Merce Cunningham

by Germano Celant, David Vaughan

Merce Cunningham (1919–2009) pioneered the contemporary conception of dance as a moving image of life. His innovations in the field date back to the 1940s, when, after meeting composer John Cage, he proposed the separation of music and dance and applied chance procedures to the structure of his dances; later, he used technology to further extend and blur the medium's boundaries. Collecting testimonies from Cunningham's friends and collaborators, this volume surveys the milestones in Cunningham's career, from 1944 to 1999. Composers such as Gordon Mumma, Earle Brown and John Cage, artists such as Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg and Nam June Paik and dancers such as Yvonne Rainer, Douglas Dunn and Carolyn Brown describe their collaborations with Cunningham over the past half-century, in interviews, essays and memoirs, alongside Cunningham's own writings and a wealth of illustrations.

320 pages, Paperback

First published July 2, 1999

About the author

Germano Celant (11 September 1940 – 29 April 2020) was an Italian art historian, critic, and curator who coined the term "Arte Povera" (poor art) in 1967.
Celant was the renowned curator of contemporary art at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, and artistic director at the Fondazione Prada in Milan.

On 29 April 2020, Celant died in Milan from COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. He was 79.