Chapters 1-12 of R. Kelly's Trapped in the Closet Synced and Played Simultaneously

Michael Bell-Smith 

2005, 4:22 min, color, sound

To create this dense pop collage, Bell-Smith overlaid the first twelve parts of R. Kelly's soap opera/song cycle, Trapped in the Closet, playing them simultaneously. He writes, "I wanted to take this cultural object and amplify its peculiarity by folding the song and narrative onto itself." The result is a thick blur of overlapping forms and ghostly voices atop a plodding beat, all building to a chaotic crescendo and release.

Kitchen Girl

Ryan Trecartin

2001, 3 min, color, sound

In Kitchen Girl, Trecartin's frequent collaborator Lizzie Fitch throws herself into a state of total hysteria, portraying a girl who takes the childhood game of "playing house" to a dark and disturbing place. Her overwrought performance is perfectly matched by Trecartin's skillful, hyperkinetic editing. Together they turn Trecartin's kitchen into a dimly lit world of mental trauma. Combining the innocuous with the malevolent, Fitch and Trecartin escort the viewer on a whirlwind tour of household dysfunction, child abuse, and isolation.

The Van

Alex Bag 

2001, 12:55 min, color, sound

Originally projected in the interior of a customized Dodge at the 2001 Armory Show in New York, The Van features Bag as three young female artists riding in the back of a van, en route to the Armory Show. They compete for the attention of their gallerist Leroy, who, dressed as a pimp, promises them major recognition and designer handbags. As Bag derides the wish lists of the art-star hopefuls (the Turner Prize, the cover of ArtForum, Rosalind Krauss' critical attention, "more product endorsement"), she implicates the contemporary art world—herself included—in a bacchanal of greed.