Tate does sex

The Tate Modern will be screening 'Destricted', a sexually explicit series of short films in September.

Jul  7 2006

The Tate Modern has announced plans to screen 'Destricted', a sexually explicit film that features shorts from the likes of Matthew Barney, Larry Clark and Sam Taylor-Wood.

The controversial feature, which played at both the Sundance and Cannes film festivals earlier this year, consists of seven short films that 'question whether art can be disguised as pornography, or vice versa'.

They include 'Death Valley', wherein 'British art star Sam Taylor-Wood directs a porn star in a droll elegy to masturbation and the great American outdoors.'

'House Call' in which American iconographer Richard Prince 'Appropriates a segment of video that captures the generic gold standard of 1970s porn – big tits, big cock and cumshot – re-shooting it in the manner of the cowboys, girlfriends and outlaws that first made him famous.'

And my personal favourite, 'Hoist', in which Matthew Barney 'Stages the erotics of sexual encounter as it takes place between 'green man' and the lubricated drive shaft of a customised deforestation vehicle destined for the Carnival de Bahia.'

Because it falls outside cinema rules, the Tate will be able to screen 'Destricted' five times during September. For more details, head to the gallery website here, and look out for a full Time Out report on the film coming soon (no pun intended).

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