The Adam Art Gallery in association with the 2016 New Zealand Festival is pleased to present the exclusive New Zealand premiere of River of Fundament, New York-based artist Matthew Barney’s latest and most ambitious project to date.
Developed over seven years with composer Jonathan Bepler, Barney’s long-time collaborator, River of Fundament is an epic six-hour cinematic adaptation of the late author Norman Mailer’s 1983 novel, Ancient Evenings. The project was conceived as a non-traditional opera and comprised three live performances in Los Angeles, Detroit and New York City. The film, River of Fundament, combines footage of these performances with narrative cinema and an innovative musical score to radically retell a complex mythological tale of a protagonist’s ultimately failed attempt to achieve immortality.
Performances by musicians and singers include Joan La Barbara, Milford Graves, Lila Downs, Belita Woods, Herbert and Eugene Perry, and numerous others. River of Fundament features performances by actors Maggie Gyllenhaal, Paul Giamatti, Elaine Stritch, Ellen Burstyn, Aimee Mullins, and a cast of hundreds of locally sourced extras.
River of Fundament combines elements of cinema, live action, sculpture, and musical performance in an intense, highly complex, sometimes shocking mix. This is a film to be experienced.
River of Fundament will be presented as a one-night-only gala screening in Wellington’s historic Embassy Theatre, at 6pm on Saturday 19 March 2016.
Seating is limited. Tickets on sale at Ticketek http://bit.ly/1Oh33OK
Please visit the Adam Art Gallery website for more information.
