About ± I96I
Founding the Expanded Arts
At this program, the curators Julia Robinson and Christian Xatrec present the premises of the exhibition ± I96I. Founding the Expanded Arts, followed by an intervention by Simone Forti in the auditorium and concluding with the representation of several of her pieces in the exhibition galleries.
Taking the time right around the year 1961 as its point of reference, this exhibition seeks to engage in an open analysis and a critical rereading of the experimental resonance of a period of research and processes that have hastily been summed up in the term “Neo-Avantgarde.” At the same time, the exhibition seeks to reveal the prefiguration of some of the paradigms of contemporary art: the rupture between practices and formats, interest in time and in concepts and the dissolving of art, paraphrasing Tristan Tzara as cited by George Brecht, into something far more interesting: life.
The conference, like the exhibition, is conceived as a space of intersecting influences that move between discourse and happening, between text and event, attempting to provide a glimpse at a period that, while ephemeral and contingent, represents one of the last moments of the utopia of the 20th century.
Program
5:30 p.m.
Presentation of the exhibition by the curators, Julia Robinson and Christian Xatrec
6:20 p.m.
Colloquium with
6:45 p.m.
Tour of the exhibition, with the performance of the following dance pieces:
Simone Forti. Huddle, 1961
Simone Forti. Slant Board, 1961
Simone Forti. Platforms, 1961
Participants
Simone Forti. Artist and choreographer. She studied dance with Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham, and was a member of New York's Judson Church Dance Theater. She is currently Assistant Professor in the World Arts and Cultures Department at UCLA.
Julia Robinson. Co-curator, with Christian Xatrec, of the exhibition. She is Assistant Professor of Art History at New York University. She curated the exhibitions New Realisms: 1957-1962 (Museo Reina Sofía, 2010) and The anarchy of silence. John Cage and experimental art (MACBA, 2009), among others.
Christian Xatrec. Artist. Co-curator, along with Julia Robinson, of the exhibition. He is also the vice-president of the Emily Harvey Foundation.
