Description
Day Is Done is a carnivalesque opus, a genre-smashing epic in which vampires, dancing Goths, hillbillies, mimes and demons come together in a kind of subversive musical theater/variety revue. Running over two-and-a-half hours, this riotous theatrical spectacle unfolds as a series of episodes that form a loose, fractured narrative. The video comprises parts 2 through 32 of Kelley's multi-faceted project Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstructions, in which trauma, abuse and repressed memory are refracted through personal and mass-cultural experience. The source material is a series of high school yearbook photographs of "extracurricular activities," specifically those that represent what Kelley has termed "socially accepted rituals of deviance." Kelley then stages video narratives around these found images.
In Day Is Done, these restagings take the form of "folk entertainments" that Kelley memorably subverts. Featuring characters such as Motivational Vampire, Morose Ghoul and Devil/Barber, much of the action—antic song-and-dance numbers and dramatic scenes, with Satan as emcee—takes place in a generic school gymnasium and a wooded landscape.
Writes Kelley: "For this project, I limited myself to specific iconographic motifs taken from the following files: Religious Performances, Thugs, Dance, Hick and Hillbilly, Halloween and Goth, Satanic, Mimes, and Equestrian Events. Many of the source photographs are of people in costume singing or dancing, so the resulting tapes are generally music videos. In fact, I consider Day Is Done to be a kind of fractured feature-length musical.... The experience of viewing it is somewhat akin to channel-surfing on television."
The video reconstructions were originally seen within an ambitious, sprawling exhibition of video/sculpture installations, photographs, sets, props and drawings at the Gagosian Gallery in New York in 2005; the videos were incorporated into 25 sculptural viewing stations. Writes Kelley, "My intention was to create a kind of spatialized filmic montage: a feature-length film made up of multiple simultaneous and sequential scenes playing in architectural space."
Writer/Director: Mike Kelley. Producer: Tatian Bliss. Music: Mike Kelley and Scott Benzel. Choreography: Kate Foley. Editor: Molly Fitzjarrald. Director of Photography: Kara Stephens. Art Direction: Abel Mchone. Costume Design: Janese Weingarten. Associate Producers: Mary Clare Stevens, Scott Benzel. Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction #2: Train Dancer 1: Miyo. Train Dancer 2: Sarri Sanchez. Train Dancer 3: Jolieba Jackson. Devil: Marty Laquidara. Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction #3: Beige Office Worker: Cliff Corder. Office Vampire: Max Shippee. Plaid Office Worker: Dan Yanan. Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction #4: Vampire Boss: Donald Mac. Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction #5: Sick Vampire: Ryan Fox. Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction #6: Motivational Vampire: Kyle Ingleman. Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction #7: Part A: Morose Ghoul: Raphael Mandel..Voice of Morose Ghoul: Mike Kelley. Part B: Druid: Heather Allen Spiegel. Office Vampire: Max Shippee. Part C: Wizard: Chris Shearer. Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction #8: Hillbilly: Jennider Lambertus. Kiss Groupie: Melissa Sills. Doris: Jmeka Cherrel. Saskia: Fiona Fredericks. Ruby: Teri Benjamin. Nerd: Terry Shusta. Winnie: Veronica Batiste. Witch: Heather Stout. Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction #9: Farm Girl: Tricia Ridgway. Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction #10: Abbie Baron Morganstein, Janese Weingarten, Kelli Blissard, Kim Bridwell, Lacey Bonner, Loa Allebach, Mary Clare Stevens, Michelle O'Marah, Nancy McCrumb, Rachel Murray, Thomas Rugani. Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction #11: Catholic Woman: Ryan Malloy. Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction #12: Thin Thug: Brendan Hunt. Thick Thug: Jon Boatman. Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction #13: Jewish Woman: Amanda da Ponte, Jewish Man: Nelson Serrano. Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction #14: Modern Dancer: Kate Foley. Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction #15: Goth: Maya Zellman. Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction #16: Mime 1: Derek Loughran. Mime 2: Gary Prather. Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction #17: Heartthrob Vampire: Tom Patrick. Voice of Heartthrob Vampire: Larry C. Travis. Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction #18: Morose Ghoul: Raphael Mandel/Mike Kelley. Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction #19: Shy Satanish: Melissa Sills. Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction #20: Lonely Vampire: Franz Stary. Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction #21: Chicken Dancer 1: Nancy Sandercock. Chicken Dancer 2: Taisha Paggett. Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction #22: Matron: Carole Balkan. Consistency/Mary: Lecia Doss. Reclamation: Loa Allebach. Joseph: Sam Lofberg Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction #23: Joaquin: Dink O'Neal. Anne: Pattie Stephens. Mary: Lecia Doss. Joseph: Sam Lofberg. Boy: Sebastien Hope. Hag Mary: Suzan Averitt. Extracurriuclar Activity Projective Reconstruction #24: May Maenad: Holly Beavon Horned Man: Oscar Avalos. Extracurricclar Activity Projective Reconstruction #25 Devil/Barber: Marty Laquidara. Boy: Sebastien Hope. Mute Barber: Damon Epps. Bearded Man: Jerald Reznick. Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction #26: Shadow Dancer: Michiko Nosaka. Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction #27: Gospel Dancers: Esther Choi, Jolieba Jackson, Meg Wolfe, Phithsamay Linthahane, Sarita Louise Moore, Taisha Paggett. Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction #28: Angel Girl: Colette Weber Shaw. Angel Boy 1: Daniel Hope. Angel Boy 2: Sebastien Hope. Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction #29: Mule Rider: John August Baker. Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction #30: Pitchfork Demon: Stan Stefanidi. Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction #31: Mary: Lecia Doss. Joseph: Sam Lofberg. Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction #32: Horse Dancers: Esther Choi, Miyo, Phithsamay Linthahane, Sarita Louise Moore. Project Still Photographer: Fredrik Nilsen. Make-Up Designers: Amber Sandquist, Karen Stein. Additional Make-Up Artists: Kenny Niederbaumer, Alex Noble. Assistant Art Director: Chris Boosinger. Chief Carpenter: Dave Hughes. Additional Art Department: Raphael Mandel, Thomas Rugani. Script Supervisor: Mary Clare Stevens. Camera Operators: Carl Rarajski, Liz Rubin, Steve Reissner, Anne Ethridge, Helen Chough. Grips: Brian Delaney, Danna Kinski, David Sheetz, Justin Denino. Production Sound Mixers: Greg Cosh, Garry K. Cunningham, Mary Jo Devenney, Jim Tanenbaum. Boom Operators: Jill Cosh, Patrick Martens, Mark Dennett, Victoria S. Cunningham. Additional Set Photographers: Benjamin Lord, Mary Clare Stevens, Heather Cantrell. Production Assistants: Humberto Flores, Kim Bridwell, Milda S. Harris, Chris Hixon, Dave Kudzma, Jennifer Bornstein, Pentti Monkkonen. Additional Editing: Scott Benzel. Assistant Editors: Sasha P. Freedman, Jennifer West. Titles: Sasha P. Freedman. Color Correction Assistance: Kara Stephens. Post Production Assistant: Dave Kudzma. Original Score: Lyrics: Mike Kelley. Music: Mike Kelley and Scott Benzel with Mayo Thompson and Korel Tunador. Orchestration: Scott Benzel. Produced and Arranged by Mike Kelley and Scott Benzel. Soundtrack available on Compound Annex Records.
Exhibition & Distribution Conditions
Please allow extra lead-in time if you are planning a public screening or exhibition of this title. All requests must be approved in advance before any event can be confirmed. Providing detailed information regarding any installation plans will facilitate this process.
