Welcome from BAM’s Interim Artistic Director

I’m thrilled to welcome you to the 40th Next Wave, commemorating four decades of bold works that can’t be experienced collectively anywhere else.  

Amidst an ever-changing global landscape, we are honored this year to present a range of powerful works by artists drawing inspiration from the present-day. Rachid Ouramdane’s Corps extrêmes takes movement-as-testimony to breathless new heights while Gregory Maqoma and Thuthuka Sibisi shine a light on colonization and race in the cathartic Broken Chord. Laurie Anderson’s meditative wisdom shines in the surreal Let X=X, while food security and agrarian origins inspire Geoff Sobelle’s immersive FOOD. Lynette Wallworth’s moving HOW TO LIVE (after you die) and Trajal Harrell’s dazzling The Köln Concert reinforce the importance of finding pathways to tell personal histories. Huang Ruo gives voice to forgotten immigrants in the luminous Angel Island while Peter Born and Okwui Okpokwasili give voice to ancestors in the vibrant adaku, part 1: the road opens. 

As our new season begins, I would like to thank the irrepressible David Binder for his artistic leadership, partnership, and panache over the past five years. He has set BAM on a path toward richer programming through expanded collaborations and partnerships and I’m excited to have the opportunity to extend that legacy.

What has always drawn me to BAM—as an audience member, as a collaborator, and now as interim artistic director—is BAM’s enduring commitment to artists and helping them realize their vision. I look forward to continuing this commitment while widening our curatorial circle to include an even more unexpected roster of artists and partners who will expand our programmatic lens to better reflect the world around us. 

BAM has always been a place for discovery and I’m delighted to share this quintessential Next Wave season full of challenging, multi-genre, and resonant works that push the boundaries of what performance can be. This season, like the 39 Next Wave seasons before, we celebrate New York artists and international artists together.

Yours,