Whatever! A double-bill of filth and fantasy

Come for the fantasy, and stay for the filth...

The main man behind visionary performance art electro act SSION, last seen in these parts supporting The Gossip, Cody Critcheloe is now making serious inroads into the art world with his first feature-length movie production entitled BOY. Essentially a story about love for the Courtney Love generation, BOY is a hypercoloured journey of self-transformation in which underground gay clubs, leather-clad punk bands, Shamanistic fireside rituals, and debased celebrity worship produce the cult pop phenomenon that is the movie's central character, the Boy.

Following this UK premiere is a rare outing for Pink Flamingos, John Waters' classic 1972 tale of grossed-out oneupmanship in which Divine valiantly attempts to win the title of Filthiest Person Alive. We are also pleased to announce that Birmingham Drag Legend and queen Diva TWIGGY will be our MC for the evening. Come for the fantasy, and stay for the filth...

Curated by Morgan Quaintance.

ABOUT THE BOY Text: Morgan Quaintance

In preparation for the upcoming Flatpack Festival premiere of Cody Critcheloe’s BOY, a hyper-coloured tale of self-transformation featuring leather-clad punk bands, shamanistic fireside rituals and debased celebrity worship, I caught up with myself to find out what made Critcheloe’s work so different, so appealing.

Hey, no worries. It’s my pleasure.

The exterior is all carved stone serpent heads and long, plain columns, which open out into full chieftain headdresses at the top. Inside ancient hieroglyphs and more serpent heads kind of reinforce the feeling that you’ve walked into the scene of your own ritual sacrifice. It’s a little disconcerting.

Anyway, as I’d come to see CSS I wasn’t expecting much from the opening act, but the stage had been decked out to look like some neon, outsider art, acid-trip. When the band rolled onstage they completely owned the place and the crowd were sort of wide-eyed and opened-mouthed at the scene. It was one of those rare times when people genuinely didn’t know what to make of what was in front of them. I mean people always talk about this or that band being ‘performance artists’ and lately that term is being bandied about in relation to people like Lady Gaga. The thing with SSION, though, was that there was a definite knowledge of a fine art practice. I could see that there was an awareness of Naim June Paik or General Idea in their onstage video and the set itself really reminded me of Robert Wilson or Assume Vivid Astro Focus or something.

Definitely. The SSION world just seemed so aesthetically complete and original. After the show I got talking to one of the backing dancers who I knew from another incredible group called Gravy Train…

Yep. He kind of filled me in on all things SSION, let me know about Cody Critcheloe (the man behind the band) and promised to send me a T-shirt that never came. They had these amazing tie dye T-shirts for sale that had the SSION face on them. You know, the handlebar moustache, monobrow and blacked out nose.

I checked MySpace as soon as I got the chance and just followed the band. They were producing these really great music videos and touring around the place supporting the Gossip and others. I saw a video blog of the Gossip’s UK album launch party and somebody was on there talking about a feature length art film that Cody had in production. I checked up on it and sure enough Grand Arts (a non-profit art space in downtown Kansas City) had commissioned and were premiering it and an exhibition was planned at Flatpack Festival.

Well originally I talked to Flatpack about showing a series of art films under the title Water Babies. The idea was that before Pink Flamingos we’d show some films that were influenced by John Waters. Showcasing the heir’s to the throne that Waters left un-flushed, if you will.

Nice.

We were going to have a piece by Kalup Linzy, a piece by Ryan Trecartin, then BOY followed by Pink Flamingos.

That sounds like a lot.

I don’t really know what that means.

Well it’ll be a discursive space.

A what? I thought it was a screening?

Well it is but it should open up certain dialogical channels that will enable the audience to erm…explore stuff.

And you’ve got Twiggy presiding over the whole event.

Yep the First Lady of Birmingham drag will be there to harangue people at the door and host a little. She’s also doing her club night that night so she can only stay till about twenty past nine, but it’s going to be great to have her. The idea is that everyone can come in and just have a good time on the night, drink a few beers, hurl abuse at the screen, and each other, and prepare to witness the filthiest scene in cinematic history.

Awesome, thanks a lot for letting us have an insight into your curatorial process and everything.

Hey no problem. Just make sure you come down to Ikon Eastsideon the 25th of March. Doors open at 8pm, it should be a good one.

I’ll definitely be there.

I know you will.