Wu Tsang Reimagines the Tragedy of 'Carmen' in Barcelona
Rewriting the fate of one of opera’s most famous heroines.
Housed inside the Gothic chapel of MACBA’s Capella, Wu Tsang reimagines the story of Carmen with radiant motion. While she takes clear thematic cues from Georges Bizet’s original version, “La gran mentira de la muerte (The big lie of death)” both explores and interrogates the piece’s deep-seated themes, bringing together the ritual performance of death with cinema’s own haunting traditions.
The opera, composed in 1875, famously centers on the tragic fate of its heroine, though unlike Bizet’s telling, the Tsang’s video and multichannel sound installation grounds itself in an elusive escape. The film hints at feelings of possibility in the face of death, capturing flecks of life through choreography inspired by flamenco and bullfighting traditions. With a visceral sense of hope, the artist seeks an alternative path where myth can breathe anew.
In song with her previous work, “La gran mentira de la muerte” probes the violence of cinematic capture and narrative through alluring performance. The film takes part of a larger Carmen project, which includes an opera-theater hybrid which premiered at the Schauspielhaus Zürich earlier this year.
The film is now on view at MACBA in Barcelona through November 3, 2024.
Capella MACBA
Plaça dels Àngels, 1,
08001, Barcelona
