August 31–September 7, 1995

20 questions

Beth B

By Robin Rice

Background: Independent filmmaker/artist Beth B will have a strong presence in Philadelphia this fall, with two major installations running simultaneously. Holy Experiment at Prison Sentences (Eastern State Penitentiary, Fairmount Ave. at 22nd St., through Oct. 29) andOut of Sight/Out of Mind at Temple Gallery (1619 Walnut St, 782-2776. Opens in September.)

Out of Sight/Out of Mind will travel to New York City, opening on Nov 11 at the Crosby Street Project (113 Crosby St.). Trophies, a show of B's sculpture, will open at PPOW Gallery (532 Broadway, New York City) on Nov 18 and a retrospective of B's films and videos will open at Anthology Film Archives (32 2nd Avenue, N.Y.C.) on Nov. 24.

B began studying art at the age of ten in children's classes at the Art Institute of Chicago. She attended several art schools including Irvine, San Diego State University and the School of Visual Arts in New York.

BFA in hand, but disillusioned with the gallery and museum system, she turned exclusively to cinema for ten years. Now she's back making art, though she frequently incorporates video in her installations and continues to make films. Her most recent release (about a year and a half ago) is Two Bodies. Devoted entirely to the interrogation of a murder suspect by a detective (Fred Ward), the film suggests that aspects of sexual and political power are more significant than the "facts."

Beth B married Jim Coleman, the keyboard player for Cop Shoot Cop, a few days before our telephone conversation.

Why did you start calling yourself "Beth B?"

Oh, I hate that question!

I'm sure everyone asks.

Yes, and it's boring to me. We can say that I felt an affinity to B movies.

Is that the answer you always give?

It varies, but there is a definite truth in that. Because I feel that the films that I make are, in a sense, B movies.

Well, if Beth B. makes them, they surely are. How would you describe the installation at Temple Gallery?

It's a multi-media piece which uses various modes of entry to deal with issues of insanity and our perception of reality and delusion — and truth and falsehood. I see it as a mirror of our society.

When you first enter the space you come upon a rotary machine which is an obsolete device called the "Cox's Swing" constructed for use in psychiatric hospitals during the 1820s. The patient was strapped into the chair and hoisted in mid air and rotated at speeds up to 100 revolutions a minute. Spectators can observe the machine spinning and imagine what it was like to experience this kind of radical "therapy."

As you go further into the space there are six padded cells. I designed the piece so that the choice is left to the viewers. They can retreat from the gallery or go further into the madness.

In the padded cells the visitors hear text from people like Vincent van Gogh and Valerie Solanas (the woman who shot Andy Warhol), all artists who at one time or another went mad or were deemed by society to have been mad.

On the other side of the cell is a glass window inset in the door and you can look through to (and enter) a dark space with padded benches where you can watch a large-scale video projection. It is done in talking-heads style, intercut with black-and-white archival footage of acrobatic daredevils and such. The end piece talks about Eric Smith, who is a 13-year-old boy who murdered a four-year-old child. The court ended up refusing to allow this boy to plead insanity and convicting him of second degree murder as an adult. Again, it brings "Who is insane?" into question.

A lot of my work is about a system that does not work and the incomplete equation between violence and punishment, insanity and incarceration.

How would you describe your principal metaphors?

The main theme in my work is the role society plays in trying to control, terrorize, and restrain the individual — especially in a country where individual freedom is touted as the politically correct philosophy. I think our society works very hard against individuality and punishes and incarcerates the individual mind.

Does that oppression relate more to some groups — for example, women — than to others?

Not really. For men it ends up shutting them down emotionally. They end up not being able to function as full human beings with their male and female sides integrated. I think a lot of men suffer because of that, just as I think women suffer in other ways. And certain ethnic groups suffer in other ways as well. It ends up affecting us all to different degrees and in different ways.

Do you see your work as operating on a more intimate level, the ideas of incarceration and control as being familial, or personal?

Definitely. Those issues of domination and control and hierarchies start to form from your very birth. They run through every aspect of life — any kind of institution, from schools to the family or the institution of marriage.

Which you've just entered!

I just entered that lovely institution and we're doing everything very unconventionally, so it's just great! There are ways to work within the system that work it in your own way.

What's on your mind for the future?

Ha! Nothing's on my mind for the future. I'm too overwhelmed by today. I'm working on a couple of feature film projects. One that I'm very excited about is working with Miho Nikaido, who was in Tokyo Decadence, which is an incredible film.

What's it about?

Let's say it's about mail order brides, the ultimate in women servicing men. Of course, it's all about role playing and trying to break out of those roles, breaking down the boundaries between men and women.

Besides becoming more aware, do you hope people will take specific actions after seeing your work?

For me, it's hoping that the work that I do will inspire discussion. The most important thing is to ask questions rather than give answers. I don't have the answers. There is no One Answer. There is no Solution, but I think that as people are confronted with certain truths and certain things that are taboo within our culture, communication and discussion is a way of generating change.