Customer Reviews

Kitchen Presents: 2 Moon July [VHS]

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This video is an ensemble piece that contains a collection of experimental performance art pieces by various artists including: LAURIE ANDERSON; DAVID BYRNE (of Talking Heads); PHILIP GLASS; ARTO LINDSAY (founder of legendary New York No Wave band DNA) w/TONY NOGUEIRA; EVAN LURIE; JOHN LURIE; BILL T. JONES; GEORGE LEWIS; and MOLISSA FENLEY (Piece has music by ANTHONY DAVIS). The entire video takes place in The Kitchen, a legendary artist's loft in New York City. All the performance pieces are what would be considered Experimental/Avant-Garde. The highlights of the Two Moon July video are performances by Laurie Anderson, a fantastic running commentary on newspapers, media and film by Talking Heads frontman David Byrne, and a rare performance of an incredible piece by Phillip Glass entitled 'Mad Rush'. It also features Visual Art Installations by CINDY SHERMAN; BRIAN ENO; JONATHAN BOROFSKY; and ROBERT LONGO. Video and Film Installations by: VITO AccONcI, MICHAEL AUDER; DARA BIRNBAUM; BRUCE CONNER; KIT FIZGERAL; GREGORY MILLER; ERIC MITCHELL; JOHN SANBORN and BILL VIOLA. This video was released in very limited edition in 1987 on the great Pacific Arts Video label. The video quality of the actual video footage is clear and crisp but rather glossy overall, with shall I say a very Cinema Verite feel, it looks as if you are actually at the performance as its being shot, brightly lit with no goofy effects. A true document of the event. Many of these artists and performers had made a name for themselves in New York before the release of this video and many others were known worldwide by people who have followed the avant-garde scene but it is the rarity of some of the performances on this documentary-style video and the sheer number of artists involved that should make it appealing to anyone who would like to experience an interesting assortment of artistic sound and vision. I believe that Two Moon July, eventually, will be considered an Experimental/Avant-Garde/Performance art video classic to be much emulated yet never matched.