“Performance…is where I begin. It is the structure and the content of my work,” says Joan Jonas. Her work in live art extends from outdoor performances and performances for the video camera during the late 1960s and 1970s to contemporary innovations with moving image and sound. Jonas weaves an extraordinary variety of influences into her captivating productions, including Noh and Kabuki theater, modern dance, animals, nature, and literature. Interdisciplinary collaboration has also been central to this practice, and Jonas performs with actors, musicians, sound artists, and dancers alike.
Held in conjunction with the gallery exhibition Joan Jonas: Good Night Good Morning, this program brings together three of her celebrated works. Presented with Jason Moran, one of her closest collaborators, A Lecture Demonstration showcases video projections, live piano by Moran, and actions by Jonas with her collection of props and other objects. Out Takes features a performance by Jonas incorporating previously unreleased footage of forests, oceans, and animals, accompanied by composer Ikue Mori and visual artist Lucy Mullican. To close the program, Jonas presents Mirror Piece I & II, which reconstructs and updates her early Mirror Pieces (1969–70), featuring 15 performers who move in slow, choreographed patterns while holding mirrors.
The exhibition is made possible by Hyundai Card.
Leadership support is provided by the Lonti Ebers Endowment for Performance, the Wallis Annenberg Director’s Fund for Innovation in Contemporary Art, the Jill and Peter Kraus Endowed Fund for Contemporary Exhibitions, and the Julie A. Zoppo Fund for the Exhibition of Women Artists.
Major funding is provided by The Contemporary Arts Council of The Museum of Modern Art.
Additional support is provided by the Leontine S. and Cornell G. Ebers Endowment Fund.
Leadership funding for the publication is provided by the Perry and Nancy Lee Bass Publication Endowment Fund.
Major support for the Joan Jonas Performance Program, developed in conjunction with the exhibition and part of The Marie-Josée and Henry Kravis Studio, is provided by the Sarah Arison Endowment Fund for Performance and by the Wallis Annenberg Director's Fund for Innovation in Contemporary Art.
