The WANT
Premiere
December 13–16, 2018
HAU Hebbel am Ufer
HAU1, Stresemannstr. 29, 10963 Berlin
HAU2, Hallesches Ufer 32, 10963 Berlin
HAU3, Tempelhofer Ufer 10, 10963 Berlin
T +49 30 25900427
tickets [at] hebbel-am-ufer.de
Bernard Marie-Koltès described his 1985 work In the Solitude of the Cotton Fields like an encounter between a bluesman and a punk. Perhaps more than an exploration of mercantile activity or the transaction of late-night cruising, his play is a speculation on the individual’s capacity to know the others. Adam Linder, whose work has regularly been presented at HAU, has made an opera with a score by Ethan Braun and staging by Shahryar Nashat. His new creation is inspired by Koltes’ preoccupation with “the deal.” The WANT is an exchange sung by four performers, with a libretto that is littered with interjections from Jacques Derrida to Missy Elliott. The singers, actors and dancers Jess Gadani, Justin F. Kennedy, Jasmine Orpilla, and Roger Sala Reyner are “Offerors” and “Offerees” enrobed as the key archetype of mercantile Europe. Engaging a virtuosic performativity, these players embody the spiritual tradition of that figure: a constant trade between a reflexive mind and sensuous being.
Adam Linder (b. 1983, Sydney) lives and works in Los Angeles and Berlin. He makes stage works and provides Choreographic Services. FULL SERVICE, a survey of the “Services No. 1–5” was presented by the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco in September 2018 and travels to Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean in February 2019. Recent solo or two person shows have included South London Gallery, Kunsthalle Basel, Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin and Institute of Contemporary Arts, London. Additionally, his works have been commissioned, presented or hired by HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Berlin; Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Serralves, Porto; Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw; Kampnagel, Hamburg; Sadler’s Wells, London; American Realness, NYC; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; 356 Mission, Los Angeles; Frieze LIVE, London and National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Linder has participated in the 20th Biennale of Sydney, the Liverpool Biennial and Made in LA at Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, for which he was awarded the Mohn Prize for artistic excellence, which included the publishing of a monograph about his stage works entitled Who Is Surfing Who. During his formative years Linder performed with Michael Clark Company, Meg Stuart’s Damaged Goods and The Royal Ballet London.
Production: Adam Linder. Co-production: HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Kampnagel Hamburg. Funded by: Hauptstadtkulturfonds (Berlin).
