Merce Cunningham's Events: Key Concepts

Very little has been written about Merce Cunningham's Events, though the legendary choreographer produced over 800 during his career. Claire Bishop addresses this "shadow practice" from the perspective of art history, contextualising the Events and examining their impact on contemporary developments in choreography.

Merce Cunningham was arguably the art world's favourite choreographer. From 1964 until his death in 2009, he produced over 800 "Events". Each Event comprised a different sequence of excerpts from his repertory, parts of works in progress, and new material and lasted around ninety minutes. Events were performed in museums and galleries, but also in gymnasia, theatres, public squares, and on television.

A dance history written from the perspective of art history, this book provides a new approach to understanding this innovative format. It argues that the Events anticipate a contemporary culture of curating and remixing, while providing an ideal lens for tracing the company's history. At the close, the author returns to the question of dance in museums, and what the Events open up in terms of spectatorship and contemporary developments in choreography.