Triptych (Eyes of One on Another)

The American photographer Robert Mapplethorpe's work is still powerful and controversial thirty years after his death. His often erotic work makes the viewer automatically complicit in the extreme emotions it evokes: anger, desire, fear. In Triptych, composer Bryce Dessner (known from his band The National), librettist Korde Arrington Tuttle and director Kaneza Schaal give the audience a fresh view of these pictures and at the same time question the stereotypical image of the black man as object of lust probes the ongoing urgency of questions around race, sexuality and objectification Mapplethorpe continues to evoke. They place the photographer in the midst of his own work, with texts by Patti Smith, Essex Hemphill and Tuttle. The musical performance is by the phenomenal vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth and Asko|Schönberg. Triptych makes the audience part of a radical, uncompromising view of humanity, its body, feelings, pain and craving. Previously announced director Daniel Fish has been replaced by Kaneza Schaal. download the programme book

He made a name for himself as the chronicler of the New York BDSM scene: the American photographer Robert Mapplethorpe (1946–1989). In the 1970s and 1980s, he became known all over the world for his

pictures of flowers and his portraits of celebrities such as Patti Smith, Andy Warhol and Arnold Schwarzenegger. But above all, the name Mapplethorpe is associated with his explicit homoerotic nudes that pushed the boundaries of taboo. Thirty years after his death, Mapplethorpe’s work is still as shocking and intriguing as ever. His work has been both celebrated and pilloried. One thing is for certain: it encourages people to reflect on sensitive issues such as the enduring divide between black and white, men and women, gay and straight, art and porn.

With the music theatre work Triptych (Eyes of One on Another), composer Bryce Dessner, librettist Korde Arrington Tuttle and director Kaneza Schaal explore the ways that Mapplethorpe makes viewers feel complicit in his controversial images. The performance is produced by ArKtype / Thomas O. Kriegsmann in partnership with The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation and features, among others, vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth under the musical direction of Brad Wells, mezzo soprano Alicia Hall Moran, and the Asko|Schönberg chamber orchestra.

Bryce Dessner has been fascinated with Mapplethorpe’s work for years. He grew up in Cincinnati and, as a teenager, witnessed the protests when the controversial Mapplethorpe retrospective The Perfect Moment opened there in 1990. The exhibition in Cincinnati’s Contemporary Arts Center ended up being shut down by the police and its director jailed. The outrage was fuelled by the Republican Senator Jesse Helms, who was so incensed by Mapplethorpe’s work that he tore up a copy of the exhibition catalogue on the Senate floor. The museum was sued for ‘pandering obscenity and child pornography’. One of the most closely watched court cases in American history ensued, all charges were dropped, and a pivotal chapter in American society’s ongoing battle to support free expression closed.

Nonetheless, the scandal surrounding The Perfect Moment is a testament to the potency of Mapplethorpe’s work. His pictures seduce, shock, titillate, insult, intrigue and frighten – preferably all at the same time. Some images take your breath away due to the timeless beauty of his compositions and the classical way he presents the body as the source of sexuality and eroticism. Others deliberately evoke shame and revulsion, playing with the thin line between fear and desire. Still others go to the very heart of questions on race, exploitation, sexuality, freedom and beauty.

Normally Mapplethorpe’s work can be viewed in books, museums or galleries. In Triptych (Eyes of One on Another), Dessner, Tuttle and Schaal challenge the audience to experience Mapplethorpe’s photographs en masse. With music, images and poetry by Tuttle, renowned poet and Mapplethorpe critic Essex Hemphill (1957 - 1995) and Rock legend Patti Smith, the production puts the audience right in front of the imaginary lens of Mapplethorpe’s camera. Looking becomes a collective experience.

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music Bryce Dessner libretto Korde Arrington Tuttle text Essex Hemphill, Patty Smith direction Kaneza Schaal, Gustavo Dudamel performance Roomful of Teeth, Asko|Schönberg musical direction Brad Wells production Thomas O. Kriegsmann, ArKtype in participation with The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation associate direction Lilleth Glimcher associate music director William Brittelle costumes Carlos Soto set design Carlos Soto light design Yuki Nakase video Simon Harding production management William Knapp associate lighting design Valentina Migoulia video engineer Moe Shahrooz dramaturgy Talvin Wilks, Christopher Myers commissioners ArKtype, University Musical Society, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor co-production Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel Music, Artistic Director co-commissioned by University Musical Society, BAM, Toronto Luminato Festival, Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, Cincinnati Opera, Cal Performances, Stanford Live, Adelaide Festival, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, ArtsEmerson: World on Stage, Texas Performing Arts, Holland Festival, Wexner Center for the Arts, the Momentary, Bentonville, AR, Celebrity Series of Boston, MA residence MassMOCA, University Musical Society artistic direction Gustavo Dudamel

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