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Blue Man GroupAuthor(s): Stanley Moss and Blue Man GroupReviewed work(s):Source: BOMB, No. 32 (Summer, 1990), pp. 18-20Published by: New Art PublicationsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40424203 .

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profileart BlueManGroupTechnologyersusumanism:hree iguresaintedlue,bald-headed,itho ars, ystematicallyquareffgainstparadef amiliarouseholdroducts.hen eginshe haoswithap'n runchereal, ell-O,talkingid'soy,fluorescentoothpaste,mplifiednstruments,filmf ractalprojections,ay-gloaint,nd cascadef 00,000allbearingsollingcrosshe loortFranklinurnace.I invitedhrisWink,hiltantonndMatt oldmanodiscussheir ork. nlikeheirerieynchronousehavioron tage, hrisrrivedirst,ollowedy hilndMattminutesater. ver tableoon-to-be-tteredithpentuiceboxes ndOreo arcasses,lueManGroupescribedheirvision. t henterview'sonclusion,he ableop esembled

the tagefterne f heirerformances.

Blue Man Group:We ct s a single nitso ourpart hould ead,B.M.G. BlueManGroup.StanleyMoss: You'd ike he esponsesto be collective?BMG: Absolutely.BMG: We'd ike o have urnames n hething,ut...SM: The most bvious spect fyourwork sthe ontinuingolusin ithtechnology.BMG: We ombinehe eeminglydifferentndsof he pectrum:haos ndorder,echnologynd rt.Andhope hisintersections communicated. henwegot ogethern his ittleribe,uckedawayn his ittle ubicle omewhere,shelteredrom hebombardmentfprogress,which eweremonitoring,esawour urselves s huddlingnfromhestorm the torm f rogress,he tormof echnologyand he uestionswere:Where hould uman eings itn?What sthis hinghat o matter hat,s humanandhowdo weprotecthat?Weweredrawn romifferentrofessions. ot fpeoplehavebeen nvolvednd ome ndgone o other hings,ut heyweredrawnby his eeling:What sgoingohappen?TTiat's hereweget nto he lectronictribes.How do wekeepthe hildlike,heinnocent,hepassionate,hedangerous?SM: Everythingou se inperformanceJell-O, ap'nCrunch,luorescenttoothpaste,rimitiverums,mplifiedsound is a seriesof ollisions ithtechno-object.heentertainmentprecludeshe ntellecturingheperformance,ut ater,he ntellectuts tall ogether.realized hat herewas amuch eepermessage han hevicariousparticipation.assume hatt lwayss ascripted ork?BMG: There's repertoirefpieces, ndthey it ogether,ndnewpieces rebeingwritten.utno show's verbeen hesame.This tends o drivehe tricttheater eople razy. hey ay, Well,likedt,but need beginning,iddle ndend. want hatAristotelian "SM: Is there beginning, iddle nd ndtoyour erformance?BMG: There's n emotionalarrative.SM: Youdo have narrative ithinachbit.BMG: The narratives eft artlyo theperson oponderndput ogethern hedays hat ollow. heexperiencetselfgoesbit o bit.Whatwehopefor s thatwithinhebit here's discovery,beginning, iddle nd nd n he ensethatwe come osomething,ediscoverit, omethingwists t the nd in hatsense we'revery lassical. utwe'renottelling literalanguage tory.SM: What overnshe rrangementfbits hen,f nything?mean, s t rulyrandom?oumethodicallyestroyhe et.Yougetmessier ndmessier wanted outoplay venmorewith hoseforbidden

Artist nd corporategraphic pecialist, StanleyMoss also designsBOMBmagazine.

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substances, et dirtiernd cet vour andsallgooey.And here s more lagrantdestructions yougoon. Youget ogreaterhaos,breakingynthetichingsbackdown o their lementalomponents.BMG: We tart lowlyryingopare hebrain own o the ortex, o thebrainstem, ight?he stagegets ransformedfrompristinetage oonethat as eitherart rwaste,dependingponwhere hestuffanded. here s a certainmythicalcharacteristico Blue Man. When lueMan howsup n he andscape hat's nthat tage traditionally,ur andscape,industrialandscape,nformationlandscapehatwearea part f, hatwesee it'svery nfamiliaro Blue Man.Blue Man'svery imid. e will econfused.BMG: Right.BMG: There re ust s manycontradictionsithin lue Man as thereare n he how.He'sverywise andinnocent.BMG: There's danger nderneath,there's sweet...SM: Does eachofyouplay separateaspect f haracter? ou're reakingownwhatwe each ofus walks roundwiththree rfour eople nside fus.BMG: It s an deal...SM: It'sfunny,ecausethere re threedefiniteeople.And hey ooperate.BMG: Well,t's single rganism iththree arts hat eeminglyre similarndyet ery istinct.ven n tsdiminishedstate.BMG: And hat's ery mportant.hereportersf ur ulturelwayswant urnames.Theywant oseparate s. Thereare solatingnd nsulatingorces.One ofthem s the tar ystem.Anotherne shaving our CR at home.Anyway,heywant ogetyou eparated ndfiguredut.It's n act ofdefiance, earingll he ameblue lothes ndbeing n the tage s oneperson. t'spassive-aggression.SM: I'mnot upposed o be abletoidentifyhe haracternperformanceitha person rommy wnworld. hatdemystifies,emythologizesheguyswhoaresittingcrossfromme. The threeguys n the tage hen ecomeBMG: One.BMG: Everyman.t'snot ikewe becomeclones.There'snothingoboticrclonelikebout t. t's ndividualityxistingwithinomedy.SM: That cenewhereBlue Man standsand istens o the ockn'roll ong. Shelovesme .." And verybodyhakes heirhead, Yes." She ovesmenot,"veryoneshakes heir ead, No." t ent humandimensionothe haracters,gesturewhich emonstratedmotionalesponse.Characterseeminglynhuman,eturningto humanisticehavior.BMG: That's genre, device thefishoutofwater. hat's omethinglot ffilmso,take omeone ut f heir orld.Aliens rmermaidsan ee throughresh

eyes innocentyes it's raminghings.You an ook t themundane ecausewe'reblue, ndwe'rebald, ndwe're llsittingogether.nd urmotionsrediminished.BMG: Blue Mandoesn't ee thingshewaymost eopledo,Blue Man doesn'tcome o boxofCap'nCrunch nd eefood.SM: What oes Blue Mansee in Cap'nCrunchox?BMG: Maybe t'swhat lueMan doesn'tsee.BMG: He sees somethinghat ays thasa loud runch.t'smarketedor ts runch,not tsfood alue.BlueMantries t ut sa musicalnstrument.BMG: Right.t'sBlue Man's ymphonicexercise.BMG: Blue Manfinds he ssence of hecrunch.BMG: By hyperconswrngt,hetransformst...BMG: Right. ou an tufft nyourmouth ntil ou an't et nymoren ndthen he runchshappeningnd tbecomes percussiverunch.SM: Howdoyoudo that? mplifyourjaws .BMG: We'remouth-synching;e'remouth-synchingo tape.BMG: That's good ittle reato take n,consumption,ouknow? ust yhyperconsuming,tbecomes unny. eeither iminishrexaggeratet differenttimes. ike hedancepart sverydiminished.SM: Thedancepart?BMG: Whenwe'redoinghe ovesme,she ovesme not.BMG: We all hat dance.SM: Thisbringsomind hefact hat ourpieces re meant obeperformednfrontof n audience. hework ould ottranslate ell ovideo, nly ecausethepersonaltake,whichhad s an audiencemember, ould egreatlyilutedBMG: No. Notuntilhey et tube hat'smore nteractive.SM: Like holodeck. hemomentn heshowwhereBlue Man urroundshatappears obea cylinderfJell-0 ndwe,the udience, an ook hroughhatcylindernd ee a human ace.ThenyoucooperativelyismantleheJell-O. ndwe hear monologue. ow,whatwasthat?BMG: Thatwasa show-specificiece nmonologueime.BMG: Youheard character alledAdolphBeckreciting hatwascalled, BoneheadPuma fEnnui." t's boutnotsuccumbingothepuma.Andhe ookslikehe'sgonna owitht,buthe'sdrawnto thebonehead, o thebuffalofhis eal.BMG: Thepuma f ndifference.BMG: And ell-0 s a techno-item.BMG: Jell-0 ndgeltoothpastenddifferentoams.Wehave piecewhere

FarLeft, luorescentpaintingwith heprimaldrum. op,Fluorescentpainting yprojectile.Center,Rato' cave? Silhouetteofprimaldrummer.ottom,Wearing igital ignage.

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BlueMan riestout s a musicalinstrument.t'sBlueMan's ymphonicexercise. lueManfindshe ssenceofthe runch.

Above,Left, iberatinghehead ofAdolphBeckfromhe elk>.Right,Mixing luorescent aintinto wirling iquid.All tillsbyMarkLeetfrom is videoof heirperformancet Franklin urnace,January1990.

huge ce buckets re filled ith aint.Andwedrum nd hepaint lies p,thesehugequantities .BMG: We ove ll hesedifferentmaterialss rheologists.We're nterestedinrheology,he tudy fmatter,ormndflow.BMG: . flow nddeformationfmatter.BMG: Thatpointwhere t's bout ogooutof ontrolsvery ntriguingo us.What ind f itual f xuberance an wecreate? 'mthinkingpecificallyf hedrum ainting.he oyof his olorexplosion. hat's very ure nd implechudlikereative rge.SM: Whys theresponsive rummingfunny?ne character oes,Boomboom,another negoes,Boomboom, he hirdonegoes,Boom BOOM. And verybodylaughs.BMG: Thatgoesback o theidiosyncraciesf he haracters.t has todo with iming.BMG: He goes,Crunch runchrunchcrunch,runch runch runchrunch,crunch runch runchrunch, RUNCH,CRUNCH,CRUNCH!BMG: These guys regoing n andon,and 'mwaiting,nd henBoom!SM: You lways lay he oudpart?BMG: I'm lways he oudpart.BMG: He's always he uarter otes. 'mthe ighth otes, ndChris s thesixteenth.BMG: Peoplecan relate o t,because t'scomic. hey ee how tgetsprettyricky.And hen here's hepersonwhosurrenders .BMG: Wepractice or ours.SM: Do thingsverhappen hat oudon'texpect?BMG: Weknow heywill, ecausewe'realways ightn that dge,sonecessarilywegoover t.BMG: The set'sbooby-trapped.ure.There's snap, nd omeone's p n he

tree,hanging pside-downike n"Gilligan'ssland."BMG: We etupthis andscape oplaynand henwegoplayn t.We an't redicthow t'sgoing ocomeout.BMG: Like hemarbles.Wehad6,300marbles, ut hemostwe everrehearsedwithwas a couplehundred.BMG: Thebiggest roblemhave s thatI'mnot upposed obreak haracter.treally ugsme,because 'mwatchinghisstuffor hefirstimemyselfnd wouldlove o ust it here.Webuilt slownessinto he haracterso thatwe can ake tin.BMG: Wehave ther howswhere ropsswing ut nto he udience paper omesrollingut you're part f hatwaste,we're here layingndyou're hereplaying ith s.BMG: Consumptionlways as waste s aby-product. henwegoto cateredevent, hesepeople reon,there'sbeautifuletting. ndwedo our atingpieceto "Bolero" withandelabrasndeverythingand hen olor ozes out ursides and llhell usts oose.SM: Youhave tableau r menu ftechnologicalxpressionshat ou andraw rom oexpressyourmotionalobservations.BMG: It's s ifweget his eeling,ndwecallup switchboardperatornd ay,"Here's hefeeling,ow onnect, etmethere omehowwith hesewires.Getmea patch."BMG: Inthegroup,hat rganismicqualityxists oth n nd ffstage.SM: I can ee that. hatyou it lusteredtogetherhewayyou resittingcrossfrommenow. ouhave bondingexperiencehat avebirth othe reativework ou've roduced. ellme about hetalkingoy.BMG: Oh,oh.BMG: Kiddie ity.t's ncredible.t'scomputer that s a true ollision ftechnology. ittleoboticigure ithjawthatmoves.BMG: Andhis rmsmove.

BMG: Absolutelyrotesque.BMG: And t's lso a game howhost.SM: Blue Manpushes hebuttons,utthen efuses oplay hegame ccordingoitsverbal nstructions.BMG: It drives ou razy.t dictates hepaceof he ircus.SM: And hen he oyhas the astword.He says, Ifyoudon'twant oplay,uckyou."BMG: Right.SM: Does hereally aythat, r didyoucreate hat?BMG: No,wereprogrammedt.BMG: I'm master rogrammer.SM: It's hehand fGod.BMG: But hat'swhyt's o accessible oeverybody.t'sonthegut.Boy,you eethis hing, ouwant o take hammerndsmasht. nstead,wesmashedt nslightlyifferentay, yhavingtblowtscork.BMG: There's urrealismn heBlueMan Salvador ali saidhisrolewas thatof thaumaturge,worker fwonder,maker fmagic. t'snot hatwe'remagicians,ut here's hat ffectfmagic.SM: Themagician'slwaysworkingn nillusion,ndwhatyou ee isnot eallywhat's here,t'swhatyoubelieve ouwantto see.BMG: Wedo the amething,nlybackwards.We ry o distract ou romyour istractiono that ou ee thereality(laughs). t's ike idewardsmagic.BMG: Thefact f hematters, fwe aredistractingou romonsciouslyconfrontingsocial ssue at themomentfperformance,nd hen ou ater obackandreconnect,hat's ll bout ocietyndprogressnd ivilizationnd ulturendindustrialization.lueMan s ananalogyfor he merging lobal xperiencesopposed othe ocal ne.BMG: We're n rockethip earningcurve.SM: Blue Man as spacetraveler.BMG: . flyinground heuniverseBMG: . droppingn.BMG: Simply eacting.BMG: ... to what's here.BMG: And heproblems,theproblemsmakingense. STANLEYOSS

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