David Bowie, An Odyssey

A British singer, songwriter, producer and actor, David Bowie was one of the most influential figures of the second half of the twentieth century. More than marking generations, he shaped contemporary culture with a restless, innovative and ever-evolving artistic vision.

Born David Robert Jones in 1947, the world only truly discovered him when he metamorphosed into Ziggy Stardust — an androgynous alien who shook the music universe to its core.

Known as the ‘chameleon of rock,’ Bowie reinvented himself across five decades, traversing glam, soul, pop, electronic, jazz and many other sonic territories. Albums such as Heroes, Low, Let’s Dance and Blackstar form chapters in a creative odyssey that defied musical, aesthetic and identity-based genres. They were also stages for his alter egos: in addition to Ziggy Stardust, there was The Thin White Duke, Major Tom and Aladdin Sane.

More than a musician, Bowie was a performer, an architect of images and a provocateur of thought. He died in January 2016, just two days after releasing his final album, leaving us with a constellation of characters, stories and visual ideas.

This cycle — culminating in the month that marks ten years since Bowie’s passing —, explores the artist’s relationship with cinema and the moving image, including his performances in fiction films, documentaries about him, works that influenced him and others inspired by his imagination and music — with a surprise clip shown ahead of every screening. The countdown has begun, and from October, Batalha enters Bowie’s orbit: ‘Take your protein pills and put your helmet on.’