[AN] La version déjantée de Pirates des Caraïbes de Paul McCarthy
While the gallery will play host to a series of smaller associated works - including a sculpture of pirates having sex with pigs - the main installation will be located off-site in a nearby warehouse renovated for the show.
According to the Whitechapel's curator, Anthony Spira, McCarthy's project was inspired by Pirates of the Caribbean, the Disneyland ride that spawned the 2003 film starring Johnny Depp.
"It's like visiting a theme park, but one that has gone dreadfully wrong," Spira says. "He's taking mainstream entertainment and turning it on its head. If you get it, it's absolutely hilarious. Some people are simply shocked and find it really disgusting; others see that there's a funny side to it." The installation includes an "underwater" area mounted on machinery that creates a swaying motion for the viewer.
Playing alongside the exhibits is a spoof horror film, created by McCarthy and his team, and using sections of the installation as their set.
"It's very extreme," Spira says. "It presents the dark side of the Caribbean myth. There's all sorts of debauchery and violent behaviour going on - people's limbs being cut off, ketchup splattered everywhere. It's very gory. There are orgies and battles."
While LaLa Land Parody Paradise is less overtly political than some of McCarthy's work, Spira says it is clearly influenced by the US invasion of Iraq. "In the film they reconstruct some of the scenes in Abu Ghraib, the abuse of prisoners. There's a serious element to it as well as slapstick and farce."
The exhibition opens on October 23.
 |  Big buoy: part of Paul McCarthy's LaLa Land Parody Paradise exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery |
Source : The Guardian