Images 1......... Images 2 ..........Romeo/Juliet Chat . . . . . press release......... .ngc 224.............art hijack

May 31, 2006
Art Hijack and Friends
All You Need Is Love

For the last installment of The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, Her Lover, and Their Dinner Guests. Art Hijack (Trong G. Nguyen and Elana Rubinfeld), with Brandy Bennett, Kennis Hawkins, Jason Irwin, Audra Lang, Jeremy Linzee, and Will Rawls hosted an experiment in match-making inspired by Romeo and Juliet (c. 1595), Juliette (1798), and a lost chapter from theThe Da Vinci Code (2003).

The performance took place simultaneously in two spaces, at New General Catalog 224 and the restaurant Paloma half a block away. Using iChat AV, a video feed recording the action in the gallery was streamed live to Paloma, where diners served as audience to the star-crossed dating game.

Having built a reputation on conceptual riddles and the occasional anagram, Art Hijack collages the Shakespearean tale with The Da Vinci Code's illustrious lineage of grand masters whose post was to guard the Priory of Sion's secret. It is notable that Mr. Brown omitted from this lineage the one individual who was perhaps as tailor-made for the part as Leonardo. Who else but Marcel Duchamp, the 20th century's most influential, endgame artist? Duchamp occasionally cross-dressed as his alter ego Rrose Sélavy (pronounced Eros C'ést La Vie, or desire is life), going so far as to even attribute specific works to her. A rose by any other name would small as sweet, so the bard says. In addition to the recurring symbols of the rose and star, there are also plenty of references to the holy wedding of masculine and feminine, or Hieros Gamos. It isn't a stretch to see how such coded, mysterious objects such as the Large Glass, with its upper and lower divisions separating the bride from her suitors, and Étant donné, the voyeuristic peep hole installation made in secret the last ten years of the artist's life, fit into the overall clandestine leanings of Brown's Priory of Sion.

Aside from the four randomly chosen diners representing Romeo and Juliet(s), the remaining "players" comprised a group of artists, musicans, dancers, scientists, and historians whose singular role was to facilitate a love connection and serve as advisors shaping the inclinations of the contestants. The collaborators intentionally made reference to a "lost chapter" in the The Da Vinci Code by dressing up in Duchampian outfits, including the Mona Lisa (sans moustache) and a dressed up Rrose Sélavy mannequin. At NGC 224, like Brown's opening sequence inside the Louvre, one of the dancers laid lifeless and half-hidden behind a curtain at the back of the gallery as the Juliets entered the space. Duchamp's Bicycle Wheel sat nearby. At Paloma, Duchamp's 1926 film Anemic Cinema played monotonously on the screen just before broadcasting the live stream from the gallery. A replica set of Rotoreliefs used to make the film was played on a turntable seated adjacent to Romeo's table as a visual complement. Appropriately, Anemic Cinema depicts a series of visual puns using revolving discs producing optical illusions and word games.

The three Juliets arrived to NGC 224 at 9pm, not knowing what was in store for them. Our Friar Benvolio, Good Nanny, and the deejaying Messenger tended to their experience while at Paloma the dashing El Mercutio and charismatic Mona Lisa sat Romeo down for dinner, making certain he did not sneak a peek at his three Juliets projected via iChat on Paloma's video wall. Romeo sat at the center table to dine with his two attendants. Conversing with Romeo while at the same time instant messaging (via Skype) to NGC 224 his thoughts and reactions to the unfolding of events, El Mercutio and Mona Lisa made sure he remained the man of the hour.

After sorting through earlier technical difficulties, the Patroness of Thieves finally got the game rolling by reciting the first of three sonnets, a Prologue followed by El Mercutio's delivery of the Rules of the Game. A series of songs were played throughout the course of dinner to inspire Romeo's questions asked of the Juliets across the way.

At NGC 224, while the Messenger played songs and the Knight Templar instant messaged with Paloma, the Friar and Nanny danced and improvised movements and scenarios that engaged the Juliets. With the audio supressed, the audience at Paloma saw staged tableaus and funny, riotous actions such as coaxing one Juliet to spell her name with her bum, to leading the girls in a dance-along, to a sweet and feisty pas de deux during a break in questioning. Their interpretations were often warm, smart, whimsical, and keenly framed sequences that responded directly to Romeo's inquiries. The companion dialogue lasted nearly two hours as food was slowly prepared and being brought over from up the street. At Paloma, the audience chimed in occasionally with their own questions for the three Juliets.

Eventually, Romeo made his selection - Juliet #1! Friar Benvolio led her over to a patient group at Paloma, who welcomed the arrivals with clapping hands. Seated with her new Romeo, the two shared dessert as our Troubadour seranaded them with the Morrissey standard There Is a Light That Never Goes Out. Afterwards, good El Mercutio recited the final sonnet as all toasted the night's end with a Rhubarb Poison cocktail.