of sorts revolving around themes of dominance between a slave and a master, which never took itself too seriously. The evening had been pretty entertaining up to that point, but nothing could have prepared the audience for the overwhelming power of Ultimate Reality.
Ultimate Reality is a collaboration between video artist Jimmy Joe Roche and musician Dan Deacon. It featured a large video screen, projecting video-collages of Schwarzenegger films, while Deacon provided a well-synced soundtrack. Friday's performance also featured two live drummers onstage that accompanied the music. It was very loud, with everything either incredibly neon, or stylized in slow-motion, capturing the audience in a trance fixated on an amazing selection of Schwarzenegger clips. The clips were drawn from drastically different works in Schwarzenegger's catalogue, from Conan the Barbarian to True Lies, and Kindergarten Cop and Junior, and, of course, Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The first set used primarily scenes from Conan and True Lies. There were many brilliant moments of explosive sensory overload, such as when neon green harrier jets fired at a bright pink bridge, causing the screen to burst in another wave of multi-layered insanity. The silhouette of Jamie Lee Curtis' dance scene from True Lies waved back and forth all over the screen, duplicated and mirrored so that the contours of her dancing body created a mess of sexual imagery.
In a brief interview with Roche, he described how Schwarzenegger was an ideal candidate for Ultimate Reality, since his films are such a fundamental element of a bizarre suburban mythology of violence and comedy. He discussed how his films provide a fascinating "surreal counter-life" in our society. Indeed, Schwarzenegger's screen presence was very captivating. The manner in which his films were taken out of context created serious thought regarding his status as an icon, and successfully relayed themes of hero-worship and escapism via Schwarzenegger. His newfound role as a politician was simply another element that played a part in the presentation, even though this was not the initial intention of Roche. "As we began to finish [the project], we realized the political aspect it had in our society," Roche said.
After the initial segment, each new segment was introduced with a brief mishmash of narrative, combining Schwarzenegger's films, as well as other films such as Bill and Ted. Roche discussed wanting to include an element of fan fiction in the project, selecting Bill and Ted since it appropriately mirrors Schwarzenegger's narratives and motifs, such as alien control and time travel. The end result was an absolutely astounding collection of clips layered on top of each other, split and duplicated, which featured more than several brilliant moments, such as a pregnant Schwarzenegger from Junior, looking down to see his child as a horrendous mutant with four legs, or Schwarzenegger as the Terminator, slowly giving the thumbs up as he descends into a pit of molten lead. It's a tremendous work of psychedelia that is well worth seeing if the opportunity arises. More of Roche's work can be found at the Current Gallery, and portions of his films can be viewed at http://www.jimmyjoeroche.com.
