BERNADETTE CORPORATION
Alun Rowlands
‘Hell Frozen Over’
2000, 19:22 min, color, sound
Bernadette Corporation describes this work as “A fashion film about the poetry of Stéphane Mallarmé and the color white.” Produced for the 2000 Walker Art Center exhibition Let’s Entertain, this short film employs a range of strategies to approach the idea of nothingness, emptiness, and vacuity, with an eye to how these notions relate to contemporary mass-cultural entertainment. Juxtaposing “documentary” takes on a fashion shoot with footage of semiologist Sylvère Lotringer giving an impromptu lecture on Mallarmé on a frozen lake, Hell Frozen Over maintains an ambiguous stance from which to both critique and celebrate the power of surface.
With: Sylvere Lotringer, Bianca (New York Models), Arielle (Next). Voice-overs: Liz Bougatsos, Colin DeLand. Hair: Rick Radone. Make-up: Yuko Mizuno. Clothes: Vikor & Rolf, Andre Walker, Seth Shapiro. Music: Ben Williams, The Beatles, Kippenberger, Mozart, Cat Stevens, Schubert. Video Editing Equipment/Software: The Bohen Foundation.