Andrea Mastrovito, installation view of NYsferatu: A Symphony of a Century, 2017, a commissioned project by More Art. Courtesy of More Art.
NYsferatu: A Symphony of a Century was an ambitious public art project that combines film, music, and community engagement to create a powerful statement about immigrant rights in today’s world. Artist Andrea Mastrovito and his team of artists hand animated Friedrich W. Murnau’s 1922 film Nosferatu, an adaptation of Bram Stoker’s story, Dracula, but set the film to contemporary New York City and brought the film to the current moment. In all, the artist made over 35,000 original drawings to create this feature-length hand-animated film.
With key organizational partners, More Art and Mastrovito arranged hands-on workshops in which English as Second Language Learners discussed the film and its implications. The workshops culminated with participants rewriting the silent film’s title cards—in many languages including Chinese, Arabic, Spanish, and English—to reflect their respective community’s experience of overcoming obstacles of xenophobia, economics, and racism to make their home in a new city. By doing so the participants changed the very meaning of the film as well as its ending.
In the summer of 2017, More Art presented a series of free film screenings in parks and venues across New York City accompanied by a live, original score commissioned specifically for NYsferatu performed by both local and international musicians.
Artist: Andrea Mastrovito
August 14-October 13, 2017, various locations in New York City
Multimedia installation
Learn more at More Art
Andrea Mastrovito, installation view of NYsferatu: A Symphony of a Century, 2017, a commissioned project by More Art. Courtesy of More Art.
Andrea Mastrovito, installation view of NYsferatu: A Symphony of a Century, 2017, a commissioned project by More Art. Courtesy of More Art.
Andrea Mastrovito, installation view of NYsferatu: A Symphony of a Century, 2017, a commissioned project by More Art. Courtesy of More Art.