Instance No. 5
Michel Auder + Michael Stickrod present Cleopatra (1970)
Thursday, Dec. 12 | 6–8 p.m.
*Screening everyday 12:15 p.m. and 3:15 p.m. until January 26, 2020
A rare screening of Michel Auder’s Cleopatra (1970, 126 minutes) in a room filled with goldenrod culled from Michael Stickrod’s home in McKean Township, Ohio.
Out of public view for many years, New York-based French artist Michel Auder’s Cleopatra (1970, 126 min., color, 16mm transferred to video) based its characters’ improvisation on Joseph Mankiewicz’s 1963 film of the same name starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton—the most expensive film ever at the time of its making. Auder’s cast includes many from and around Andy Warhol’s Factory, including Auder’s former wife, Viva, as the queen, Louis Waldon, Taylor Mead, Nico, Ondine, Ultra Violet, Andrea Feldman, Gerard Malanga, and Christopher Walken.
In his Cleopatra, Auder swapped objects, locations, and, maybe, even states of minds: the snowmobile, then a new invention, for horses; Warhol’s Factory for an arsenal; upstate New York for Egypt; and police in Rome as Roman soldiers. Auder shot his epic on location in the 16th-century surrealist park in Bomarzo, Italy, and the final scene of naked gladiators at the Cinecittà film studio, outside Rome (where Mankiewicz also filmed). Due to a dispute with disgruntled producers who destroyed the film, Auder never edited Cleopatra, which survives as an uncut, degraded copy of the original.
A commissioned text by Robert Slifkin on Instance No. 5 will be available in a free takeaway poster designed by Vier5.
FROM LEFT: Michael Stickrod, ARISNOE'S LEG, 2019; Michel Auder, CLEOPATRA, 1970, 126 min., Transferred to video
FROM LEFT: Michael Stickrod, Untitled (Snake II), 2019; Michael Stickrod, Arisnoe's Leg, 2019; Michel Auder, Cleopatra, 1970, 126 min.
Banner: Vier5. Michel Auder + Michael Stickrod, Staples and Rubber Bands, 1967-2019. Michael Stickrod, Arisnoe's Leg, 2019
Michael Stickrod, Arisnoe's Leg, 2019
As part of Michel Auder + Michael Stickrod, Staples and Rubber Bands, 1967-2019. Michael Stickrod, Untitled (Snake II).
Michael Stickrod, Untitled (Snake II). Michael Stickrod, Arisnoe's Leg, 2019
Season Two: Follow the Mud. Instance No.5 poster, Design by Vier5
Michael Stickrod, Arisnoe's Leg, 2019
FROM LEFT: Laëtitia Badaut Haussmann, WATER, 2019; Michael Stickrod, Arisnoe's Leg, 2019; Michel Auder, Cleopatra, 1970