ARTISTIC DIRECTOR’S REMARKS
From Merce Cunningham, Artistic Director

The Rainbow Granite Quarry was the largest presentation of Ocean we have encountered. Through the colossal collaboration of security guards, direction guides, bus drivers, parking attendants, vendors, Andrew Culver and 150 musicians, Davison Scandrett, our Director of Production (who was directing his first show with us, but whose actions gave the impression of being totally at ease), Anna Finke, our Wardrobe Supervisor (fully on top of her end of the action, although a number of the Ocean costumes, by error, were on a boat to London and had to be remade), the dance company of fourteen (minus Andrea Weber, out with a leg injury), the Cunningham company staff ever present to help when needed, Charles Atlas and his film crew (five cameras and one great track half circling the stage), we gave three and a half performances of Ocean to full houses. Rain called a halt to the second half.

            What touched me deeply was the enormous generosity of the Minnesota people. First of all, the miners taking to this with an unexpected relish, and the Walker Art Center and Philip Bither for the wholehearted help and thoughtfulness in what they did for us. It was more than just arranging for a remarkable place. It was thinking of what would be needed and providing it all.

            My gratitude goes to the Walker, the University of Minnesota Northrop Auditorium, to St. Benedicts, to Katherine Hayes and Kathleen Fluegel, to the Friends of Sage and John Cowles, and to Sage and John themselves.

            The beginning of this remarkable experience was Anna Thompson, several years ago when we were at St. Benedict's, driving Trevor Carlson to look at a Quarry. He said, "This would be a great place to show Ocean." She said, "What's Ocean?"

            I am deeply grateful to the Cunningham Dance Foundation Inc. Board of Directors for their cooperation. The dancers I thought looked stunning in this. I can still hear Andrew Culver before one performance saying to the string players, "I want each of you to write the word 'reticent' across your score and then take a strong pencil and cross it off," and I am grateful that so many of you were able to see and hear this production of Ocean.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REMARKS
From Trevor Carlson, Executive Director

As you may remember the recent production of Ocean in the Rainbow Quarry in Waite Park, Minnesota, was affectionately titled "Merce on the Rocks" by our Minneapolis friend Sage Cowles, an MCDC Board Member and longtime friend and supporter. This title encapsulates the enjoyment had by all that were fortunate enough to be a part of the experience, and wittily downplays the magnitude of what it really took to put this incredible production together. 

Following this spectacular experience you will find a great deal in this newsletter from the different perspectives of several Company members.  There was so much happening, impacting each differently, that during this great adventure there were things missed even by those who were there. 

One outcome I enjoyed greatly was the pleasure of getting to know the Rainbow Quarry's plant manager, Mike Reinert, whom I met at my first quarry visit three years ago with Anna Thompson, former Director of the Benedicta Arts Center of the College of Saint Benedict.  I wasn't aware at that time that Mike had a personal investment in working with the Company on the project because his own son had strong interest in studying dance (his son has now just started his first year of study on a dance scholarship at Florida State University).  I gathered from Mike that he hoped to gain a greater knowledge of his son's interest by working with a professional dance company.  This project serendipitously combined their two worlds and provided a learning experience one could only dream of.  We were so moved by Mike's support and interest that the evening of the dress rehearsal, in front of an audience of 900 guests including quarry staff and their families, we announced the creation of the Mike Reinert Scholarship.  The scholarship provides full tuition to the MCDC Studio Summer Workshop, with the first recipient being Mike's son and in the years following to one student named by the College of Saint Benedict and one named by the University of Minnesota.

A local philanthropist was so moved by this occasion she asked if there was anything that she could do to help – we suggested that transportation to and from the Company's New York studios would be needed for the students.  Graciously and without hesitation, she agreed to offer this to recipients of the Mike Reinert Scholarship

To make each performance a reality, the production of Ocean involved over 400 people each evening it was presented, touching all parts of the community.  I am impressed and thankful for all the hard work and perseverance of Cunningham Dance Foundation staff and our partner organizations, the Benedicta Arts Center of the College of Saint Benedict, Northrop Auditorium at the University of Minnesota, Martin Marietta Materials, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for their support of the archival filming, and in particular Philip Bither, Julie Voigt, and Doug Bendit of the Walker Art Center.

In the words of Bénédicte Pesle, "and now we must prepare for the next engagement."

Anne d'Harnoncourt, beloved director and chief executive officer of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, passed away unexpectedly on Sunday, June 1. Ms. d'Harnoncourt was a close friend of both John Cage and Merce Cunningham, and served for 15 years as a founding member of the John Cage Trust's Board of Trustees.  Laura Kuhn, executive director of the John Cage Trust, attended her memorial service in Philadelphia on Sunday, Sept. 7, a date which would have been Ms. d'Harnoncourt's 65th birthday.  The formal aspect of the service took place at the Academy of Music, attended by well over a thousand friends and colleagues from around the world, with speakers including James N. Wood, president and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Fund, Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum, and Cunningham's own Jacqueline Matisse Monnier, artist and Philadelphia Museum of Art honorary trustee.  All three were not only Ms. d'Harnoncourt's long-time colleagues but also dear, dear friends.  A lavish reception followed at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  Ms. d'Harnoncourt was an inspired and inspiring individual, her contributions to John Cage Trust, as to the art world at large, were profound.  She will be missed.

Board members and other guests were invited to an intimate behind-the-scenes lunchtime preview of the Cunningham Dance Foundations newest initiative, Mondays with Merce, on Monday, September 22^nd at the Merce Cunningham Studio. After observing the final 30 minutes of a live, digital filming of Merce teaching class with members of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Cunningham Repertory Understudy Group, and advanced students, they proceeded to a buffet lunch where they were able to observe a Mondays with Merce demo on individual laptops, and hear more about the exciting progress this program has made directly from CDF Executive Director Trevor Carlson and Mondays with Merce Producer Nancy Dalva.

Most of the summer months were devoted to the creation of Merce's new work for his 90^th birthday season at BAM in April 2009, plus rehearsals for Ocean and other repertory, and filming of classes and rehearsals for Mondays with Merce. Fall touring began with the performances of Ocean in the Rainbow Quarry and of Sounddance in the Fall For Dance Festival at the NY City Center (not exactly touring, unless you count West 55 Street), and continues as follows:

September 30 - October 4  bite08, Barbican Center, London, UK 
Crises, XOVER, BIPED/CRWDSPCR, XOVER, Split Sides

October 10-11   Chassé Theater, Breda, Netherlands
Fabrications, Second Hand, eyeSpace 2006

October 15-16   Théâtre de Nmes, Nmes, France
MinEvent, Crises, CRWDSPCR 

October 21-23    Théâtre de Caen, Caen, France
Fabrications, Split Sides/CRWDSPCR, Crises, eyeSpace 2006

November 7/8/14/15   Zellerbach Hall, University of California, Berkeley CA
Suite for Five, eyeSpace 2006,BIPED/Second Hand,
Split Sides/eyeSpace 2007,BIPED/Views on Stage, Crises, XOVER 

November 9 Ford Motor Company Assembly Plant, Richmond CA
Craneway Event    (1pm & 3pm)
(A special presentation as part of our week-long residency at UC Berkeley)

December 6-7    Dia:Beacon, Riggio Galleries, Beacon NY
Beacon Event – Chamberlain Gallery

December 12-13  Kennedy Center, Washington D.C.
eyeSpace 2007, Crises, XOVER   

Experiments in the Studio, building on a successful first season, returns this fall for a second series of concerts.  Be sure to save the dates for the first two concerts, featuring an exciting new slate of musicians. Stay tuned for Spring 2009 dates.

November 17 – Joan La Barbara
December 1 – Takehisa Kosugi, Alex Waterman, Curtis Bahn, Keiko Uenishi

Experiments in the Studio celebrates Merce Cunninghams commitment to commissioning more new music by American composers than any other single choreographer, and the historic relationship between Merce Cunningham and John Cage, Founding Music Director of MCDC.

All concerts are FREE and are held in the Merce Cunningham Studio on the 11th floor of 55 Bethune St, New York, NY. Check merce.org/musicians.html for updates, news, and developments.

From Mary Lisa Burns, MCDC Director of Education
SUMMER 2008:  MCDC and Young Dancemakers Company

Alice Teirstein's annual summertime Young Dancemakers Company workshop began to take shape in March with two auditions at DTW. This year, she invited the Merce Cunningham Dance Company to provide the professional technique and repertory portion of the workshop's offerings.  High school students come from all over New York City, hoping to be among the 18 who are ultimately admitted to this selective five-week course, which is free to those who make the cut. The program combines a morning professional technique and repertory class with an afternoon workshop in which Ms. Teirstein and her assistant, Jessica Gaynor, along with accompanist/musical advisor William Catanzaro, support the students in the creation and performance of their own dances. Now in its thirteenth season, the workshop culminate in seven performances throughout the five boroughs, with a final evening performance and reception at the Ailey Citigroup Theater on Sunday, August 3.

Robert Swinston, Assistant to Merce Cunningham, and Mary Lisa Burns, Director of Education, taught the technique portion of the auditions, and then Ms. Burns--assisted by CDF Educational Outreach Project Assistant Markella Kefallonitou--taught the daily technique class and Field Dances (1963), with Robert Swinston returning for the final week. Classes for the first two weeks were held at DTW, and then continued at the Fieldston School in Riverdale. The students dedication was impressive: several spent between one and two hours commuting--often by subway and bus--in each direction in order to participate in the program, making their days long ones indeed! The teenagers threw themselves into the technique and enjoyed the challenges that Field Dances presents, including freedom in personal choices of spacing, order, and timing. For this program, chance operations were also used to help organize the structure so that the dance could include all eighteen dancers. The group took particular pleasure in some of the challenging jumping combinations that one finds in the Cunningham work, and for which Merce was so well known as a young dancer himself.

We enjoyed our work with these talented young dancer/choreographers; it was a great pleasure to see their growth and change within such a short period of time. Thanks to Alice Teirstein and Jessica Gaynor, William Catanzaro, and Program Assistant Indira Dominguez, and the whole YDC support staff!

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOLS OF DANCE

Director of Education Mary Lisa Burns and International Program Coordinator Alice Helpern travelled to Minneapolis the week of the Company's performances at the Rainbow Quarry, to attend the National Association of Schools of Dance Annual Meeting. At the invitation of NASD President Daniel Lewis, Dean of the New World School of the Arts, Nancy Dalva, producer of Mondays with Merce, spoke to the meeting about the series. The highlight of the weekend was the pre-recorded video welcome which Merce gave at the closing of the conference. In it, he extended a greeting to the teachers, and spoke of the high level of the dancers who come to the Cunningham Studio these days, and of the many universities whose alumni have been members of MCDC, and which have presented the Company over the years. It was a moving and meaningful way to end the conference. Many of those present, including Dean Lewis, attended the nearby performances of Ocean.

MCDC Residency at the Collegiate School

A one-week residency at the Upper West Side's Collegiate School began on Monday, September 22^nd, with a class for Upper School students, taught by Cunningham Repertory Understudy Group members Jamie Scott and John Hinrichs and accompanied by Studio musicians Taylor McLean and Kevin Garcia. Other RUG members, Dylan Crossman and Krista Nelson, also taught two classes. There was also a class for middle-schoolers, and a total of four performances (by the RUGs) of an Event that Merce created especially for this residency. The residency came about at the invitation of Collegiates Drama Department Head, William Sweeney, who studied with Merce in the late sixties and wanted to bring his students an experience of this technique and choreography.  Classes with the students – all boys at the Collegiate School--included elements of a Cunningham technique warm-up, as well as activities related to elements of the performances, including jumping, change of direction, and especially rhythm.

From Robert Swinston, Assistant to the Choreographer and MCDC Dancer

September 10 – 13, 2008. Waite Park, MN – The Rainbow Quarry. Merce on the Rocks. Three years in gestation. 14 dancers, 150 orchestra musicians. 1,200 audience members per night. 100 feet below ground in a 400-foot wide quarry hole. 16,000 square feet prepared for performance, vendors and facilities. 5,600 feet of roads cleared, 7,200 tons of material moved to clear roads, and 160-quarry worker hours invested. 1 million-plus tons of material moved since 2007. $600,000 to produce and $400,000 to film. This was the 12^th different venue for the 90 minute epic work, Ocean, since its premiere in Brussels in 2004. In January 1996 at La Fenice in Venice, Ocean was the final production performed before the 200-year-old theater was destroyed by fire.

A seemingly insurmountable task, this was the moment we prepared for starting in July. Although we had begun to reconstruct Ocean this past spring, our eight-week rehearsal period focused on completing the process, refining the movements and shaping the spacing and timing. We also had a repertoire of 11 other works to rehearse and a new work to create.  We had three new cast members since Ocean's last performances in Miami in March 2007.  Our Director of Production, Josh Johnson, who had seen the production through its performances there, in New York at the Rose Theater as part of the Lincoln Center Festival in 2005, and in London at The Roundhouse in 2006, gave his notice in July. His replacement, Davison Scandrett, was two weeks on the job. A set of dresses, the three sets of unitards, and the dancers duffels with make up and practice clothes had been accidentally shipped to London, and James Hall and Anna Finke, our costumers, had to work around the clock in New York to sew new costumes and ship them to Minnesota.

When we finally arrived in Minnesota, a prominent dancer, Andrea Weber, had been nursing a pulled calf muscle, but was feeling healed and ready. The stage was heated underneath, but by the time of the first evening rehearsal, the temperature had dropped and we could all feel our muscles tightening in the process of completing many relevés and jumps.  At 9am the next morning, Andrea, in tears, called me to report that she had consulted Susan Blankensop, our physical therapist, and that her calf had suffered and was severely pulled again and, perhaps, torn. We called Merce to give him the bad news and then figured out how to replace Andrea in the many sections in which she danced. In the lobby of the St. Cloud, MN Grandstay Residence Hotel we divided her parts among Julie Cunningham, Emma Desjardins, Marcie Munnerlyn, and Melissa Toogood. We pushed the table and chairs aside in the breakfast room and proceeded to teach her parts. At 11:15am we were on our way to the quarry for class and rehearsal. From 1:00 – 3:15 we finished this process and started to run the dance in its entirety.  Back to the hotel to eat and rest, then we left for the quarry at 6:30pm to prepare for the open dress rehearsal for the quarry miners and their families, the Walker Arts Center employees, and for Charles Atlas and the film crew. The rehearsal went remarkably well and the performance by the women was heroic.

The following morning was the day of our first public performance and we watched what looked like a waterfall from the windows of our hotel rooms. Daily we were unsure of the performance's status because the weather forecast was rain. This insecurity extended to the audience, many of whom were bused from one hour away in Minneapolis. On successive wet days, the rain gods kept the site dry for all but the final performance, which was called after 66 minutes and 39 seconds. It required a herculean effort on the part of Davison and the production team to keep the electricity, the lighting, heating equipment, and the stage and dancers runways dry. In spite of temperatures in the breezy, upper 50 degrees, the dancers, our four electronic musicians and the 150 St. Cloud musicians were consistently brilliant. The orchestra, playing atop the bleachers, were the most exposed, but the audience came prepared with down coats, wool hats, mittens, and blankets. Most were shivering by the end, but had taken a journey unlike any they had ever taken before.

From David Vaughan, MCDC Archivist

People came from far and wide for Merce on the Rocks: board members included Sage Cowles (who entertained the company on their arrival in Minneapolis, and board members and other guests at a luncheon on the Monday), Molly Davies, Tony Creamer, Barbara Pine, Jean Rigg, Eileen Rosenau, Allan Sperling, Sue Weil, and new member (from Minneapolis) Katherine Hayes; Bénédicte Pesle and Jackie Monnier came from Paris. Merce's niece Jody Cunningham came from Seattle with her husband Mark Mennella, and his sister, Cindy Mennella. Another surprise visitor from Seattle was Joan Skinner, known for the originator of Skinner Releasing Technique but also a Cunningham dancer from before MCDC. Others included dancers' family members, spouses, and significant others; David Lieberman from LA, Bonnie Brooks from Chicago, Joanna Harris from Berkeley, Daniel Lewis from Miami; Elizabeth Streb and Cynthia Mayeda were also in the New York contingent; CDF staff members Lynn Wichern, Keith Butler, Kevin Taylor, Mary Lisa Burns, and Alice Helpern (see above).

Both Davison Scandrett, Director of Production, and Geoffrey Finger, Company Manager, were on their first tour—something of a baptism by fire, and they came through brilliantly.

From Rashaun Mitchell, MCDC dancer

A few of the dancers went to MCDC Wardrobe Supervisor Anna Finke's berry farm at the beginning of our tour to the Minnesota rock quarry.  The farm is only about two hours away from the quarry, set on the edge of the wilderness.  Jennifer Goggans, Silas Riener, Brandon Collwes, Marcie Munnerlyn, Melissa Toogood, Andrea Weber, and I were thrilled to see the setting that sparked Anna's unique imagination and inspired many of her costume creations for the company.

            A humble home sits on a large plot of land containing rows of berries, forest and grass for the five dogs to run around, as well as a barn that tumbled over years ago and now comically sits on a tilted angle.  We were taken on a tour of the grounds and sites of Anna's childhood amusements. First over fields of skipping fairy grasshoppers. Then, through a wooded path forged by her father, Doug, with strange orange mushrooms, a fort that Anna and her brother made and the magic tree that they climbed, all possible hiding spots from the C.I.A. We emerged from the woods to the sounds of neighboring cows and returned to the house to hear Doug's mischievously hilarious stories of harsh 38-degree-below-freezing weather and man-made pond irrigation, your typical everyday farm issues.

That night, friends of the Finkes came over for a dinner of grilled hamburgers and various dishes, the highlight being Anna's mom Diane's home-made berry pie.  Then, after dinner, I pretended to cut firewood with Doug (like a real man) and we all sat around the bonfire and roasted marshmallows under the brilliant starlit sky. At the late hour of 9:30, we were all pooped from our day of hard farm work and decided to hit the hay. Four of us squeezed into a tent to sleep, only to find out the next morning that even Doug thought it was a cold night to sleep outside.  It was the only time I had ever seen dancers wake up at 6 am to rush inside for a warm cup of coffee. 

After taking in the view of the morning fog rising up from the ponds and the two rainbows arcing over the forest, I understood a little better Anna's beautiful costumes for our Dia:Beacon Events— the first ones inspired by a sunset, the second ones by shadows on snow, and of course the ones with plant and flower embellishments and muddy ankles.  The Finke Berry Farm was truly a magical place that could quiet your mind and excite your senses.  We washed it all down with a yummy breakfast of egg and broccoli soufflé, berry pie, and strawberry shortcake, then set off for St. Cloud, determined to hold on to some of the magic for our upcoming performances.

Kimberly Bartosik (former MCDC) will present her new work Ecsteriority 1&2 at Danspace Project,  November 6-8, 2008. Derry Swan (former MCDC) and Marc Mann (former RUG) are among the performers.

Jonah Bokaer (former MCDC) is touring his choreography and media art in diverse venues throughout the United States and abroad, including engagements in Belgium, Chile, Denmark, France, Germany, and Italy. A preview of his collaboration with poet Anne Carson, Stacks, featuring Andrea Weber and Silas Riener, was performed at Mt Tremper NY in August. The premiere will be at the NYU Skirball Center on December 4, 2008. He also is collaborating with theater artist Robert Wilson on the choreography of the operas Faust (Warsaw 2008) and Ada (Rome 2009).  Additionally, he is a 2008-2009 participant in the Young Leaders Program of The French-American Foundation, the first choreographer to have received this recognition.

The 16^th Annual John Cage Birthday Event was held on Friday, September 5, 2008, in St Mark's Church Parish Hall. Readers/performers included John King, Laura Kuhn, and David Vaughan. 

Aaron Copp (former Director of Production, MCDC) received a "Bessie" Award for his lighting design for Jonah Bokaers The Invention of Minus One.

Dylan Crossman (RUG) and Glen Rumsey (former MCDC) performed in A Two Part Affair. choreographed in collaboration by Pam Tanowitz and Brian Reeder, in the Guggenheim Museums Works & Process series, September 21 and 22, 2008.

Holley Farmer joined the Merce Cunningham Studio Faculty in May.  During the summer she taught a Cunningham technique master class at Jacob's Pillow in Becket, Massachusetts, where she also performed in the live version of David Michalek's "Slow Dancing," including "Excerpts" from Merce Cunningham's works, to Mikel Rouse's score, International Cloud Atlas. 

Layton Hower, his wife Michele, and his father Tom went on a 10 day rafting excursion into the bowels of the earth via the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon. Layton writes: "The enormous and subliminal nature of the canyon wall, with its many layers and their stories, had a profound impact on how I think about time and the phenomenon of existence.  It was a rare experience to so clearly and personally see the natural cycle of complete creation and complete destruction."

Following her various solo performances in the spring, Ana Keilson was invited to be a Fall 2008 Guest Artist at the Green Street Studios in Cambridge, MA, and will be in Boston teaching and showing work periodically throughout the Fall. Ana has spent the summer working on two new dances--a trio and a solo--that will premiere at Green Street's theater in mid-November. On September 12 and 13, Ana performed her new solo at Perishable Theater (Providence, RI). The third issue of 'the zine,' which Ana founded and organizes, will be released in early October. When not dancing and archiving, Ana can be found working at the Ali Chagra Vineyard just outside of Beacon, NY.

John King was commissioned to compose the score for Hamlet, choreographed by Kevin O'Day for the Stuttgart Ballet, premiere October 3 in the Opernhaus, Stuttgart.

Joan La Barbara composed and performed music for Jane Comfort's An American Rendition, performed at the Duke on West 42^nd Street, September 24-28, 2008. She then joined MCDC on tour for performances of XOVER.

This summer Patricia Lent (former MCDC) joined CDF in the new position of Director of Licensing.  Her duties will include overseeing the licensing of Merce's work, contributing to the development of dance capsules, and spending one week each month with MCDC. In August she restaged portions of Enter (1992) for MCDC. Fall  projects include rehearsing Duets with North Carolina School of the Arts, teaching technique classes as part of the Ocean residency, and staging a MinEvent for University of California Berkeley. 

Rashaun Mitchell is choreographing a work in collaboration with Anne Carson (her translations of poems by Sappho), to be performed by him and Marcie Munnerlyn at the NYU Skirball Center on December 4, 2008.

Koji Mizuta taught at the Workshop at The Arts Cure Center, Long Island City, July 8/9 2008.

In June, Stephan Moore co-curated and hosted the Floating Points 2008 festival of multi-channel audio concerts at Brooklyn's ISSUE Project Room, bringing in 25 artists from Europe and across the US to perform electronic music through a grid of my Hemisphere speakers.  dans le jardin, a performance piece with dancer Michael Schumacher and cellist Alex Waterman, was performed in several NYC parks as a part of the Joyce Theater's "Dance Out!" program in July.  Also that month he completed a residency and work-in-progress performance of Urban Renewal, a multimedia theater piece with Kyle DeCamp and Zeena Parkins, installed an enormous sound work called Outside Information in Union College's Nott Memorial Building, and performed in "Bodies without Organs", a concert that made use of David Byrne's recent sound installation "Playing the Building." He also worked with choreographer Kimberly Young on a new work, Wunderkammer at Summer Stages Dance in Concord, Massachusetts.  His band Evidence released its third full-length album, "Receiver" in August, and had a number of performances at ISSUE Project Room, The Stone, and the Burning Man Festival in Nevada. In the coming months, the piece Dark Horse/Black Forest by choreographer Yanira Castro (with Moore's music) will be offered by PS 122 as an in-home performance. 

Sandra Neels (former MCDC) teaches in the Department of Theater and Dance at Winthrop University in South Carolina. Her work on Second Hand made possible the revival of that dance earlier this year. She has now completed her notes for the reconstruction of Tread (also 1970), an MCDC project for 2009-2010.

Cathy Richards (former Office Manager, CDF) was a member of Charles Atlas's crew for the filming of Ocean in the Rainbow Quarry.

Valda Setterfield (former MCDC) returned for the third time to the Art of Movement Festival in Yaroslavl, Russia, in August, where she taught the Cunningham back exercises. She will appear in a reconstruction of David Gordon's Trying Times (1982), produced by Pick Up Performance Co and CalArts (funded by an NEA American Masterpieces: Dance grant). Performances in December 2008 at Redcat in LA and DTW in NY. DTW was the original commissioner in 1982 and Valda was in the original cast.

Paradigm Artistic Director Gus Solomons Jr (former MCDC), celebrated its 10^th anniversary in performances at Dance Theater Workshop, July 8-10, 2008. The program included Player& Prayer, a new work by Jonah Bokaer. Valda Setterfield was among the performers.

The Buckminster Fuller exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art took note of the Black Mountain performance of Erik Satie's play The Ruse of Medusa in 1948, in which Merce Cunningham played Jonas, a mechanical monkey.

Robert Rauschenberg's set for Minutiae (the replica) and a parachute costume from Antic Meet were on temporary exhibition at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis during the run of Ocean. The set for Walkaround Time, after "The Large Glass" by Marcel Duchamp, supervised by Jasper Johns, is on permanent exhibit at the Walker. Tributes to Bob's life and work are being organized at the Guggenheim Museum, Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice.

"Warhol Live, Music and Dance in Andy Warhol's Work" opened at The Montral Museum of Fine Arts on September 23^rd, 2008