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The J. Paul Getty Trust 1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 400 Tel 310 440 7360 Communications Department Los Angeles, California 90049-1681 Fax 310 440 7722 www.getty.edu [email protected] NEWS FROM THE GETTY DATE: July 3, 2007 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE NEW GETTY EXHIBITION SURVEYS PERFORMANCE ART MATERIALS Evidence of Movement At the Getty Research Institute, the Getty Center, Günter Brus (performance) and July 10-October 7, 2007 Ludwig Hoffenreich (photograph) Image from Selbstbemalung II, 1964 Gelatin silver print Research Library, The Getty Research Institute © Günter Brus. Courtesy Galerie Heike Curtze 94.R.34 LOS ANGELES—By its very nature, performance art is ephemeral. Artists have long sought to document this dynamic art form through a range of creative approaches designed to record these moments in time. Evidence of Movement at the Getty Research Institute, the Getty Center, July 10-October 7, 2007 presents a rare opportunity to view performance art materials from the 1960s to the present-day. “Performance art often engages the same issues as more traditional media such as painting and sculpture,” says Glenn Phillips, senior project specialist at the GRI and exhibition curator. “But unlike these art forms, performance-based art exists without an original, tangible, and self-contained object. Because of this, artists try to transpose the experiential qualities of performance into documentary and archival media.” The exhibition does not attempt to survey the history of performance art, but will rather examine the diverse means and media by which artists have chosen to document and represent their performance activities. For example, in Art/Life One Year Performance 1983–1984, artists Tehching Hsieh and Linda Montano tied themselves together by an eight-foot length of rope for an entire year, agreeing not to touch for the extent of the performance. Receptions held at three month intervals allowed the artists to “exhibit” the progress of the work, while time-stamped snapshots documented the artists’ daily routines. By shaving their heads at the beginning of the -more- Page 2 performance, the artists effectively used their hair as another documentary medium, registering the passage of a year as it grew. Many artists assembled documentation and/or remnants from their performances into thoughtfully designed and commercially viable works of art. The group of artists known as the Vienna Actionists preferred to develop psychologically charged performances designed primarily for the camera, while others, like Allan Kaprow with his Activity Booklets, focused on producing highly visual scores that would allow the viewer to become the performer of the work. Drawn primarily from the special collections of the Research Library at the GRI, Evidence of Movement includes materials from the recently acquired archives of choreographer and filmmaker Yvonne Rainer, the records of High Performance magazine, and the Long Beach Museum of Art video archive. The presentation also showcases objects from the archives of curator Barbara Rose, artists Allan Kaprow and Carolee Schneemann, collector Jean Brown, and the records of Experiments in Art and Technology. Additionally, the exhibition includes photographs, videos, drawings, scores, posters, prints, books, and sculptural objects. Among the highlights of the presentation are broadcasts from Close Radio—a weekly half- hour radio program produced by artists Paul McCarthy, John Duncan, and Nancy Buchanan from 1976-79. Close Radio invited artists to broadcast sound and art projects on Los Angeles radio station KPFK. Over the course of more than 100 broadcasts by nearly 100 artists, Close Radio challenged almost every conceivable industry standard of radio broadcast, and collectively its projects present an encyclopedic array of strategies used by artists to present performative art works using only sound. Visitors to the exhibition can access most of the Close Radio works via streaming audio on getty.edu, or by calling 408-764-0885 to listen to audio works on demand. A podcast of 17 broadcasts will also be available on www.getty.edu and through iTunes. # # # MEDIA CONTACT: Julie Jaskol Getty Communications 310-440-7607 [email protected] The J. Paul Getty Trust is an international cultural and philanthropic institution devoted to the visual arts that features the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty Research Institute, the Getty Conservation Institute, and the Getty Foundation. The J. Paul Getty Trust and Getty programs serve a varied audience from two locations: the Getty Center in Los Angeles and the Getty Villa in Malibu. Page 3 Visiting the Getty Center: The Getty Center is open Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. It is closed Monday and major holidays. Admission to the Getty Center is always free. Parking is $8. No reservation required. Reservations are required for event seating and groups of 15 or more. For more information, call 310-440-7300 (English or Spanish); 310-440-7305 (TTY line for the deaf or hearing impaired). Additional information is available at www.getty.edu. 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