MOBY DICK;
or, The Whale
© Greg Amgwerd
After the novel by Herman Melville
Presented by Moved by the Motion
Directed by Wu Tsang
With this sujet the group Moved by the Motion takes on one of the "Great American Novels": Moby Dick by Herman Melville. Sophia al Maria and Wu Tsang's adaptation, interwoven with extracts by a sub-sub-librarian (Fred Moten), tackles the novel's subterranean currents, encountering a resistant hydrarchy and haptic collectivities of "mariners, renegades, and castaways" (CLR James). Directed by Wu Tsang and scored live by the ZKO to a composition by Caroline Shaw and Andrew Yee with Asma Maroof, the silent film 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 staging of Moved by the Motion interweaves the story of the whaler's 'floating factory' with the early days of the film industry.
«Much like Tsang’s previous work, “Moby Dick” has drawn praise for its ability to combine disparate genres and forms, including dance and poetry, into an aesthetically striking artwork that explores lofty ideas about connection and identity.» The New York Times, 20.02.2023
- Directed by
- Wu Tsang
- Written by
- Sophia Al-Maria
- Original Score
- Caroline Shaw / Andrew Yee / Asma Maroof
- Conductor
- Kevin Griffiths
- Produced by
- Laura D’Incau
- Co-Produced by
- Wu Tsang
- Executive Producers
- David Codikow / Nadja Rangel
- Associated Producers
- Tosh Basco / Sophia Al-Maria, Stefan Scheuermann / Barbara Higgs
- Cinematography
- Antonio Cisneros
- Movement Direction
- Tosh Basco
- Choreography
- Josh Johnson
- Costumes
- TELFAR / Kyle Luu
- Production Design
- Nina Mader
- Virtual Production
- Bild Studios
- Video Design
- Fray Studios
- Edited by
- Jérôme Pensel
- Dramaturgy
- Katinka Deecke / Joshua Wicke
- Audience Development
- Mathis Neuhaus
- Theatre Pedagogy
- Manuela Runge
- Production Assistance
- Laura Weibel
- Assistant director
- Sonja Levy
- Stage design assistance
- Natascha Leonie Simons
- Costume design assistance
- Paula Henrike Herrmann / Ulf Brauner
- Production interns
- Yèinou Avognon / Andrina Imboden / Josephine Scheibe
- Costume design intern
- Naïma Alissa Trabelsi
- Script Translation
- Sinikka Weber / Alain Angehrn
- Concert master ZKO
- Willi Zimmermann, Donat Nussbaumer
- Violine I, ZKO
- Tanja Sonc, Kio Seiler, Jana Karsko, Astrid Leutwyler
- Violine I und II, ZKO
- Arlette Meier-Hock
- Violine II, Voice leading, ZKO
- Daria Zappa Matesic, Silviya Savova-Hartkamp, Anna Tchinaeva
- Violine II, ZKO
- Simon Wiener, Philipp Wollheim
- Viola, Voice leading, ZKO
- Ryszard Groblewski, Frauke Tometten Molino
- Viola, ZKO
- Pierre Tissonnier, Manuel Nägeli, Cristian Andris
- Violoncello, Voice leading, ZKO
- Nicola Mosca, Anna Tyka Nyffenegger
- Violoncello, ZKO
- Silvia Rohner Geiser, Stefania Verità, Florian Arnicans, Enrico Graziani
- Contrabass, Voice leading, ZKO
- Seon-Deok Baik, Ivo Schmid
- Contrabass, ZKO
- Federico Abraham
With live accompaniment by the Zurich Chamber Orchestra (ZKO) conducted by Kevin Griffiths.
Co-Commissioned by LUMA Foundation, Superblue, TBA21–Academy, HARTWIG ART FOUNDATION, The Shed, DE SINGEL and The Whitney Museum of American Art. Supported by Martina Vondruska & Gerd Schepers.
Subtitled by Katja Roloff on behalf of Panthea (2022).
Quotations from Moby Dick were subtitled based on the translation by Matthias Jendis (Hanser Verlag, 2001).
- 75 minutes, no interval
- Premiere: 12 March 2022, Pfauen
© Greg Amgwerd
