Madame Chao
Now more than ever - Madame Chao's home brewed remedy to ward off unwanted chronic
mental ailments that persistently contaminate the brains of the digital aged
person by means of hacked, reverse-engineered and recycled cathode ray tube
radiation is vast, active and brought to you with every intention of slapping
the snooze off the quantified and commodified human attention span or at least
make many a pair of designer underwear become thoroughly soiled in the process.
Once one takes notice of the completely torn apart and painfully detailed pixel
re-stitched audio and video, they are instantly seduced as the paradoxical essence
of the show entraps the mind in a state of repulsion and desire, shock and awe.
A virtual Chinese televised finger trap. It is a thing made of nothing that
should not be, but arrives uninvited and serves as its own "case in point".
Described as "insanity" by Time Out New York magazine, the fast-paced blasts
of 100 million alarm clocks, every conceivable break beat and bass kick, along
with cryptic combinations of surgically selected references to elements from
contemporary media by route of the collective public memory is best experienced
first-hand and re-experienced short-circuit; A sword in one hand and a stiff
drink in the other.
The story of Madame Chao is constantly unraveling. As an artist and entity simultaneously,
Chao can be described as a massive snowballing media montage that is manifesting
itself by creating calm within chaos, coming into being by blowing itself away.
An assembledge point of spectacular nonsense and violently subtle erotic comedy:
The convergance of the broken fragments of the worldís skull. This process begins
to feed itself, manifestation building momentum, building manifestation, exponentially,
Although it would seem to an untrained eye that the program has no discernable
linear narrative, with some attention and a bit of effort one can intuit a multitude
of possible concurrent plots that are interwoven and juxtaposed with hundreds
and thousands of simultaneously complimentary and contradictory plots and themes.
One common interpretation describes how a prominent and privileged yet spiritually
corrupt and intellectually malnourished woman in ancient Chinese provincial
society gains a position of moral leadership and religious eminence by virtue
of her family's enduring allegiance to an invisible and timeless spiritual entity.
The present series can dee deribedanalyzes Madame Chao's transformation from
embittered widow to local leader and her self-inflicted apotheosis as a techo-goddess
while comparing the representation of herself with the same popular contemporary
media in which she can also serves as the historical background of the show
itself. By referring to her own representation within the context of the very
same scenarios, each along with their own corresponding issues surrounding cognizant
sentient digital artists and their struggle with the enduring forms of influence
that can only be described in terms of human perception as new electrical and
gravitational like forces that are silently enveloping the inhabitable dimensions
of the planet sphere. The "mother of invention"-figure as crippled goddess and
sub-mensa stark savior in times of blatant criminal disaster dramatizes a millenarian
ambiance that appears to have prevailed during the last years of Ming rule.
The characterization of Madame Chao reflects the wonton solicitation of the
apocalypse by those who miss the mark and only focus on the negative aspect
of the totality she contains within her limited limitless form. The characterization
also elicits the emerging collective search for a new kind of moral kung-fu
leadership. She appears as a flickering shimmering holographic symbol to reverse
the peopleís forgetfulness of the past due necessity to replace the coarse and
boarish adver-enter-govern elite perceived as failing in even their bare minimum
roles at least as tactful liars on both the local and the national level. The
earliest examples of her form arrive in public record in 1995 with the advent
of the Cable Access Television program, "Madame Chaoís ChaoRin Temple: For the
Cultivation of the Noize Fighting Arts". A public access television show, which
premiered on Manhattan Neighborhood Network (MNN) and quickly spread to Brooklyn
Community Access TV (BCAT). The ChaoRin storm system is currently picking up
affiliate "cablecasters" in other Major US Cities, the most recent addition
being Chicagoís CANTV ‚ which has within a single series generated a strong
show of support via email from viewers.
www.madamechao.com