JG-TC.com > Features > Death by Design Co. to stage havoc at EIU

TODAY'S HEADLINES

SPECIAL SECTION

ONLINE POLL

ONLINE EXTRAS

SITE TOOLS

OTHER LINKS

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Lee Enterprises

Thursday, January 18, 2007 11:26 PM CST
Death by Design Co. to stage havoc at EIU

By the JG/T-C
editorial@jg-tc.com

CHARLESTON -- Willing victims are invited to take part in mayhem, gore, blood and death when Death by Design Co., offers the chance to star in a “slasher” genre horror movie death scene. Chicago artists Teena McClelland and Michelle Maynard (a.k.a., Death by Design Co.) will do death scene tapings, by reservation only, on Jan. 22-26 at the Tarble Arts Center at Eastern Illinois University. Witnesses are welcome to watch without an appointment, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

The premiere and opening reception will be held from 5-7 p.m. Jan. 27. Admission is free and the public is invited.

The death scenes are part of the installation/exhibition/performance titled Death by Design Co. Stalks Charleston: Postmodern Meets Postmortem. After the tapings, the film set will remain as an installation through April 1 in Tarble’s eGallery. Periodic screenings of McClelland’s movie, “Throb,” other slasher genre horror films and Death by Design, Co.-produced videos will also be presented as part of the installation.

A “menu” of possible death scenes is available at the Tarble or by sending an e-mail to mwatts@eiu.edu. To make a death scene reservation, log onto www.deathbydesignco.com. And a promo/preview video is on view at Tarble.

Maynard and McClelland see Death by Design Co., as a safe vehicle for exploring ideas of myth, storytelling, cinematic illusion, celebrity and one’s own mortality.

They achieve this by incorporating the formal appeal of splattered gore with a narrative structure and providing a humorous encounter with death through extreme situations and visuals.

Both artists received MFAs from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2005. This approach to a gallery show was first presented at the University of Illinois’ Gallery 400 in Chicago.

This Contemporary Currents event is funded in part by the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, and is presented in cooperation with the EIU Theatre Arts Department. For information contact Tarble at 581-ARTS (2787) or mwatts@eiu.edu.

Add your comments

*Member ID:
*Password:
Remember login? (requires cookies)
	Forgot Your Password?

Not already registered?
Then click Here.

Comment policy:

JG-TC.com encourages readers to engage in civil conversation with their neighbors. Comments that are submitted are not posted to the site immediately. They go into a queue to be moderated and may take several hours to be reviewed. Comments posted on Saturday may not be reviewed until Sunday afternoon.

In order to keep the page a set width, long lines (mostly long links) will be chopped. Try putting spaces in your links or consider using tinyurl.com to make a smaller link that you can include.

We will never edit or alter your comments, but we do reserve the right to remove comments that violate our code of conduct.

No comment may contain:

* Potentially libelous statements; such as accusing somebody of a crime, defamation of character, or statements that can harm somebody's reputation.
* Obscene, explicit, or racist language.
* Personal attacks, insults, threats, harassment or inciting violence.
* Commercial product promotions.

If you have any questions, please contact our moderator.