Berkeley Bath Brothel

This film is a reconstruction of a Bath Brothel as illustrated in a Mediaeval Manuscript painting. The set is an exact replica of the bath, in the linear perspective of the period. There are 17 nude figures who eat, ‘bathe’, and construct a tableau-vivant of the paintings figure composition. The static tableau is not strictly adhered to a certain amount of movement takes place, but the figures keep returning to their original positions.
It could be called The Naked Lunch ’66. I took the painting around on Telegraph Avenue and asked everyone if they would like to be in this film… I wasn’t expecting it but they just about all said ‘yes’… the parts where they break up all the same time – those happened absolutely spontaneously… the dog is absolutely beautiful… – S.D.