++++ At first some facts. In 1980, the automobile imperium, Chrysler, advertised its new luxury car, the Imperial, with a big print campaign in the National Geographic Magazine. A dialogue between Frank Sinatra and the head of Chrysler, Lee Iacocca, was published. Two genuine American icons, symbols of economic success according to the American way of life have a conversation about the merits of a luxury automobile which, according to Iacocca, unites everything which the average American desires from his dream car, only that he will never be able to afford it. A discussion full of empty advertising phrases, thoroughly construed, in which Sinatra tamely plays the ball to his interlocutor ("It looks rich, Lee.") so that he can sing his hymns of praise ("It makes you a smarter driver!").
Now something about what the Irish artist, Gerard Byrne, makes of this. In Portikus he shows his film, Why It's Time for Imperial... Again from 1999 in which he restages the Sinatra-Iacocca dialogue. He has the original conversation played by two actors while they are walking through a dreary mixture of industrial and residential areas. The Sinatra actor with a cravat and a dark blue double-breasted jacket with gold buttons presents himself as an aesthete, whereas the Iacocca figure is wearing a grey business suit with a tie of the same colour.
In this scene they both move through wet, deserted streets, along no longer used railway track and past car scrapyards (where at that moment something resembling a Chrysler is being conveyed to the metal-crushing press), through playgrounds without children, or they sit in dilapidated bars opposite each other or go to the toilet together, where Sinatra waits in front of the toilet door — all the time with serious faces and prattling on with their praise of the Imperial and its merits. Sometimes a voice from off-stage is superimposed on the discussion to briefly introduce facts about the advertising campaign, only to quickly disappear again.
With a light, humorous hand, and certainly a bit maliciously, Gerard Byrne exposes the absurdity of the ridiculous situation in which two persons are just as much foreign bodies in their surroundings as the contents of their discussion. He deconstructs the fascination of the status symbol, automobile, and exposes an unquestioning belief in technology. Balanced and very entertaining.
Gerard Byrne: in Portikus, Schöne Aussicht 2, until 25 August. jdv