Cunningham Dance Foundation Presents A Symposium on Architecture and Performing Arts

The Cunningham Dance Foundation (CDF) will present an evening-length symposium exploring the intersection between the performing arts and architecture and featuring two live performances by the Merce Cunningham Dance Company's Repertory Understudy Group. Co-presented with Columbia University School of the Arts, Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation (GSAPP), and Barnard Dance, the symposium, titled No Fixed Points in Space: Transferring Form, Time, and Narrative between Architecture and Performance, will be held at the Miller Theatre (2960 Broadway) on January 26, 2010, from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. For ticketing information, please contact arts@columbia.edu.

Moderated and curated by architect Annie K. Kwon, No Fixed Points in Space will include a panel discussion with distinguished voices from both fields to explore the relationship between architecture and performance, focusing in particular on the notions of multiple perspectives and spatial plasticity. Panelists include:
Trevor Carlson, Executive Director, Cunningham Dance Foundation;
Michelle Fornabai, Principal, Ambo Infra Design;
Paul Kaiser, digital artist, Open Ended Group;
Paul Miller (a.k.a. DJ Spooky), artist; composer; writer
Tere O'Connor, Artistic Director, Tere O'Connor Dance; and
Bernard Tschumi, Principal, Bernard Tschumi Architects.

Throughout his seventy-year career, avant-garde choreographer and artist Merce Cunningham proposed a number of radical innovations that changed the way audiences experienced the performing arts. Among these, Cunningham-who was fond of Einstein's dictum that "there are no fixed points in space"-eschewed the use of conventional proscenium staging, embracing the notion of multiple centers. For his final work, Nearly Ninety (2009), he collaborated with renowned Barcelona-based architect Benedetta Tagliabue, whose rotating, multi-level architectural set served as both a décor and performance space for Cunningham's choreography. The collaboration between Cunningham and Tagliabue, which exemplified Cunningham's lifelong fascination with unconventional performance space, provided the impetus for the symposium.

No Fixed Points in Space is made possible by generous support from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Study in the Fine Arts.

About the Cunningham Dance Foundation
The Cunningham Dance Foundation is dedicated to sustaining and advancing the activities of Merce Cunningham through the support of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, the Cunningham Repertory Group, the Studio Performance Program for Young Artists, Educational Outreach, and the Merce Cunningham Archives. For more information, visit http://www.merce.org/foundation.html.

About Columbia University School of the Arts
Columbia University School of the Arts awards the Master of Fine Arts degree in Film, Theatre Arts, Visual Arts and Writing and a Masters of Arts in Film Studies. The School is a thriving, diverse community of artists from around the world who have the talent, vision, and commitment to become exceptional artists. The faculty is comprised of acclaimed and internationally renowned artists, film and theatre directors, writers of poetry, fiction and non-fiction, playwrights, producers, critics and scholars. Every year the School of the Arts presents exciting and innovative programs for the public including performances, exhibitions, screenings, symposia, a film festival, and numerous lectures, readings, panel discussions and talks with artists, writers, critics and scholars.

About the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation
The Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) offers eight masters degree programs: Master of Architecture; Master of Science Advanced Architectural Design; Architecture and Urban Design; Urban Planning; Historic Preservation; Advanced Architectural Research; Critical, Curatorial and Conceptual Practices in Architecture; and Real Estate Development. The school offers two doctorate programs in Architecture and Urban Planning. With an enrollment of 650 students from some 55 countries, its leadership role is to act as a laboratory for testing new ideas about the possible roles of designers in a global society.

About Barnard Department of Dance
The Barnard College Department of Dance offers an interdisciplinary program that integrates the study of dance within a liberal arts setting of intellectual and creative exploration. The Department partners with cultural institutions in New York City to connect students with the professional world, and is fully accredited and in good standing with the National Association of Schools of Dance.

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