Merce Cunningham’s Events: Key Concepts

Performance art theorist Claire Bishop delineates the history and significance of Merce Cunningham’s public, participatory Events

From 1964 until his death, choreographer Merce Cunningham (1919-2009) produced over 800 Events. Each Event comprised a different sequence of excerpts from his repertory, parts of works in progress and new material; all lasted about 90 minutes. They were performed in museums, galleries, gymnasiums, theaters, public squares and on television.
A dance history written from the perspective of art history, this book provides a new approach to understanding Cunningham’s innovative format. Claire Bishop, professor at the CUNY Graduate Center, argues that the Events anticipate a contemporary culture of curating and remixing, while providing an ideal lens for tracing the Merce Cunningham Dance Company’s history. In closing, she returns to the question of dance in museums, and what the Events open up in terms of spectatorship and contemporary developments in choreography.