Because Washington Is Hollywood For Ugly People
1) Artist Statement/ Synopsis
“Because Washington Is Hollywood For Ugly People” is a mixed media installation consists of two parts- a High Definition video and a papier mache structure with inkjet prints.
VIDEO
“Because Washington Is Hollywood For Ugly People” is a video/ animation that employs images from popular culture, political figures and imagery found in the internet. The piece adopts the form of viral advertising in a reduction of contemporary events to a cartoon like mythology while touching on issues such as identity politics, U.S. foreign policy, sexuality and power.
Backed by ranting narration of MC Paul Barman and original music by John Blue, “Because Washington is Hollywood for Ugly People” is hitting hard at the hypocrisy of the political rhetoric of the last few years leading up to the current presidential election. As hilarious as it is scary, the video merges internet-scavenged imagery and original animation with pop graphics to create semi-fictional relationships between political figures, corporations, and mass media iconography. Imagine Bush-headed Jennifer Aniston, Gozilla Arafat, Jesus bin Laden, Saddam Hussein on the skateboard, Kim Jong Il as Terminator, Hillary as multi-headed Asimo, Meccadonalds and more. The video is in the Official Selection of Sundance Film Festival 2008 and has been screening at various film festivals around the world.
PAPIER MACHE STRUCTURE
The shape of the structure is a hybrid between United States Capital Hill Building and a Muslim Mosque. The construction appropriates the concept of papier mache puppets at the peace protest, using cheap and recycled materials- selected newspapers headlines (symbolize White House manipulation of the mass media), chicken wire (metaphor of “Chicken Hawk“) and 2″ X 4″ lumber. The structure is visually levitated 26 inches from the ground to symbolize our unstable political and economical situation.
On top of the papier mache a word “HOLYWOOD” is spelled with various declassified documents and legal writings printed on US letter size papers:
- Memorandum for Condoleezza Rice from Richard Clarke, January 25 2001 (pdf)
- Sworn Statement by a interpreter for Special Forces at Kandahar Detention Facility, Feburary 13 2002 (pdf)
- Memorandum “We’re at war”, George Tenet, September 16 2001 (pdf)
- Camp Rules, United States enemy prisoner of war/ civilian intermed camp, June 17 2003 (pdf)
- Memorandum for Alberto Gonzales, “Torture Memo”, August 1 2002 (pdf)
- US CODE: Title 18,CHAPTER 118—WAR CRIMES (pdf)
- Original lyrics by MC Paul Barman, 2007 (pdf)
- PATRIOT ACT (H.R. 3162), Section 215 (p.17-18) (pdf)
- CIA Secret detentions and illegal transfers of detainees involving Council of Europe member states, Council of Europe (p.1-2), June 7 2007 (pdf)
- White Paper “Rapid Reaction Media Team” Concept, January 1 2003 (pdf)
- CURVEBALL, The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence report, July 7 2004 (p.5-6) (pdf)
- Alternative Interrogation Techniques, Auhust 18, 2003 (pdf)
- John Ashcroft letter to George W Bush, Geneva Convention and Taliban (pdf)
- Iraq’s Weapons of Mass Destruction, Assessment of British Government (pdf)
- George W Bush Memo to his cabinets, Humane treatments of Al Qaeda and Taliban detainees (pdf)
- Complaint (pdf)
- Re: GTMO (pdf)
- FBI investigation on GTMO (pdf)
- JTF GTMO “SERE” Interrogation (pdf)
- Iraqi Oilfields and Explorations block (pdf)
- Iraq Contingency Planning (pdf)
- Final Report of Postmortem Examination (pdf)
- Sworn Statement, Ameed Sa’eed AL-SHEIKH, Abu Ghraib, Jan 16 2004 (pdf)
- Detainee # 150422, 1630, Jan 17 2004 (pdf)
2) Credits:
“Because Washington Is Hollywood For Ugly People“
2007
directed by Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung
narration written and performed by MC Paul Barman
music by John Blue
running time 00:07:24
3) Project Description:
mixed media installation with hi-definition video, papier mache sculpture and inkjet prints
50″ plasma output, sculpture 6 x 15 x 10 feet, prints 35 x 47 inches each
HD Video, Single Channel
Running Time: 7:38minutes
Edition of 5 +AP
4) Biographies
KENNETH TIN-KIN HUNG
Director and Creator
Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung was born in Hong Kong and is now living and working in New York. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Arts degree from San Francisco State University. His work has been exhibited at the New Museum, New York; Yerba Buena Center Of The Arts, San Francisco; Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, California; Sundance Film Festival, Park City, Utah; Postmasters Gallery, New York; Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Bradford, United Kingdom; Urbis, Manchester, United Kingdom; Hebbel Am Ufer theatre, Berlin, Germany. He has received several awards throughout his career, including Tribeca Film Institute Media Arts Fellowships, the “VIPER International Award- Internet” in Switzerland and “Honorary Mention- Net Excellence” in the 2002 Prix Ars Electronica. His work has been reviewed in The New York Times, Art In America, The Village Voice, Libération, Le Monde, El Pais, Spiegel and La Repubblica among many others.
MC PAUL BARMAN
Narration Writer and Performer
MC Paul Barman is an artist and language innovator based in New York City. His first record “It’s Very Stimulating” brought new life to hip-hop and garnered a four star review in Rolling Stone. The creator of theme songs, tag lines, and new products, he has performed extensively across America and a lil bit in Europe. More info at www.mcpaulbarman.com
JOHN BLUE
Music
John Blue is a composer who writes and performs music for film. With a focus on documentary and experimental work, the compositions have ranged from classical compositions for solo and ensemble, to modern Americana inspired guitar and sound collage.
His soundtracks for film have shown in festivals internationally, and have received numerous awards worldwide. Crystal Harvest and Suspension were both awarded Golden Spires at the San Francisco International Film Festival. As Láthair received an award from the Irish Arts Council for Experimental video, while the narrative short Timmy’s Wish was voted Best of the Fest at the Humboldt International Film Festival and the audience award at Valleyfest.
His compositions for dance and theatre have been performed at Hebbel Am Ufer in Berlin, the Bardovan Opera House in New York, Highways in Los Angeles, and in San Franisco ODC, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the Herbst Theatre, and Theater Artaud.
He is a founding member of A Thousand Pieces, an interdisciplinary artist collective creating music, film and dance together since 1994.
As a musician he has appeared as a guest with many bands, most recently playing on a track from the Talkincircles album for the Willowz as a cellist and producing a video for the song Heartstrings from the same record. He has also appeared with Nelly Bly, Shana Falana, Fuzzy Star in New York and Los Angeles.
More info at www.BlueSoundCut.com