From September 25th to October 1st, 2016 ISSUE Project Room presents After 9 Evenings: A 50th Anniversary Celebration, a dynamic series of performances, talks, screenings, and workshops to mark the 50th anniversary of 9 Evenings: Theatre & Engineering (1966). This historic project, organized by Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.) at the 69th Regiment Armory in Manhattan, featured collaborations among avant-garde artists, dancers, and musicians and engineers from Bell Telephone Laboratories. After 9 Evenings considers the event’s impact on contemporary performance and explores E.A.T. as an important prototype for integrating new technologies into current artistic practices.
On Sunday, September 25th ISSUE, in association with Julie Martin, presents ten rarely-seen films of the original 9 Evenings performances at ISSUE’s 22 Boerum Place theater. An open screening, the film program runs throughout the evening and features archival footage of Alex Hay, Steve Paxton, Yvonne Rainer, Deborah Hay, Robert Whitman, Lucinda Childs, John Cage, David Tudor, Öyvind Fahlström, and Robert Rauschenberg. The screening is followed by a panel discussion featuring R. Luke DuBois, composer and engineer; Robert Kieronski, Bell Labs engineer in “9 Evenings”; Michelle Kuo, editor-in-chief of Artforum and an expert on E.A.T.; Julie Martin, 9 Evenings participant; and Alessandra Nicifero, dance critic. The screening takes place from 1-8pm; the panel begins at 8pm and runs until 9:30. A short reception follows.
From September 27th to October 1st, a series of concerts focus on material distinctions around the use of technology in performance and contemporary art contexts. Performances at 22 Boerum Place highlight critical uses of digital and analog technologies, presenting work by Morton Subotnick & Lillevan / Marina Rosenfeld & Ben Vida (September 27th), LoVid and Andrew Lampert (September 29th), James Fei & Laetitia Sonami and Thomas Dexter (September 30th), and Ed Bear performing his realization of John Cage’s “Variations VII”
A symposium on art and technology, organized by ISSUE Project Room NYU, is held at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering in Downtown Brooklyn on Saturday, October 1st. Revisiting 9 Evenings and looking forward to the future of digital technologies, the symposium gathers artists, engineers, cultural producers, scientists, and scholars who advocate for the creative and social exploration of networks and technological innovation. The event features lightning talks by artists and engineers associated with E.A.T., as well as presentations by contemporary artists, maker workshops, and art installations.
A crucial recognition of the role of artists as speculative technologists, After 9 Evenings presents pioneering sound and performance artists in direct dialogue with media technologies. The series also invites critical conversation around the intersection between art and technology as well as the fragmented but evolving role of technology in performance contexts in 2016.
After 9 Evenings is proudly supported by Bell Labs whose ongoing commitment to the spirit of experimentation, starting with the collaboration between their engineers and avant-garde artists on 9 Evenings in 1966, has distinguished the Company as a corporate leader dedicated to fostering innovation in the arts and sciences.
The programming culminates in ISSUE Project Room’s Gala on Wednesday, October 19th, 2016, marking the 50th Anniversary of the events that took place October 13th - 23th, 1966. In the spirit of the experiment that fueled 9 Evenings, ISSUE celebrates imaginative inventors at the organization’s annual benefit, which is aptly themed LAB. The LAB Gala takes place at ISSUE’s historic Downtown Brooklyn Theater. The event pays tribute to arts leaders and organizations that have made an impact on ISSUE through their advocacy, helping to strengthen our commitment to supporting an innovative community of artists. The LAB Gala includes a tribute to honorees, cocktails, dinner and multi-disciplinary performances by ISSUE alumni and current artists.
After 9 Evenings follows a nine-day program of performances presented by Fridman Gallery, which launches the 50th Anniversary celebration of 9 Evenings: Theatre & Engineering. From September 16th to 24th, Fridman Gallery presents a concert series, 9 Evenings + 50, by three generations of composers and performers. Co-produced by former Director of E.A.T, Julie Martin and Fridman Gallery, in association with ISSUE Project Room, the series, curated by Julie Martin, Regine Basha and Daniel Neumann features performances from Yasunao Tone, Christian Wolff, Alvin Lucier, David Berhman, Simone Forti, Tristan Perich, Jacob Kierkegaard, Pauline Oliveros, Maria Chavez, and more. For more information and tickets, please visit fridmangallery.com.
