THE HUNGER
like the Blair Witch... but with gingerbread."    Ulysses Castellanos

"Don't worry Gretel, Sleep well."

With video projections by Ulysses Castellanos, famous for his citational performances such as The Teddy Chainsaw Massacre (performed entirely with Teddy Bears) and the hilarious, provocative and vegetarian-alienating Chickens Must Watch D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation, the upcoming performance installation The Hunger promises to be a magical mystery tour through a re-telling of a classic fairy tale.

Castellanos describes the work as an "unsettling and uncanny" visit to a site replete with large structures made of bread, attendants in bird masks serving gingerbread men, and a huge kaleidoscope that will project the video works in a dazzling, collage-like manner. The idea of "children seeing a nice candy house and  then there's a witch inside" becomes a metaphor to everything in our lives that may seem "familiar and pleasing but becomes evil." Last seen at La Nuit Blanche in 2011, the upcoming version of The Hunger will be the final and most elaborate installment of this ensemble piece featuring the work of a variety of artists who have collaborated through dance, sound, and video to create a metaphor to a cultural milieu that sucks us in with a sugary coating and then proceeds to frighten us with a decidedly more gruesome interior. Sounds like a fabulous interrogation of consumerism to me.

Castellanos considers The Hunger "more Eraserhead and less Texas Chainsaw" and feels that the final product will be a diverse and exciting experience for everyone involved.

"The Hunger is an adaptation of the folk tale Hansel and Gretel into an immersive spatial experience. This performance installation is a unique theatrical fusion of sound, installation, video and live choreography, exploring the themes of escapism and consumption."  (The Hunger website)

for tickets and info go to -  http://www.thehunger.me/

Thursday 24 May - Sunday 27 May, 2012