On November the 10th and 11th MGMT will make two unique appearances at the Guggenheim Museum in New York to coincide with Maurizio Cattelan's retrospective exhibition.
Art and music. Music and art.
Fusion.
Synergy.
Two art forms, one experience. Twice.
You heard me baby!
Cattelan from Italy, is a (excuse this mouth-full ...) satirical, hyper-realist sculptor. His most famous piece is 'Nona Ora' (Ninth Hour) and depicts Pope John Paul II getting smacked down by a meteorite.
His work is very amusing. You don't need to be educated on the wares of post-modernism or hyper-realism to find it amusing. His jokes are pretty universal providing you have a brain and a sense of humour. Phew.
MGMT (if you've been in a womb for the last 4/5 years) are a psychedelic rock band from America who's first album 'Orcacular Spectacular' was brilliant, it was critically and commercially acclaimed and played everywhere from my bedroom to Sarkozy's propaganda videos. Their second album 'Congratulations', also great but did not receive quite as much hype - but they were consciously practising escapology from pigeon holes. They are currently working on a third which we anticipate with bated breath.
This is what MGMT had to say about the looming events in their press release:
"We're creating a musical experience that works for the building, and for the construction and presentation of the Cattelan exhibition. The art exhibition is done in a completely original way, so it deserves music which is completely original. The Guggenheim performance won't be a traditional MGMT show, but it will be ____."
Original?
Their press video is not. Unfortunately they have been afflicted with the irony pandemic sweeping over a number of continents and infecting many other very good, very smart, very cool bands.
The highlight of the wildly boring and mildly frustrating press video below is when, 4 minutes in you kind of, vaguely, get a sense of what they might be doing by picking out buzz word of the moment "synesthesia" in-between slurps of Bloody Mary and stifled, ironic chuckles as they feign pseudo-boredom.
Maybe I'm getting old. Maybe I shouldn't have an earnest interest in what an awesome band has in store for a retrospective on an awesome artist. Or maybe I shouldn't want them to say something that is actually amusing, instead of "amusing" because it is SO FUCKING BORING.
But enough introspection.
Cattelan's a brilliant artist, MGMT are, on the whole, brilliant, and colours are always pretty. It's bound to be a fantastic experience in an incredible gallery, just regurgitate any irony that has been shoved down your throat over recent years before you watch the press video. After which it will be as refreshing and hilarious as a Bloody Mary on post-ironic ice. (Conceptual.)
Permalink: http://livemusic.fm/news/mgmt-set-for-intimate-gig-at-the-guggenheim-museum
Posted 13th October by Livemusic Team
