Wu Tsang’s ‘MOBY DICK; or, The Whale’
Film still from MOBY DICK; or, The Whale, 2022. Image courtesy: Wu Tsang
The Art Gallery of New South Wales presented the Australian premiere of Wu Tsang’s MOBY DICK; or The Whale, with live accompaniment by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (SSO), at the Westpac OpenAir Cinema on 27 January 2023.
In MOBY DICK; or, The Whale, award-winning filmmaker and visual artist Wu Tsang and the collective Moved by the Motion embark upon a silent film reimagining of Herman Melville’s great American novel.
Presented in its Australian premiere, the film included original music composed by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw and Andrew Yee with Asma Maroof, performed live with the musicians of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
This extraordinary new adaptation follows the white whale above and below the surface of the water, tracing the novel’s subterranean currents and contemporary resonances, from ecological crisis to queer desire amongst a cast of ‘mariners, renegades and castaways.’
Screened against the backdrop of Sydney Harbour – with its deep histories of whale migration and connections to the transnational whaling trade – MOBY DICK; or, The Whale invites audiences to see Melville’s classic story in a new light.
Wu Tsang is an award-winning filmmaker and visual artist. Her 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. Currently Tsang works in residence at Schauspielhaus Zürich, as a director of theatre with the collective Moved by the Motion.