Lange Nacht der Museen
8. Oktober 2005
18:00-01:00

Danius Kesminas & The Histrionics:
Museum Fatigue

Erstmals in Österreich werden im MAGAZIN4 fünf Titelsongs gezeigt, die auf vorgefundenes Filmmaterial von Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, Isamo Noguchi, Alberto Giacometti und Tracey Emin basieren. "Museum Fatigue" ist ein simples Wortspiel, welches auf den Fachbegriff im musealen Kontext verweist. Da die Künstlergruppe bei ihren Performances, die sie in Museen aufführen, ein Outfit im "drip-painting" - Stil von Jackson Pollock tragen, bezieht sich das Einzelwort "fatigue" einerseits auf die Bekleidung selbst, andererseits kann man es aufgrund ihrer zahlreichen Auftritte als Ermüdungserscheinung unserer Museen schlechthin interpretieren.

Die im Jahr 1999 von Danius Kesminas initiierte Künstlergruppe The Histrionics arbeitet im Bereich Konzeptkunst und versucht Eigenschaften populärer Musik mit bestimmten Bereichen der Bildenden Kunst zu vereinen. Durch ihre einzigartige Kombination von Rock'n'Roll und Performance-Kunst schaffen es The Histrionics bei ihren Konzerten das Publikum in den Bann zu ziehen und zu begeistern.
Mitglieder sind (in unterschiedlicher Besetzung):

Danius Kesminas, Antonio Milillo, Craig Fermanis, Dave O'Brien, Tommy Zdanius, Stepas Levickis, Dave Nelson, Greg Richards, Nick Girling, Boris Kremer, Ray Vysniauskas, Egidijus Gvildys, Tim Dean und Jon Campbell.
Die außergewöhnlichen Musikvideos auf der CD " Museum Fatigue " beinhalten die fünf Titelsongs

1. Drip It Text >>
2. I Shot Andy Warhol Text >>
3. Children of Berlin Text >>
4. Sculpture's Back in Town Text >>
5. Tracey Text >>

und sind im Stil eines MTV Clips gedreht worden.

The MAGAZIN4/Vorarlberger Kunstverein presents during the special event "Lange Nacht der Museen" on October 8 th 2005 the brand new and third long playing CD " Museum Fatigue" of the artist-group The Histrionics. The music-videos are featuring a video jukebox travelogue as they travel through Europe in 2003 and 2004 performing in art institutions. For its first time here in Austria the MAGAZIN4 shows five lyrics from the new CD featuring found footage of Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, Isamo Noguchi, Alberto Giacometti and Tracey Emin. "Museum Fatigue" is a simple pun. It is a term used in the measurement of viewers' attention span when viewing works in a museum. " Fatigue " can also mean military uniforms - so " Museum Fatigue " also refers to our Pollock outfits. Since they perform mostly in museums and have made 2 European tours (in 2003 and 2004) the term can be interpreted as their "fatigue" of the museum.

Founded in 1999 by Danius Kesminas, The Histrionics is a conceptual-art super group. The project seeks to synthesize the attributes of popular music with the concerns of visual art culture. Presenting a unique combination of Rock'n'Roll, performance art, pedagogy and humour, The Histrionics performed to rapturous audiences in many countries all over the world.

The Histrionics are (variously): Danius Kesminas, Antonio Milillo, Craig Fermanis, Dave O'Brien, Tommy Zdanius, Stepas Levickis, Dave Nelson, Greg Richards, Nick Girling, Boris Kremer, Ray Vysniauskas, Egidijus Gvildys, Tim Dean and Jon Campbell.

The outstanding music-video " Museum Fatigue " contents the 5 lyrics
1. Drip It Text >>
2. I Shot Andy Warhol Text >>
3. Children of Berlin Text >>
4. Sculpture's Back in Town Text >>
5. Tracey Text >>
and is a MTV style music clips featuring found footage of Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, Isamo Noguchi, Alberto Giacometti and Tracey Emin.

1. " Drip It " (originally recorded as Whip It by Devo): analyses the modernist, predominantly American, phenomenon of drip painting identified with Jackson Pollock.

It is a music clip which has been produced to commemorate the 30 th anniversary of the purchase of Jackson Pollock's Blue Poles (Blue poles: Number 11, 1952) by the NGA in 2003. I t was the highest price paid for a modern painting which attracted some controversy 30 years ago. Furthermore it analyses the Abstract Expressionist phenomenon. In this context " Drip It " reflects of the film " Jackson Pollock " (1950/51) by Hans Namuth who filmed Pollock during his action painting which was very hard for the artist because he had to pretend to make a painting on glass instead of canvas - painting from the bottom. But at that time it was the only possibility for the film-maker to catch the colour on the surface.

2. " I Shot Andy Warhol " (originally recorded as I Love Rock'n'Roll by The Arrows): revisits the attempted assassination of Andy Warhol by Valerie Solanas and the ideology of her S.C.U.M. manifesto.

3. " Children of Berlin " (originally recorded as Sultans of Swing by Dire Straits): is an account of the machinations of the Berlin art-world. Furthermore this lyric presents a reconstruction of Walter Ruttmann's " Symphony of a City " from 1927. In the 20`s Ruttmann used as one of the first film-makers new technologies for cutting the film just in time that film coincides with music.

4. " Sculpture's Back in Town " (originally recorded as The Boys are Back in Town by Thin Lizzy): focuses upon the trajectory by many contemporary artists towards working in 3 dimensions and the inclination by art institutions to champion this revival.

5. " Tracey " (originally recorded as Roxanne by The Police): meditates upon the controversial career of the British artist/celebrity Tracey Emin.