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Walker Art Center Exhibit MERCE CUNNINGHAM: COMMON TIME Review – MCA Exhibit X3

Rachel Goldense

ex2017mc-ct_ins Visual Arts, Exhibitions, installation views with people. Merce Cunningham: Common Time, February 8 through July 30, 2017, Galleries 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6; Medtronic and Perlman Galleries. Photo by Gene Pittman, courtesy Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. Merce Cunningham’s dynamic artistic collaborations are the subject of a major interdisciplinary survey organized by the Walker, home to the complete scenic and costume archive of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company (MCDC). Renowned as both choreographer and dancer, Cunningham (American, 1919–2009) revolutionized dance through his partnerships with leading artists who created costumes, lighting, films, music, and décor and whose independent creative instincts he held in the highest regard. Common Time offers a journey through a range of experiential installations that unfold at the Walker in seven galleries, the Walker’s McGuire Theater, the Walker Cinema, and public spaces throughout the museum. Exploring Cunningham’s notion that movement, sound, and visual art could share a “common time,” the exhibition presents Cunningham’s work through rare and never-before seen moving image presentations and installations of stage décor and costumes from the MCDC Collection. These are contextualized through more than 60 works from a range of artists, including composer John Cage, Cunningham’s lifelong collaborator, and William Anastasi, Charles Atlas, Trisha Brown, Tacita Dean, Jasper Johns, Morris Graves, Rei Kawakubo, Robert Morris, Bruce Nauman, Isamu Noguchi, Nam June Paik, Yvonne Rainer, Robert Rauschenberg, Frank Stella, Elaine Summers, David Tudor, Stan VanDerBeek, Andy Warhol, and many others. Cunningham embraced an expanded possibility of dance, music, and visual art that reads like a how-to guide for pushing the boundaries of art for subsequent generations. In this spirit, the exhibition will also feature new performing arts commissions as well as live dance and music in the theater and galleries. Presentations include a series of in-gallery Events, site-responsive collages of Cunningham repertory performed by dancers from the final company as well as new commissions from leading figures in contemporary choreography and composition, including Charles Atlas, Beth Gill, Maria Hassabi, John King, Rashaun Mitchell, and Silas Riener, among others. The landmark exhibition will investigate the unique working methods, profound relationships, and influence of a choreographer whose singular approach to sharing a “common time” remains one of the most inspirational models of the 20th century for interdisciplinary practice. Merce Cunningham: Common Time is organized by the Walker Art Center, and copresented with the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. Curators: Fionn Meade and Philip Bither with Joan Rothfuss and Mary Coyne

 

Can a non-dancer imagine what it feels like to perform an intricate dance?

Imagine moving through space totally conscious of where every part of your body is and how it appears to others…

Walker Art Museum has taken on this task— and succeeded!

 

WALKER MERCE CUNNINGHAM
We walk through a narrow, green lit hallway. Then there is a hallway that gradually gets narrower. Both make us aware of our own body and space on a stage—key aspects of Merce Cunningham's choreography Photo Credit: Rachel Joyce.

Walker Art Center Exhibit is Larger Version of Chicago MCA One

The exhibit mixes media much like the sister MCA exhibit of the same name.  It is a retrospective of famed choreographer Merce Cunningham, who is pictured in the photo below.

The exhibit sprawls through six bright, white galleries at the Walker Art Center in the heart of downtown Minneapolis. This writer was immediately drawn in by the various costumes, videos, and music that tell the story of Cunningham’s life and work.

In the first gallery, a set of costumes and some stage props from past performances of the dance company greet us. We are drawn in by  several colorful pieces.

Off to the side of the gallery is a room devoted to John Cage, composer and music director to the company. He was also Merce’s life partner and composed many pieces for Cunningham’s performances. In the room, there are tributes to his life, biographies, and his compositions playing in the background. His musical style embraced chance and he often threw die to make musical choices.

Throughout the exhibit Merce’s influential performances are seen on projected screens and accompanied by sets and costumes. There are also pieces of importance from people he collaborated with and who were involved with the company. In addition to the room dedicated to John Cage, there is also one devoted to David Tudor,  who also played a particularly important part in the music compositions of the Cunningham dance company. We see dozens of black and white photographs of Merce himself and members of the company. Sketches of dancers and choreographed dances hang around the galleries.  We see work from Andy Warhol, who had designed many of the sets used by the company.

The Music

The music accompanying the visual pieces’ echoes throughout the galleries .  One can hear three or more compositions at different points ,which often results in some disorientation. It is very different from what one would typically expect of accompanying music. Cage’s music focuses on rhythmic structure over harmonic structure, resulting in several intriguing and mysterious pieces.

The Visual

Cunningham’s interest in technologies as a source of inspiration in his dance in one of the most unique things about this exhibit. One can see how important the sets were to the company and how the innovation went beyond just the dances.

Photo Credit: Rachel Joyce.
Performing Arts, 10th Anniversary of Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. Among the day's activities is the signature event, the performance "Event for the Garden" by The Merce Cunningham Dance Company, with Musical Director Takehisa Kosugi, experimental composer

A particularly memorable room has overlapping visual projections of dances on several screens at different angles. You can see many dances and recordings of Merce on the screens all at the same time. These videos were done by Charles Atlas. Your own shadow projects onto the screens making you a part of the experience.

The exhibit invites you to explore all of this for yourself. A favorite from the MCA exhibit also appears in the Walker. A room with silver clouds blowing around allows you to interact with the set in a similar as the original dancers would have. This was from a set originally designed by Andy Warhol. Another interesting part has the viewer walk through a narrow, green lit hallway. There is also a hallway that gradually gets narrower. Both make the viewer aware of their own body and space on a stage. One of the key elements in Merce’s choreography. 

Mixed Medias

At times, the exhibit can be disorienting and overwhelming. This writer came to feel over stimulated in a few of the rooms where there is much to experience and take in. However, this is the style of Merce Cunningham, his many collaborators and his innovative dance company.. It is well worth a visit to see the sets, costumes, and dances on film.  You will learn about Merce Cunningham, a choreographer who changed the direction of modern dance in his time.

Photo Credit: Rachel Joyce.

When:

Exhibit open from February 8–July 30, 2017

Mon: Closed
Tue, Wed, Sun: 11 am – 5 pm
Thu: 11 am – 9 pm
Fri, Sat: 11 am – 6 pm

Where:

Walker Art Center
725 Vineland Place
Minneapolis, MN 55403

Photo Credit: Rachel Joyce.

Tickets:

Adults:  $14

Members:  Free

Seniors (62+):  $12

Active Military:  $7

Students:  $9

Youth (<18):  Free

 

For more information--

Read the Picture this Post review of the Museum of Contemporary Art “Merce Cunningham: Common Time” exhibit here.

And also follow ongoing and expanding coverage of this exhibit through Chicago’s choreographers’ eyes-- “Meet Merce: Choreographer Spotlights” and comments about Merce Cunningham by various choreographers in "Choreographers' Eyes- Dancers Explain Dance."

 

Photos: Rachel Joyce, (c) Walker Art Center.

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