Matthew Barney: The Cremaster Cycle, Whitechapel Gallery

This June, Whitechapel Gallery is offering a rare chance to see Matthew Barney 's  Cremaster Cycle in its entirety at an all-day screening. 

Despite having a broad career in the 1990s that encompassed sculpture, photography and film, it was in 2002 that American artist Matthew Barney shot to art superstardom with the completion of this five part masterpiece which took 8 years to create. In his Guardian review, Jonathan Jones described the Cremaster Cycle as  'one of the most imaginative and brilliant achievements in the history of avant-garde cinema.' The event is timed to coincide with the premier of a new Barney work at the ENO, River of Fundament , billed as a radical reinvention of Norman Mailer’s novel Ancient Evenings. As Barney's true magnum opus, however, this screening marathon is not to be missed. 

Blending installation and performance, the five-part cycle introduces big budget Hollywood spectacle to the world of video art. It has been praised as both a celebration and a critique of excess, and widely criticised on the very same terms. The five parts of the Cremaster Cycle were made in non-consecutive order between 1994 and 2002 in locations including the Guggenheim Museum and the Chrysler Building. It incorporates elaborate installations and performances enlivened by a huge cast. Whole exhibitions have been dedicated to the drawing, sculpture and research done by Barney in support of each episode of this gesamtkunstwerk.

Throughout the cycle's seven-hour duration, Barney adopts elements from countless myths, while developing a bizarre and intricate mythology of his own. Dense with symbolism and recurrent motifs, the overall structure of the cycle, and its name, refer to the operation of the cremaster muscle, the primary function of which is to control the height of the testes. It considers the point of embryonic development prior to which sexual differences is defined. But Barney's system of symbolism is diverse and often personal, influenced by his broad life experience; from his short career as an American Football player to his brief stint as a male model which helped fund his early art career, perhaps even his marriage to Icelandic singer  Björk,.

The cycle was released as a limited edition of 20 sets of DVDs which were initially sold to collectors for five-figure sums. Bearing that in mind, Whitechapel's £25 ticket price is an irresistible offer. Booking ahead will be absolutely essential.