WU TSANG
'MOBY DICK; or, THE WHALE'
SCORE BY CAROLINE SHAW, ANDREW YEE and ASMA MAROOF
APRIL 14, 15 and 16, 2023 | 8pm | HAUSER & WIRTH
901 East 3rd Street Los Angeles, CA 90013
In ‘MOBY DICK; or, The Whale’, award-winning filmmaker and visual artist Wu Tsang and the collective Moved by the Motion embark upon a feature-length, silent-film telling of Herman Melville’s great American novel. Presented in its West Coast premiere for The Performance Project at Hauser & Wirth Downtown Los Angeles, the film includes original music composed by Caroline Shaw and Andrew Yee with Asma Maroof, performed live by Monday Evening Concerts' Ensemble in Residence, ECHOI, conducted by Jonathan Hepfer.
This adaptation, written by Sophia Al-Maria and directed by Tsang, follows the white whale above and below the surface of the water, developing a visual cosmology that resists the exploration and exploitation of the earth under imperial colonialism. The narrative is interwoven with extracts by the Sub-Sub-Librarian, a character played by Fred Moten, and tackles the novel’s subterranean currents, encountering the resistance of the ship’s hydrarchy, or organizational structure, and collectives of “mariners, renegades, and castaways,” as described by historian C.L.R. James.
The staging of this adaptation by Moved by the Motion pairs the classic story of the whaler’s “floating factory” with the beginnings of the film industry in silent film. The film was shot entirely on a soundstage combining silent-era filmmaking techniques with a virtual reality game engine projecting surreal ocean environments.
‘MOBY DICK; or, The Whale’ is produced by the Schauspielhaus Zürich and co-commissioned by LUMA Foundation, Superblue, TBA21—Academy, HARTWIG ART FOUNDATION, The Shed, DE SINGEL, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Tickets
In order to make this production accessible to the wider Los Angeles community, we are happy to offer a ‘choose what you pay’ model for ticket purchases.
Our suggested ticket price is $25, however there are four tiers to choose from and all are for General Admission seating.
About Wu Tsang
Wu Tsang is an award-winning filmmaker and visual artist. Tsang’s work crosses genres and disciplines, from narrative and documentary films to live performance and video installations. Tsang is a MacArthur 'Genius' Fellow, and her projects have been presented at museums, biennials, and film festivals internationally. Awards include 2016 Guggenheim Fellow (Film/Video), Creative Capital, Rockefeller Foundation, and Warhol Foundation. She has collaborated with brands including Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Marni, Saint Heron x Woolmark, and Swarovski. Tsang received her BFA (2004) from the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) and an MFA (2010) from University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). Currently Tsang works in residence at Schauspielhaus Zurich, as a director of theater with the collective Moved by the Motion.
This adaptation, written by Sophia Al-Maria and directed by Tsang, follows the white whale above and below the surface of the water, developing a visual cosmology that resists the exploration and exploitation of the earth under imperial colonialism. The narrative is interwoven with extracts by the Sub-Sub-Librarian, a character played by Fred Moten, and tackles the novel’s subterranean currents, encountering the resistance of the ship’s hydrarchy, or organizational structure, and collectives of “mariners, renegades, and castaways,” as described by historian C.L.R. James.
The staging of this adaptation by Moved by the Motion pairs the classic story of the whaler’s “floating factory” with the beginnings of the film industry in silent film. The film was shot entirely on a soundstage combining silent-era filmmaking techniques with a virtual reality game engine projecting surreal ocean environments.
‘MOBY DICK; or, The Whale’ is produced by the Schauspielhaus Zürich and co-commissioned by LUMA Foundation, Superblue, TBA21—Academy, HARTWIG ART FOUNDATION, The Shed, DE SINGEL, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Tickets
In order to make this production accessible to the wider Los Angeles community, we are happy to offer a ‘choose what you pay’ model for ticket purchases.
Our suggested ticket price is $25, however there are four tiers to choose from and all are for General Admission seating.
About Wu Tsang
Wu Tsang is an award-winning filmmaker and visual artist. Tsang’s work crosses genres and disciplines, from narrative and documentary films to live performance and video installations. Tsang is a MacArthur 'Genius' Fellow, and her projects have been presented at museums, biennials, and film festivals internationally. Awards include 2016 Guggenheim Fellow (Film/Video), Creative Capital, Rockefeller Foundation, and Warhol Foundation. She has collaborated with brands including Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Marni, Saint Heron x Woolmark, and Swarovski. Tsang received her BFA (2004) from the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) and an MFA (2010) from University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). Currently Tsang works in residence at Schauspielhaus Zurich, as a director of theater with the collective Moved by the Motion.
