Above: Performance view of Robert Morris and Carolee Schneemann at Stage 73, Surplus Dance Theater, New York. Photo by Peter Moore, copyright Est. Peter Moore/VAGA, NYC.
Robert Morris
Site, 1964
Performance
Above: Performance view of Robert Morris and Carolee Schneemann at Stage 73, Surplus Dance Theater, New York. Photo by Peter Moore, copyright Est. Peter Moore/VAGA, NYC. |
Throughout his artistic career Robert Morris helped define a variety of performative
paradigms, from instruction-based fabrications to re-configurable installations
and earthworks. In his work with the Judson Dance Theater, Morris scripted performances
wherein performers follow a choreographed sequence of actions using costumes
and props specified by the artist. Although the format of his performance Site
is conventional, the action is anything but. The sound of a jackhammer emanates
from a white box at downstage left while a masked man wearing work boots dismantles
a plywood construction to reveal a woman lying motionless on a sofa in the manner
of Manet's Olympia. After a series of manipulations of one of the plywood
boards with his body, the man re-covers the woman and the stage goes dark.
The vulnerabilities of Site lie in its performed
nature and its reproducible soundtrack.
Preservation strategies to explore include:
| Script | |
| Storage | Should the instructions for re-staging this work take the form of a paper score or script, a digital transcript, a video, or some combination of these? What is the best means for safeguarding these instructions? Should each re-staging be documented, and if so in what format? |
| Emulation | Should the performers imitate as closely as possible the look and actions of the original participants? |
| Migration | Should the performers' characteristics (e.g., hairstyles) look up-to-date? |
| Reinterpretation | Must the cast be limited to two people? A man and a woman? Is it permissible for the actors to switch gender roles? Is it permissible to imitate a painting other than Olympia? |
| Props, costumes, and set | |
| Storage | Should props, costumes, or set components be stored alongside the instructions themselves? |
| Emulation | Should the props, costumes, and sets be re-created to match the original specifications? |
| Migration | Should the male performer's workclothes be replaced with their contemporary equivalents? |
| Reinterpretation | Should the props, costumes, and set be reinterpreted to fit the performance context? For example, if jackhammers become obsolete, should up-to-date construction sounds be played during the performance? |
| Space | |
| Storage | Should any elements of the set be stored for future use? |
| Emulation | Should the performance use exactly the same amount of space and span the same length of time? |
| Migration | Is the work ideally performed on a proscenium stage or in a more informal setting? Can it be performed outside? In a museum gallery? In a private home? Is there a relationship between setting and audience—spatial or otherwise—that is particularly important to maintain? Should the performance scale to fill the alotted stage? |
| Reinterpretation | Should the size of the installation vary according to the artist's instructions on site-specificity? |