RISING:
Australian premiere of Euphoria, an immersive film installation filmed in Kyiv, Sofia, Berlin and New York, and realised in collaboration with the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, the composer Samy Moussa and five of the most acclaimed contemporary jazz drummers of our days – Terri Lyne Carrington, Peter Erskine, Antonio Sanchez, Eric Harland, and Yissy Garcia. Additional music for one chapter was composed by Cassie Kinoshi.
Euphoria is a tour de force through the history of economic theory. Quoting from original texts by famous economists, writers, philosophers, and poets, and covering 2,000 years of the history of human greed, the project attempts to translate the complicated genesis of our neoliberal market economy into accessible visual language and everyday situations. Fragments of quotes from the likes of Donna Haraway, Mark Fisher, Silvia Federici, Audre Lorde, Angela Davis, Karl Marx, Thomas Hobbes, Ursula K. Le Guin, William Faulkner, Socrates, John Steinbeck, Virginie Despentes, Milton Friedman, bell hooks, Theodor W. Adorno, Cardi B, Warren Buffet, and many others are spoken, sung and performed by actors such as Giancarlo Esposito, Cate Blanchett, and Virginia Newcomb, and take on new meaning as they are reinterpreted as poetic monologues in scenes of euphoric production and consumption, including a bank lobby that fills with ecstatic dance, magic tricks and acrobatics, five homeless men discussing economic theory, and an empty supermarket with a prowling singing tiger.
Capital, money and greed are key concepts of our time. Frederic Jameson wrote: “It is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism”. Today, the destructive potential of a euphoric frenzy of consumption unfolds globally and without boundaries, following the unquestioned dogma of continual economic growth. Euphoria is a cinematic re-enactment of both pro- and anti-capitalist critique. Rosefeldt’s new film installation asks why capitalism seems to be without alternative until today, and why it continues to be so irresistible and seductive even to people who are aware of its destructive character.
Commissioned and produced by Park Avenue Armory, New York.
Co-commissioned by Ruhrtriennale, Holland Festival and Rising Melbourne, in association with Weltkulturerbe Völklinger Hütte.
---
Holland Festival:
Julian Rosefeldt makes breath-taking, visually stunning film installations. In music and film, his work Euphoria presents a wide range of statements about capitalism, from Socrates and Karl Marx to Donna Haraway and Cardi B, and makes both the ‘euphoric’ and destructive sides of consumerism tangible.
The large-scale, immersive film installation can be seen in Amsterdam’s enormous Central Market Hall. Texts about economy and capitalism are spoken and sung by critically acclaimed performers like Giancarlo Esposito, Virginia Newcomb, filmed at impressive locations. Cate Blanchett provides the voice for a talking, singing tiger. They are musically supported with original music composed by Samy Moussa with an additional composition by Cassie Kinoshi, performed, in surround video, by life sized projections of a hundred and forty young singers from the Brooklyn Youth Chorus and further aided by five celebrated contemporary jazz drummers, including Terri Lyne Carrington, Peter Erskine and Antonio Sanchez. The music is written by acclaimed composer Samy Moussa, with additional music by Cassie Kinoshi.