Yvonne Rainer: Radical Juxtapositions, 1961 - 2002
In the early 1960's she trained in dance with Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham. During the 60's she began performing her own choreography and collaborated with other dancers, musicians and visual artists. By the early 1970's Rainer became recognized as the leading choreographer emerging from the Judson dance theatre, an experimental venue which often included works made with a wide range of artists. During this period she embraced and was identified with minimalism and her work also became more political often aligning with contemporary feminist perspectives. In the early seventies she also turned her efforts towards film, and in works like the feature length Lives of Performers, (1972), she convincingly bridged the worlds of dance and performance art. The exhibition presents historical documents - journals, vintage photographs, posters and video - from the artist's archives; a set from Inner Appearances, a 1973 performance piece; and two video works produced for the exhibition. After Many a Summer Dies the Swan: Hybrid (2002) is a new video installation created by Rainer and Rainer Variations (2002), a video by Charles Atlas documents Rainer's career through historical footage and recreated scenes that she directed.The exhibition is organized by Sid Sachs for the Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery of Philadelphia's University of the Arts and has since been shown at Haggerty Museum of Art, Marquette University; Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions; and Harvard University's Carpenter Center
Yvonne Rainer's art spans the world of dance, film, performance art and visual art. She is the winner of numerous nationally and internationally significant distinctions and awards including a 1990 MacArthur Foundation fellowship known as the "Genius Award," two Guggenheim Fellowships, National Endowment for the Arts awards, and the Filmmakers Trophy from the 1991 Sundance Film festival.