Cremaster 2

Is Matthew Barney the George Lucas of art film? He devoted years of painstaking toil to a cycle of films, completing them, as Lucas did with the Star Wars franchise, in nonsequential order. They are also populated with exotic creatures, some of whom might not be out of place in a Star Wars flick. But while Lucas’ saga boils down to a good vs. evil battle, Barney’s Cremaster films … well, the fetal development motif gets a little complicated. Suffice it to say that Cremaster 2 (which premiered at the Walker in 1999) follows a backward narrative from the 1977 execution of Gary Gilmore (played by Barney) to an 1893 performance by Harry Houdini (who may have been Gilmore’s grandfather, and is played by Norman Mailer). Beyond that, you’re just going to have to take our word for it: This is truly weird and wondrous stuff. 612-375-7600, www.walkerart.org