Of Whales ist das Ergebnis von Wu Tsangs multidisziplinärer Forschung zu Herman Melvilles Roman Moby Dick (1851). Of Whales entwirft surreale Meeresumgebungen, die in Echtzeit von einer Virtual-Reality-Engine erzeugt und von einem 16-Kanal-Soundtrack aus Horn, Saxophon, Klarinette und Kontrabass begleitet werden.
Wu Tsang’s ‘Of Whales’ takes a deep dive into the cosmos of the ocean
(‘Of Whales’ at the 59th Venice Biennale)
Moby Dick is one of those books that’s kind of a code for the whole universe or something. It has so many layers and goes in so many directions. It’s long and meandering, and also very surreal and beautiful, this vast cosmos of ideas about humans and how they relate to each other, and to the earth, and our place in all of that. In the beginning, I was mostly inspired by the stories of the sailors and their relationships with each other. And then, as I got deeper into the project, I started to think about the whale itself as this metaphor for something unknown, or something that’s happening beyond our realm of understanding. (Wu Tsang)