Cremaster 3

The third episode of the pentalogy came about chronologically as the last. By 2002 Barney enjoyed a very solid reputation in the art world, and so he was able to be truly liberal with his conception of the part of the cycle played out in New York. The axis of the storyline, as well as its central character, collecting and distributing energy, is the construction of the Chrysler Building, a Manhattan icon. Barney himself appears here as the “Entered Apprentice” with the minimalist sculptor Richard Serra, whom he invited to play the role of the “Architect”. Together they re-enact the Masonic myth of the construction of Solomon’s Temple and its Faustian architect Hiram Abiff, who aspired to the knowledge of the deepest mysteries of the universe. Under the foundation of the building, the un-dead corpse of a woman appears: it is the executed Gilmore of the previous episode, who has since changed gender. For the character of the “Entered Novitiate”, who brings slapstick and vexation to the peak of the skyscraper, Barney cast American celebrity Aimee Mullins – a model with amputated legs. At this point in the narrative the film pauses for a choric interlude in the Guggenheim Museum. The reincarnated Apprentice finds himself here and must go through the initiation rites of the Masonic fraternity by overcoming obstacles on each level of the museum’s spiralling rotunda. The film ends in a number of violent deaths, the last to draw blood being the building itself, which will remain forever unfinished. The epilogue links to the Isle of Man, where Cremaster 4 will take place.