MCA – Media: Merce Cunningham: Common Time

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Exhibition Catalogue

COMMON_TIME_FINAL_REVISED_

Press Release

MCA MC Press Release

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Images

Charles Atlas, MC9, 2012. Installation view, Charles Atlas and Collaborators, BMW Tate Live, The Tanks, Tate Modern, 2013. Edition of 3 and 2 artist’s proofs. © Charles Atlas and Tate. Photo: Gabrielle Fonseca Johnson for Tate Photography

Charles Atlas, MC9, 2012. Installation view, Charles Atlas and Collaborators, BMW Tate Live, The Tanks, Tate Modern, 2013. Edition of 3 and 2 artist’s proofs. © Charles Atlas and Tate. Photo: Gabrielle Fonseca Johnson for Tate Photography

Installation view, décor for Views on Stage, 2004, in Dance Works II: Merce Cunningham/Ernesto Neto, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 2012. Photo: Gene Pittman

Charles Atlas, MC9, 2012. Installation view, Charles Atlas and Collaborators, BMW Tate Live, The Tanks, Tate Modern, 2013. Edition of 3 and 2 artist’s proofs. © Charles Atlas and Tate. Photo: Gabrielle Fonseca Johnson for Tate Photography

Installation view, décor for Views on Stage, 2004, in Dance Works II: Merce Cunningham/Ernesto Neto, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 2012. Photo: Gene Pittman

Installation view, décor for Views on Stage, 2004, in Dance Works II: Merce Cunningham/Ernesto Neto, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 2012. Photo: Gene Pittman

Installation view, décor for Views on Stage, 2004, in Dance Works II: Merce Cunningham/Ernesto Neto, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 2012. Photo: Gene Pittman

Installation view, décor for Views on Stage, 2004, in Dance Works II: Merce Cunningham/Ernesto Neto, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 2012. Photo: Gene Pittman

Installation view, décor for Views on Stage, 2004, in Dance Works II: Merce Cunningham/Ernesto Neto, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 2012. Photo: Gene Pittman

Merce Cunningham at Black Mountain College, 1948. Photo: Hazel Larsen Archer, courtesy of the Estate of Hazel Larsen Archer and the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center

Charles Atlas, MC9, 2012. Installation view, Charles Atlas and Collaborators, BMW Tate Live, The Tanks, Tate Modern, 2013. Edition of 3 and 2 artist’s proofs. © Charles Atlas and Tate. Photo: Gabrielle Fonseca Johnson for Tate Photography

Installation view, décor for Views on Stage, 2004, in Dance Works II: Merce Cunningham/Ernesto Neto, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 2012. Photo: Gene Pittman

Merce Cunningham and Charles Atlas Channels/ Inserts 1981 video (color, sound) 32 min ©Charles Atlas Courtesy the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York

Installation view, décor for Views on Stage, 2004, in Dance Works II: Merce Cunningham/Ernesto Neto, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 2012. Photo: Gene Pittman

Charles Atlas, MC9, 2012. Installation view, Charles Atlas and Collaborators, BMW Tate Live, The Tanks, Tate Modern, 2013. Edition of 3 and 2 artist’s proofs, © Charles Atlas and Tate, Photo: Gabrielle Fonseca Johnson for Tate Photography

Charles Atlas, Still from Merce by Merce by Paik Part One: Blue Studio: Five Segments, 1975–76. © Charles Atlas. Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine

Two brightly colored cut-outs of dancers are placed on top of a black-and-white photograph of three people on a floor. — Cover: composite image: Merce Cunningham Dance Company performing Anniversary Event during the exhibition of Olafur Eliasson’s The Weather Project, Tate Modern, London, November 2003 Photo: Gigi Giannella (interior); Merce Cunningham Dance Company performing Persepolis Event, Persepolis, Iran, September 8, 1972. Courtesy Merce Cunningham Trust (exterior)

Cover image: composite image: Andrea Weber, Emma Desjardins, Jamie Scott, and Rashaun Mitchell in Antic Meet (1958), Joyce Theatre, New York, NY, 2011. Photo: ©Stephanie Berger, 2016 (interior); Merce Cunningham in Antic Meet. Photo: Richard Rutledge, Courtesy Merce Cunningham Trust (exterior)

Composite image: Valda Setterfield and Merce Cunningham at Westbeth, 1971. Photo: James Klosty; (interior) John Cage and Merce Cunningham at the piano, New York, 1972. Photo: James Klosty (exterior)

Composite image: Gordon Mumma, score for “A Choreography for Pianists” from MEDIUM SIZE MOGRAPH (detail) 1962 ink on paper Walker Art Center Study Collection, Merce Cunningham Dance Company Collection,Gift of Jay F. Ecklund, the Barnett and Annalee Newman Foundation, Agnes Gund, Russell Cowles and Josine Peters, the Hayes Fund of HRK Foundation, Dorothy Lichtenstein, MAHADH Fund of HRK Foundation, Goodale Family Foundation, Marion Stroud Swingle, David Teiger, Kathleen Fluegel, Barbara G. Pine, and the T. B. Walker Acquisition Fund, 2011 (interior); Merce Cunningham in Canfield 1970 Brooklyn Academy of Music Photo: James Klosty Courtesy James Klosty (exterior)

Cover : composite image: Crate Scramble décor 1967, Walker Art Center Merce Cunningham Dance Company Collection, Gift of Jay F. Ecklund, the Barnett and Annalee Newman Foundation, Agnes Gund, Russell Cowles and Josine Peters, the Hayes Fund of HRK Foundation, Dorothy Lichtenstein, MAHADH Fund of HRK Foundation, Goodale Family Foundation, Marion Stroud Swingle, David Teiger, Kathleen Fluegel, Barbara G. Pine, and the T. B. Walker Acquisition Fund (interior); Carolyn Brown in Scramble Brooklyn Academy of Music 1970 (detail) Photo: James Klosty, Courtesy James Klosty (exterior)

Charles Atlas, Still from Merce by Merce by Paik Part One: Blue Studio: Five Segments, 1975–76. © Charles Atlas. Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine

Merce Cunningham rehearsing How to Pass, Kick, Fall and Run, Brooklyn Academy of Music, 1970. Photo: James Kosty, courtesy of the photographer

Installation view, décor for Views on Stage, 2004, in Dance Works II: Merce Cunningham/Ernesto Neto, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 2012. Photo: Gene Pittman

Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg working, c. 1950s. Collection Robert Rauschenberg Foundation

Merce Cunningham and John Cage with Merce Cunningham Dance Company, bus trip, Paris to Hamburg, 1966 © Hervé Gloaguen/Rapho, courtesy of Gamma-Rapho

Jasper Johns, Set for Walkaround Time, 1968. Walker Art Center, T. B. Walker Acquisition Fund, 2000. © Jasper Johns/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

Merce Cunningham Dance Company performing Canfield, Brooklyn Academy of Music, 1970
Photo: James Klosty, courtesy of the photographer

Installation view, Dance Works I: Merce Cunningham and Robert Rauschenberg, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 2011. Photo: Gene Pittman

Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Bus trip, Paris to Hamburg,1966 ©Hervé Gloaguen/ Rapho, courtesy Gamma-Rapho

Installation view, décor for Views on Stage, 2004, in Dance Works II: Merce Cunningham/Ernesto Neto, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 2012. Photo: Gene Pittman

Composite image: Merce Cunningham in Canfield, 1970 Brooklyn Academy of Music Photo: James Klosty, Courtesy James Klosty (interior). Merce Cunningham Dance Company rehearsing Travelogue (1977), City Center Theater, New York City, September 1978 Photo: Johan Elbers Courtesy Johan Elbers (exterior)

Merce Cunningham and Rei Kawakubo during costume fitting at Westbeth, New York, 2000
Photo: Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, courtesy of the photographer

Charles Atlas, MC9, 2012. Installation view, Charles Atlas and Collaborators, BMW Tate Live, The Tanks, Tate Modern, 2013. Edition of 3, aside from 2 artist’s proofs. © Charles Atlas and Tate. Photo: Gabrielle Fonseca Johnson for Tate Photography

Rei Kawakubo, Costumes for Scenario, 1997.Collection Walker Art Center Walker Art Center, Merce Cunningham Dance Company Collection, gift of Jay F. Ecklund, the Barnett and Annalee Newman Foundation, Agnes Gund, Russell Cowles and Josine Peters, the Hayes Fund of HRK Foundation, Dorothy Lichtenstein, MAHADH Fund of HRK Foundation, Goodale Family Foundation, Marion Stroud Swingle, David Teiger, Kathleen Fluegel, Barbara G. Pine, and the T. B. Walker Acquisition Fund, 2011. Photo: Gene Pittman

Rei Kawakubo, Costumes for Scenario, 1997.Collection Walker Art Center Walker Art Center, Merce Cunningham Dance Company Collection, gift of Jay F. Ecklund, the Barnett and Annalee Newman Foundation, Agnes Gund, Russell Cowles and Josine Peters, the Hayes Fund of HRK Foundation, Dorothy Lichtenstein, MAHADH Fund of HRK Foundation, Goodale Family Foundation, Marion Stroud Swingle, David Teiger, Kathleen Fluegel, Barbara G. Pine, and the T. B. Walker Acquisition Fund, 2011. Photo: Gene Pittman

Rei Kawakubo, Costumes for Scenario, 1997.Collection Walker Art Center Walker Art Center, Merce Cunningham Dance Company Collection, gift of Jay F. Ecklund, the Barnett and Annalee Newman Foundation, Agnes Gund, Russell Cowles and Josine Peters, the Hayes Fund of HRK Foundation, Dorothy Lichtenstein, MAHADH Fund of HRK Foundation, Goodale Family Foundation, Marion Stroud Swingle, David Teiger, Kathleen Fluegel, Barbara G. Pine, and the T. B. Walker Acquisition Fund, 2011. Photo: Gene Pittman

Merce Cunningham Dance Company performing Tread, Brooklyn Academy of Music, 1970 Photo: James Klosty, courtesy James Klosty

John Cage boarding airplane, Paris, 1970, Photo: James Klosty, courtesy of the photographer

Merce Cunningham Dance Company performing Canfield, Brooklyn Academy of Music, 1970 © James Klosty, courtesy of James Klosty

Merce Cunningham Dance Company performing How to Pass, Kick, Fall and Run, 1968 © James Klosty, courtesy of James Klosty

Lisa Boudreau, Glen Rumsey, and Thomas Caley performing Scenario at l’Opera National de Paris-Palais Garnier, January 1998. Photo: Jacques Moatti, Courtesy the photographer

Merce Cunningham Dance Company performing How to Pass, Kick, Fall and Run, 1968. Photo: Jack Mitchell

Nam June Paik, 66-76-89, 1990. Collection Walker Art Center, T. B. Walker Acquisition Fund, 1990

Merce Cunningham, 2008. Photo: Cameron Wittig, courtesy of Walker Art Center, Minneapolis

Robert Rauschenberg, Costumes for Antic Meet, 1958. Collection Walker Art Center, Merce Cunningham Dance Company Collection, gift of Jay F. Ecklund, the Barnett and Annalee Newman Foundation, Agnes Gund, Russell Cowles and Josine Peters, the Hayes Fund of HRK Foundation, Dorothy Lichtenstein, MAHADH Fund of HRK Foundation, Goodale Family Foundation, Marion Stroud Swingle, David Teiger, Kathleen Fluegel, Barbara G. Pine, and the T. B. Walker Acquisition Fund, 2011

Robert Rauschenberg, Costumes for Antic Meet, 1958. Collection Walker Art Center, Merce Cunningham Dance Company Collection, gift of Jay F. Ecklund, the Barnett and Annalee Newman Foundation, Agnes Gund, Russell Cowles and Josine Peters, the Hayes Fund of HRK Foundation, Dorothy Lichtenstein, MAHADH Fund of HRK Foundation, Goodale Family Foundation, Marion Stroud Swingle, David Teiger, Kathleen Fluegel, Barbara G. Pine, and the T. B. Walker Acquisition Fund, 2011

Robert Rauschenberg, Costumes for Antic Meet, 1958. Collection Walker Art Center, Merce Cunningham Dance Company Collection, gift of Jay F. Ecklund, the Barnett and Annalee Newman Foundation, Agnes Gund, Russell Cowles and Josine Peters, the Hayes Fund of HRK Foundation, Dorothy Lichtenstein, MAHADH Fund of HRK Foundation, Goodale Family Foundation, Marion Stroud Swingle, David Teiger, Kathleen Fluegel, Barbara G. Pine, and the T. B. Walker Acquisition Fund, 2011

Frank Stella, Décor for Scramble (1967) in Event for Television, 1977 (still). Directed by Merrill Brockway. Courtesy WNET-TV New York Archives. Décor ©2016 Frank Stella/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Merce Cunningham and Carolyn Brown performing Summerspace, Sogetsu Art Center, 1964. Courtesy of Sogetsu Foundation

Merce Cunningham Dance Company performing Museum Event No. 2 and No. 3, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, 1964. Courtesy Moderna Museet Archives

Two brightly colored cut-outs of dancers stand in front of three dancers and a structure built using six colors of the rainbow. — Composite image: Merce Cunningham Dance Company performing Anniversary Event during the exhibition of Olafur Eliasson’s The Weather Project, Tate Modern, London, November 2003 Photo: Gigi Giannella (interior) Frank Stella. Décor for Scramble (1967) in Event for Television, 1977 (still). Courtesy WNET-TV New York Archives. Décor ©2016 Frank Stella/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Composite image: Richard Moore and Merce Cunningham,Assemblage, 1968 (still). Directed by Richard Moore. Image courtesy Electronic Arts Intermix (interior). Merce Cunningham in Canfield,1970. Brooklyn Academy of Music Photo: James Klosty. Courtesy James Klosty (exterior)

Merce Cunningham with dancers at Westbeth, 1971. Photo: James Klosty, courtesy of the photographer

Merce Cunningham Dance Company performing Variations V, Hamburg, Germany, 1966. © Hervé Gloaguen/Rapho, courtesy of Gamma-Rapho

Installation view, Merce Cunningham: Common Time, MCA Chicago. Feb 11 – Apr 30, 2017. Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago

Installation view, Merce Cunningham: Common Time, MCA Chicago. Feb 11 – Apr 30, 2017. Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago

Installation view, Merce Cunningham: Common Time, MCA Chicago. Feb 11 – Apr 30, 2017. Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago

Installation view, Merce Cunningham: Common Time, MCA Chicago. Feb 11 – Apr 30, 2017. Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago. Work shown: Charles Atlas MC9, 2012. Courtesy Luhring Augustine, New York, and Charles Atlas

Installation view, Merce Cunningham: Common Time, MCA Chicago. Feb 11 – Apr 30, 2017. Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago. Work shown: Charles Atlas MC9, 2012. Courtesy Luhring Augustine, New York, and Charles Atlas

Installation view, Merce Cunningham: Common Time, MCA Chicago. Feb 11 – Apr 30, 2017. Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago. Work shown: Charles Atlas MC9, 2012. Courtesy Luhring Augustine, New York, and Charles Atlas

Installation view, Merce Cunningham: Common Time, MCA Chicago. Feb 11 – Apr 30, 2017. Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago. Work shown: Charles Atlas MC9, 2012. Courtesy Luhring Augustine, New York, and Charles Atlas

Installation view, Merce Cunningham: Common Time, MCA Chicago. Feb 11 – Apr 30, 2017. Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago

Installation view, Merce Cunningham: Common Time, MCA Chicago. Feb 11 – Apr 30, 2017. Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago. Work shown: Nam June Paik, 66-76-89, 1990. Collection Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, T. B. Walker Acquisition Fund, 1990

Installation view, Merce Cunningham: Common Time, MCA Chicago. Feb 11 – Apr 30, 2017. Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago. Work shown: Nam June Paik, 66-76-89, 1990. Collection Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, T. B. Walker Acquisition Fund, 1990

Installation view, Merce Cunningham: Common Time, MCA Chicago. Feb 11 – Apr 30, 2017. Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago

Installation view, Merce Cunningham: Common Time, MCA Chicago. Feb 11 – Apr 30, 2017. Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago

Installation view, Merce Cunningham: Common Time, MCA Chicago. Feb 11 – Apr 30, 2017. Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago. Work shown: Ernesto Neto, otheranimal décor for Views on Stage, ca. 2005. Collection Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, gift of the artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York, 2012

Installation view, Merce Cunningham: Common Time, MCA Chicago. Feb 11 – Apr 30, 2017. Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago. Work shown: Ernesto Neto, otheranimal décor for Views on Stage, ca. 2005. Collection Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, gift of the artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York, 2012

Installation view, Merce Cunningham: Common Time, MCA Chicago. Feb 11 – Apr 30, 2017. Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago

Installation view, Merce Cunningham: Common Time, MCA Chicago. Feb 11 – Apr 30, 2017. Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago

Installation view, Merce Cunningham: Common Time, MCA Chicago. Feb 11 – Apr 30, 2017. Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago. Work shown: Rei Kawakubo, Costumes for Scenario, 1997. Walker Art Center, Merce Cunningham Dance Company Collection, Gift of Jay F. Ecklund, the Barnett and Annalee Newman Foundation, Agnes Gund, Russell Cowles and Josine Peters, the Hayes Fund of HRK Foundation, Dorothy Lichtenstein, MAHADH Fund of HRK Foundation, Goodale Family Foundation, Marion Stroud Swingle, David Teiger, Kathleen Fluegel, Barbara G. Pine, and the T. B. Walker Acquisition Fund, 2011

Installation view, Merce Cunningham: Common Time, MCA Chicago. Feb 11 – Apr 30, 2017. Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago. Work shown: Rei Kawakubo, Costumes for Scenario, 1997. Walker Art Center, Merce Cunningham Dance Company Collection, Gift of Jay F. Ecklund, the Barnett and Annalee Newman Foundation, Agnes Gund, Russell Cowles and Josine Peters, the Hayes Fund of HRK Foundation, Dorothy Lichtenstein, MAHADH Fund of HRK Foundation, Goodale Family Foundation, Marion Stroud Swingle, David Teiger, Kathleen Fluegel, Barbara G. Pine, and the T. B. Walker Acquisition Fund, 2011

A large grouping of round white balls hangs over an image of a dancing couple. — Installation view, Merce Cunningham: Common Time, MCA Chicago. Feb 11 – Apr 30, 2017. Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago

Installation view, Merce Cunningham: Common Time, MCA Chicago. Feb 11 – Apr 30, 2017. Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago. Work shown: Rei Kawakubo, Costumes for Scenario, 1997. Walker Art Center, Merce Cunningham Dance Company Collection, Gift of Jay F. Ecklund, the Barnett and Annalee Newman Foundation, Agnes Gund, Russell Cowles and Josine Peters, the Hayes Fund of HRK Foundation, Dorothy Lichtenstein, MAHADH Fund of HRK Foundation, Goodale Family Foundation, Marion Stroud Swingle, David Teiger, Kathleen Fluegel, Barbara G. Pine, and the T. B. Walker Acquisition Fund, 2011

Installation view, Merce Cunningham: Common Time, MCA Chicago. Feb 11 – Apr 30, 2017. Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago. Work shown: Rei Kawakubo, Costumes for Scenario, 1997. Walker Art Center, Merce Cunningham Dance Company Collection, Gift of Jay F. Ecklund, the Barnett and Annalee Newman Foundation, Agnes Gund, Russell Cowles and Josine Peters, the Hayes Fund of HRK Foundation, Dorothy Lichtenstein, MAHADH Fund of HRK Foundation, Goodale Family Foundation, Marion Stroud Swingle, David Teiger, Kathleen Fluegel, Barbara G. Pine, and the T. B. Walker Acquisition Fund, 2011

Installation view, Merce Cunningham: Common Time, MCA Chicago. Feb 11 – Apr 30, 2017. Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago