Fireworks, the center of public spectacle, is especially true for NYC’s 4th of July Independence Day celebration. It’s a grand affair. With thousands and thousands of people chasing in sweat through the middle of the summer heat the apocalyptic glory of fire in the sky. A public celebration that carries away poor and rich, immigrants, and many generations of Americans. It’s an equalizer. With the memory of September 11, I had the misfortune to live through still fresh, the thunder, smell of the gunpowder and fleshes in the sky has this strange feeling of danger, anxiety and monumental monstrosity, could be the flashes of the doomsday nuclear annihilation.
For me as an artist, this great spectacle is ready to be harvested, is just there for grabs, and the idea of using the city itself in its purest form, the element that shapes the narrative and symbology of the work since this is not a documentary. The footage I took is approximately from summers 2012 and 2013 when the 4th of July fireworks were held on the West Side on Hudson River of the Chelsea piers. They were moved back to East River soon after this video was shot.
My chosen spot was the same for the two years of shooting, on West 19th St West Side Highway, where, in the grand building on the left, used to be a great 90’s NYC Club The Tunnel, where I used to go to hang out plus had few music and art performance’s there. It reminds me of the building from Herzog’s Nosferatu.
There’s also a long tradition in art in recording and representing this great display of public pride and projections of power. Through years of visiting Metropolitan Museum I always enjoyed their changing display of prints, etching; specifically prints from Baroque, some commemorating entry of victorious Monarchs or Dukes into the city’s squares with ecstatic crowds and grand fireworks. For Americans it is the celebration of liberation in a war of independence from a Monarch, mimicking the martial part of it, the fire and explosions of a battlefield.
It made me think of great Kenneth Anger films, one of them is of course “Fireworks”, and fireworks in Jean Genet’s “Un chant d’amour”.
The music in the video is Hot in a Disco, from my live session, rehearsal for a concert with Michael Durek on Electronics and Theremin, Micah Gaugh on Synth Bass, myself Vocal and Beats. (Source: Emil Memon)