Merce Cunningham: Common Time

Description

This volume, published in conjunction with the Walker Art Center and MCA Chicago exhibition 'Merce Cunningham: Common Time' (8 February - 10 September 2017), reconsiders the choreographer and his collaborators as an extraordinarily generative interdisciplinary network that preceded and predicted dramatic shifts in performance praxis, including the development of site-specific dance, the use of technology as a choreographic tool, and the radical separation of sound and movement in dance. It features ten new essays by curators and historians of music, art history, performance studies and dance as well as interviews with contemporary choreographers - Beth Gill, Maria Hassabi, Rashaun Mitchell and Silas Riener - who address Cunningham's continued influence. These are supplemented by numerous rarely published archival photographs, reprints of texts by Cunningham, Cage and other key dancers, artists and scholars, several detailed appendices, and an extensive illustrated chronology placing Cunningham's activities and those of his collaborators in the context of the 20th century, particularly the expanded arts scene of the 1960s and 1970s. This book is an essential volume for anyone interested in contemporary art, music, and dance.

[Common Time] at Minneapolis' Walker Art Center celebrates [Cunningham's] dance legacy, and explores his impact on modern music and visual art.--Euan Kerr "NPR" Common Time comes together unexpectedly and unconventionally. This retrospective sets a new bar for exhibiting performance and collaborative collectivity with spirit and dignity.--Elliot J. Reichert "The Brooklyn Rail" Like the iconoclast it celebrates, Common Time is a dynamic force, bringing in multiple voices and generations.--Kat Herriman "Surface Magazine" Merce Cunningham: Common Time is the first survey exhibition to measure the late choreographer and dancer's indelible impact on generations of artists.-- "Art Summary" Nearly as rich, complex and bewildering as Cunningham's dance.--Holland Cotter "The New York Times" From one end of Common Time to the other, you cannot escape Cunningham's image, and what shines out is his burning personality as a performer, the sense you get of him as a radiant, centering artistic force.--Ben Davis "ARTNET News"