Wu Tsang reinterprets Carmen's story at MACBA in Barcelona

As is well known, Carmen’s story is marked by death. Written in 1875 by composer Georges Bizet, the opera’s title character is portrayed as both a powerful force and an annoying seducer. In the traditional narrative, Don José is unhappily led astray by Carmen; her murder at his hands is portrayed as the result of her own actions. It has been reinterpreted many times over the years, most recently by artist and filmmaker Wu Tsang, whose experience as a director at the Zurich Schauspielhaus offers rich insight into the live performance.

Tsang has been researching the story over the past eight years, culminating in an opera-theatre hybrid show with interdisciplinary artist group Moved by the Motion and a film installation that recently premiered at MACBA in Barcelona (until November 3, 2024). The film installation “La gran mentira de la muerte” addresses death as a central theme and explores how this runs through Carmen’s story in many different ways. In creating these works, Tsang studied both flamenco and classical interpretations of opera and, as someone who combines multiple art forms, wanted to build a bridge between them.

View of “La gran mentira de la muerte” (The Big Lie of Death) at MACBA

(Image credit: Photo: Miquel Coll, 2024)

Wu Tsang is particularly interested in the parallels between flamenco and bullfighting, which in different ways radiate death as a performance

“I was always attracted to Carmen,” she tells me. “There are all these different associations that we have about Carmen in the pop culture imagination. We have been continually drawn to her figure for over a century. Many different people have claimed this figure as their own: she is a feminist or she is a symbol of freedom. She is also a conduit for all kinds of misogyny because she has always made sacrifices throughout history. She must die for her freedom.’

For “La gran mentira de la muerte,” Tsang invited collaborative artists who reinterpret the story: flamenco dancers Rocío Molina, José “El Oruco,” and Yinka Esi Graves; performance artist and dancer Tosh Basco; and bullfighter Vanessa Montoya. She is particularly interested in the parallels between flamenco and bullfighting, which in different ways radiate death as a performance.

Movie in the dark

View of “La gran mentira de la muerte” (The Big Lie of Death) at MACBA

(Image credit: Photo: Miquel Coll, 2024)

“There are many deaths in Carmen.” The most obvious was her own. I also thought about making films and capturing the performance as a kind of death,” says Tsang. “As a video artist, I have been creating performance films for several years and I like to think about how film can interpret the experience of performance.” Flamenco is something that essentially questions the idea of being captured . It’s a very living art form.’

For the film’s multi-channel, spatial sound, Tsang drew on the tension and suspense that music creates in horror films. Music was also an important factor in the retelling of the story for the stage, with composers Andrew Yee and Asma Maroof’s new theme for Don José reflecting his jealousy as a driving factor within the original plot. This reaffirms his autonomy and violence within the story, rather than focusing on Carmen as the disruptive force that has somehow corrupted him. Tsang notes that even Carmen’s theme song when she takes the stage serves to highlight her as dangerous.

“She represents a kind of non-Europeanism, as a gypsy participating in an alternative lifestyle,” Tsang says. “What does it mean in the Western, European sense for someone like her to be both a hero and to be sacrificed? What is our obsession with having to kill a person like her?”

“La gran mentira de la muerte” (The Big Lie of Death) can be seen at MACBA in Barcelona until November 3, 2024

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Wu Tsang reinterprets Carmen’s story at MACBA in Barcelona

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