How would you describe the Bangerz tour in three words?
Diane: Over-stimulating, subversive, tender
How much does the personality of a musician like Miley’s shape your vision when in the planning stages?
Diane: Anytime you take on a visual project for a musician, their personality has to inspire your work, or it’ll come out completely detached. When Miley and I started working together, we were texting each other all these crazy fucked up ideas for the show, so Geoffrey and I were completely free to make some really fucked up content, which is what Miley’s about!
Geoffrey, your art is pretty unusual. Do you feel like collaborating with Diane and Miley on this project came quite naturally?
Geoffrey: We had to be aware of different visual cues, so as to speak to her wide fan base, so this demanded a variety of different peoples styles and feelings. A project like this creates a whole family; the preparation of the show and your personal life all blend into one. It’s a very fertile environment for us all to push ourselves to our creative limits.
With a broad fanbase of both young children and young adults, was it a challenge to balance outrageous and explicit?
Diane: We made sure that the naughty candy wasn’t too obvious, and that’s the most explicit visual in the show. Miley’s performance can be very campy and sexual, but everyone knows it’s all in jest and as a performer she knows how far to take it. Even the kids get that she’s playing a role.
Having directed her infamous VMA performance did you feel any pressure to give this tour a different vibe?
Diane: I felt no pressure. I thought the VMA performance I directed was so funny, and frankly it’s boring to me that the performance freaked people out. Then again, I’ve seen some crazy performances and very dark films, so nothing in art really shocks me anymore.
Shots of Miley sliding down a tongue and riding her hotdog went viral as soon they’d happened. With performances so easily scrutinised thanks to camera phones and social media, is the photogenic and viral nature of a set a big deal to you?
Geoffrey: In terms of camera phones, I thought they brought out one of the most interesting and unexpected aspects of the tour. When the audience brings out their phones, it creates this spectacular light show – a teenage controlled galaxy. If we think about this universe of cameras as archiving the show in real time, it’s interesting because we have a unique multidimensional version of the experience that gives us insight into what aspects of the show the crowd is watching.
Diane: I don’t take social media into account at all.
Do you have a favourite moment from the tour?
Diane: I like the beginning, a giant Miley head enters from the bottom of the screen and her eyes rove around the arena left to right. I find it magical how this two-dimensional image can make the crowd go insane. But my favourite moment is her entrance; from this still image of her head, the screen slowly opens and reveals a giant sculpted tongue that lowers Miley down to the floor. The audience goes mad.
Geoffrey: I like when Miley is singing to a giant orange puppet. There is so much emotion in that character, it brings this fantasy world into reality, in a very believable way.
What’s the plan now?
Geoffrey: Diane and I are working together as an art partnership, bound together by an understanding of absurdity, contemporary culture, nightmares, and sleepless daydreams. Giving each other’s perspectives from the depths of emotionally fused art to our understanding of popular culture and how to work them together into an inspired reality.
Diane: We are going to make some money.
Credits
Text Ryan White
Imagery Geoffrey Lillemon and Diane Martel