CRUISE
Black dress slips slowly off her back
KIDMAN
Couple in formalwear pass Impressionism
KUBRICK
Baby did a bad bad thing
Cocktail party, different women on his arms
Baby did a bad bad thing
She, dancing with another, walls of hanging light
Baby did a bad bad thing
He, on the street, a woman in chinchilla
Baby did a bad bad thing
Him, shirtless, staring off
Her, a negligee, similar
You ever love someone so much you thought your little heart was gonna break in two?
View through a car window, pulling up to estate
He, on the street, one hand punching the other
I didn’t think so
Her, glasses on, fingers at mouth, eyes on camera
You ever tried with all your heart and soul to get you lover back to you?
He entering estate
Both topless, her eyes open, his shut, embracing
I want to hope so
Estate interior: a masked figure directs him
In a shop a teenage girl in underwear
You ever pray with all your heart and soul just to watch her walk away?
They kiss, passionately
In a morgue, a body pulled for him to see
Her eyes on camera as she is kissed
EYES
WIDE
SHUT
Baby did a bad bad thing
CRUISE KIDMAN KUBRICK is a 2019 erotic mystery psychological drama exhibition. Based on the marketing for Eyes Wide Shut , the 1999 film by Stanley Kubrick, adapted from the 1926 novella Traumnovelle by Arthur Schnitzler; the exhibition substitutes 2010s Zurich for 1990s New York or early 20th century Vienna. It takes the charged adventures of an internationally diverse group of artists as a starting point for an exploration of layered sexuality, concealment and temptation. A grand opening celebration at the center of an elite city, the exhibition is adorned for festivities ruminating on alternate codes, gazes and agencies. Like it’s cinematic seed it becomes a holiday show as Autumn falls, reminding of a line from Lee Siegel’s long form defense of Kubrick’s last and most misunderstood picture. “Desire is like Christmas: it always promises more than it delivers.”
Mitchell Anderson
