Matthew Barney and Jonathan Bepler | River of Fundament World Premiere

BAMart (Brooklyn Academy of Music)
Jan 31, 2014 5:42PM

Visionary artist Matthew Barney makes his BAM debut with the world premiere screening of River of Fundament, a radical reinvention of Norman Mailer’s novel Ancient Evenings. In collaboration with composer Jonathan Bepler, Barney combines traditional modes of narrative cinema with filmed elements of performance, sculpture, and opera, reconstructing Mailer’s hypersexual story of Egyptian gods and the seven stages of reincarnation, alongside references to the American car industry.

The film’s central scene is an abstraction of Mailer’s wake, set in a replica of the late author’s apartment in Brooklyn Heights and featuring Maggie Gyllenhaal, Paul Giamatti, Elaine Stritch, Ellen Burstyn, Joan La Barbara, and jazz percussionist Milford Graves. Alluring and intense, this epic, multidimensional experience is a sprawling allegory of death and rebirth within the contemporary American landscape.

Feb 12-16 at 7pm (Screening added Sun, Feb 16 at 11am)

BAM Harvey Theater, 651 Fulton St, Brooklyn

Tickets & more information: BAM.org/RiverofFundament

BAMart (Brooklyn Academy of Music)