13.10.2010 – 9.01.2011. from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre. London, United Kingdom.
Curated by Stephanie Rosenthal.
Exhibition.
Brief Exhibition Concept
Move – Art and Dance since the 1960’s
Move is the first major exhibition on the interaction between art and movement from the 1960s to the present. The main focus of the exhibition will be on visual artists, dancers and choreographers who create installations that direct the movements of exhibition-goers, turning the viewer into an active participant – even into a dancer.
Earlier exhibitions have primarily explored the relationship between art and dance from the point of view of representation, collaboration and the moving image. Move builds on such shows, but takes a new approach. The exhibition investigates the extent to which the beholder – invited, or tempted, to perform certain movements by the layout and contents of installations – can be choreographed. Thus the look of the exhibition will be dominated by sculptural works and stages filled with activity.
This exhibition sets out to show that choreography may be equally implied by sculptural works and installations. The proposition here is that for an exhibition context, unfamiliar movements – inspired by often familiar-looking objects – unsettle ingrained thought processes and, in doing so, free up the mind. A different slant on one’s own environment may lead to a new awareness, maybe even a new sense of responsibility towards oneself and the world at large.
The ambition is to create a show, which is as participatory and challenging as Allan Kaprow’s Happenings – one that follows Kaprow’s thinking in blurring the boundaries between art and everyday life. By making the visitor aware of the fact that they can be ‘choreographed’ by art installations, the show aims to change the way people think about the relation between art and dance.
Move itself will act as a type of choreography, and will consist of three major sections: installations and performances in the exhibition spaces; a contextual archive in the gallery; a series of performances in different venues in London and Germany.
Installations and Performances
This section will focus on participatory artworks and performance pieces from the 1960s to the present day that are directly activated or experienced by the visitor. Visual artists and choreographers from all over the world will also be invited to develop new pieces that deal with matters of choreography and/or to create a choreography that has no set time frame. Furthermore there will be reconstructions or exhibition copies of seminal works from the last fifty years. The idea is to work in each venue in collaboration with local dance schools to activate works of art and
Realize Happenings – both as performers and as researchers, exploring their own body movements and physical responses. At the same time they shall act as mediators and interpreters to discuss and interact with the public. (In London we are collaborating with Laban Contemporary Dance school)
Contextual Archive / Time Machine
The participatory exhibition will be backed up by a contextual and interactive archive that will re-present the history of the longstanding affinity between art and dance over the last half century. Conceived as a ‘time machine’ it will replace the notion of a traditional time line with a series of specially designed islands, rooms and open spaces. The archive will be designed under the premise to ensure this section also activates within the visitor a new bodily awareness – in terms of the ways visitors might explore a subject, view a video or look at an artwork. The archive will be co-curated by André Lepecki, Professor of Performance Studies at NYU.
Performances outside the Gallery
Alongside the exhibition, work will be ideally presented not only in theatres or performance venues, but also throughout the city. In London, performances will take place in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Purcell Room, various public spaces inside the Royal Festival Hall and even unexpected locations across the site.
Possible new commissions include works by Alain Buffard, Pablo Bronstein, Boris Charmatz and Xavier le Roy and possible reconstructions will include Allan Kaprow’s ground-breaking 18 Happenings in 6 parts. This part will be co-curated by Nicky Molloy, Head of Dance, Southbank Centre, London.
Southbank Centre is pleased to have been awarded a major grant from Kulturstiftung Des Bundes in support of this exhibition.
Artists: Pablo Bronstein, Tania Bruguera, Lygia Clark, Trisha Donnelly, William Forsythe, Simone Forti, Dan Graham, Christian Jankowski, Isaac Julien, Mike Kelley, Xavier Le Roy, La Ribot, Robert Morris, Bruce Nauman, João Penalva, Tino Sehgal, Franz Erhard Walther, and Franz West.