Tyler Matthew Oyer & Malene Dam
Conquest of the Universe or When Queens Collide (2017) is a film adaptation of Charles Ludlam’s legendary Ridiculous Theatrical Company’s theater production of the same name, – a piece of experimental queer theater from New York’s Downtown art scene circa 1967. The narrative, based on Christopher Marlowe’s play Tamburlaine the Great, is interwoven with lines of Shakespeare, Bible verses, quotations from other plays such as Oscar Wilde’s Salome, the speeches of dictators, and help wanted ads. The story depicts homoerotics, incestuous lust, and the satirical downfall of a corrupt, confused Trump-like imperialist “President of Earth.”
The film is directed, produced and staged by LA-based artist Tyler Matthew Oyer with amazing teams of primarily LA based performers, including among others: Harry Dodge, EJ Hill, Julie Tolentino and Lex Brown, incredible artists in their own right. Oyer takes a piece of theater that is SO art historical Downtown New York and does it today in Los Angeles. With this Oyer insists that history writing is never linear or one-sided, but must be thought across time and contexts and opens up an (im) possible dialogue with artistic colleagues who are no longer here.
The film show will be followed by a talk between Tyler Matthew Oyer and curator Malene Dam. The talk will be in English.
As an introduction to the talk, 2 short films by Conrad Ventur are screened: Mario Banana (2010) and Boca Chica (2013). Both films were made in collaboration with Mario Montez, a legendary drag performer, who was also a co-founder the Ridiculous Theatrical Company. Montez participated in several Andy Warhol and Jack Smith films before he in 1977 disappeared from the art world. Conrad Ventur developed a many-year collaboration with Montez after he was “found” again in 2006 at a Jack Smith conference in Berlin.
15 – 25 Nov in Charlottenborg Art Cinema we present a film programme curated by Malene Dam with screening of the following films by Conrad Ventur and Tyler Matthew Oyer. Further info here.