JUDSON Giampaolo Bianconi is Thomas J. Lax is Associate Julia Robinson is Associate In the early 1960s, an assembly of choreographers, visual artists, composers, and Curatorial Assistant in the Curator in the Department of Professor of Modern and filmmakers made use of a church in New York’s Greenwich Village to present Judson Dance Theater The Work Is Never Done Department of Media and Media and Performance Art Contemporary Art at New performances that redefined the kinds of movement that could be understood as Performance Art at MoMA. at MoMA. York University. She is the dance—performances that Village Voice critic Jill Johnston would declare the most editor of the October Files exciting in a generation. The group was Judson Dance Theater, its name borrowed Harry C. H. Choi is a Twelve- Victor “Viv” Liu was a volume John Cage (2011) from Judson Memorial Church, the socially engaged Protestant congregation Month Intern in the Department Seasonal Intern in the and the author of a forthcom- that hosted the dancers’ open workshops. The Judson artists emphasized new DANCE of Media and Performance Art Department of Media and ing book on George Brecht. compositional methods meant to strip dance of its theatrical conventions and fore- at MoMA. Performance Art at MoMA. Robinson is an active curator. grounded “ordinary” movements—gestures more likely to be seen on the street or at home. Although Judson Dance Theater would last only a few years, the artists affili- Vivian A. Crockett is the Jenny Harris is Curatorial Gloria Sutton is Associate ated with it, including Trisha Brown, Lucinda Childs, Philip Corner, Bill Dixon, Judith 2017–18 Andrew W. Mellon Assistant in the Department Professor of Contemporary Dunn, Ruth Emerson, David Gordon, Alex Hay, Deborah Hay, Fred Herko, Robert Museum Research Consortium of Painting and Sculpture Art History at Northeastern Morris, Steve Paxton, Rudy Perez, Yvonne Rainer, Robert Rauschenberg, Carolee THEATER: Fellow in the Department of at MoMA. University and Research Schneemann, and Elaine Summers, would challenge choreographic conventions Media and Performance Art Affiliate in the MIT Program in and profoundly shape art making across various fields for decades to come. at MoMA. Sharon Hayes is an artist Art, Culture and Technology. Judson Dance Theater: The Work Is Never Done includes newly commissioned based in New York. Her perfor- Her book projects include essays that highlight the history of Judson Dance Theater and its legacy in our own Danielle Goldman is Associate mance, video, and installation The Experience Machine: time. Published in conjunction with an exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, Professor of Critical Dance works have been shown at Stan VanDerBeek’s Movie- New York, this lushly illustrated volume charts the development of Judson through Studies and Dance Program institutions around the world. Drome and Expanded photographs, film stills, choreographic scores, architectural drawings, and other Director at the New School, Cinema (2015) and Pattern archival materials, as it celebrates the group’s multidisciplinary and collaborative only. and the author of I Want to Be Malik Gaines is Assistant Recognition: Durational ethos and its reverberant achievements. THE Ready: Improvised Dance as a Professor of Performance Conditions of Contemporary Practice of Freedom (2010). Studies at New York Art (forthcoming). University’s Tisch School Elizabeth Gollnick was the of the Arts and the author WORK 2016–17 Andrew W. Mellon of Black Performance on purposes Museum Research Consortium the Outskirts of the Left: A distribution. Fellow in the Department of History of the Impossible Media and Performance Art (2017). Since 2000, Gaines wide at MoMA. has performed and exhibited review with collaborators as the IS or Adrian Heathfield is Professor group My Barbarian. for of Performance and Visual NEVER Culture at the University Benjamin Piekut is Associate of Roehampton, London. Professor in the Department His books include Out of of Music at Cornell University. Now (2009) and the edited His book projects include released collections Perform, Repeat, Experimentalism Otherwise: publication Record (2012), Live: Art and The New York Avant-Garde DONE for Performance (2004), and and Its Limits (2011) and The PDF Small Acts (2000). Heathfield World Is a Problem: Henry is an active curator. Cow and the Vernacular Not Avant-Garde (forthcoming). Ana Janevski is Curator in JANEVSKI the Department of Media and Kristin Poor is a PhD candi- Performance Art at MoMA. date at Princeton University. Previously, she was Assistant / LAX Martha Joseph is Curatorial Curator at Dia Art Foundation Assistant in the Department of and a 2014–15 Andrew W. Media and Performance Art Mellon Museum Research at MoMA. Consortium Fellow in the Front cover: Peter Moore’s photograph of Yvonne Rainer, Alex Hay, David Lee, and Department of Photography Deborah Hay (from left) in Deborah Hay’s at MoMA. They Will, 1963. Performed at Concert Published by The Museum of Modern Art of Dance #13, Judson Memorial Church, 11 West 53 Street November 20, 1963 New York, NY 10019-5497 www.moma.org Back cover: Al Giese’s contact sheet with images of Carolee Schneemann’s 200 pages; 227 images Newspaper Event, 1963. Performed at (41 color and 186 black-and-white) Concert of Dance #3, Judson Memorial Church, January 29, 1963 Printed in Turkey Judson jacket OFS.indd 1 28.06.2018 11:16 only. purposesdistribution. reviewwide or for releasedpublication for PDF Not only. purposesdistribution. reviewwide or for releasedpublication for PDF Not 2 3 only. purposesdistribution. reviewwide or for releasedpublication for PDF Not 4 5 only. purposesdistribution. reviewwide or for releasedpublication for PDF Not 6 7 only. purposesdistribution. reviewwide or for releasedpublication for PDF Not ON DS DA U N J C E E N T O H D E A R T E E V R E N T S H I E K W R O ANA JANEVSKI & THOMAS J. LAX THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART 12 Foreword CONCERTS OF DANCE: PORTFOLIOS Glenn D. Lowry 89 Concert of Dance #3: Selection of Photographs by Al Giese Introduction by Vivian A. Crockett INTRODUCTIONS 100 Concert of Dance #13: Selection of Photographs 14 Allow me to begin again by Peter Moore Thomas J. Lax Introduction by Vivian A. Crockett 26 Judson Dance Theater: The Work Is Never Done— 112 Lines of Flight Sanctuary Always Needed Sharon Hayes Ana Janevski A JUDSON HANDBOOK MEETING POINTS only. 114 Sites of Collaboration 36 Before Judson & Some Other Things With entries by Harry C. H. Choi, Elizabeth Gollnick, Adrian Heathfield and Victor “Viv” Liu 44 “The Nerve of a Dancer’s Life”: Cunningham Class 118 Selection of Annotated Works purposes and Judson Dance Theater With entries by Giampaolo Bianconi, Vivian A. distribution. Danielle Goldman Crockett, Elizabeth Gollnick, Jennifer Harris, Ana Janevski, Martha Joseph, and Thomas J. Lax 52 From Snapshots to Physical Things reviewwide Julia Robinson 186 Judson Dance Theater Participants or for JUDSON IN OUR TIME 188 List of Works 194 Acknowledgments 60 Real People 198 Photograph Credits Malik Gaines 200 Trustees of The Museum of Modern Art releasedpublication 68 On and Off the Grid: Music for and around for Hyundai Card is proud to sponsor Judson Dance Theater: Judson Dance Theater PDF The Work Is Never Done at The Museum of Modern Art, New Benjamin Piekut Not York. The exhibition features the work of pioneering artists who explored genres as diverse as sculpture, performance, film, and 76 Handling Judson’s Objects photography. These artists confronted hierarchical distinctions Kristin Poor between materials and produced unsettling but thoroughly dynamic experiences. Committing itself to the creative dis- 82 Elaine Summers’s Intermedia ciplines with such intensity, Hyundai Card not only seeks to Gloria Sutton identify important movements in culture, society, and technol- ogy, but also to stimulate meaningful and inspiring experiences in everyday life. Whether Hyundai Card is hosting tomorrow’s cultural pioneers at our stages and art spaces; building librar- ies of design, travel, music, and cooking for our members; or designing credit cards and digital services that are as beautiful as they are functional, the company’s most inventive endeavors all draw from the creative well that the arts provide. As a ten-year sponsor of The Museum of Modern Art, Hyundai Card is delighted to make Judson Dance Theater: The Work Is Never Done possible. Foreword Judson Dance Theater marks a crucial flash point in the The Work Is Never Done builds on commitments works of dance and performance by Forti, Paxton, Elaine Franz Wassmer, Karen and Gary Winnick, and Oya history of downtown New York City, a charged moment MoMA has made to a group of artists, including Lucinda Summers, and many others in the Sculpture Garden as and Bülent Eczacıbas¸ı. MoMA Audio is supported by at the beginning of the 1960s in which a group of cho- Childs, Simone Forti, Deborah Hay, Robert Morris, part of Summergarden. Today the Museum is making Bloomberg Philanthropies. reographers, visual artists, composers, and filmmakers Steve Paxton, Yvonne Rainer, Robert Rauschenberg, an institution- wide effort to recognize artistic influ- On behalf of the Trustees and staff, we would like came together and changed the trajectory of perfor- and Carolee Schneemann, and reflects the Museum’s ences across disciplinary boundaries, including dance to thank all the lenders to the exhibition. We would mance. They transformed Judson Memorial Church broader engagement with dance and performance—an and performance; a major expansion will include a space also like to recognize the various local institutions that only. in Greenwich Village into a space for experimentation, engagement that has been amplified since 2009, when dedicated to performance, and exhibition galleries will have historically supported artists making work in dance incorporating into their work ordinary gestures such as the Department of Media and Performance Art was be arranged to better accommodate multiple mediums and performance, including Judson Memorial Church, running, walking, or even eating a sandwich.