MoMA | Author: Martha Joseph

Posts by Martha Joseph

June 1, 2016 | Collection & Exhibitions

MoMA Collects: David Tudor’s Rainforest V (Variation 1)

Posted by Martha Joseph, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Media and Performance Art

David Tudor and Composers Inside Electronics. Rainforest V (Variation 1). 1973–2015. Sound installation of 20 objects, dimensions variable. Installation view, Broadway 1602. Courtesy Broadway 1602, New York

“My piece Rainforest IV was developed from ideas I had as early as 1965…. An offer came, which didn’t get realized…I was asked to make a proposal for a park in Washington. The idea was to have a sounding outdoor sculpture, so my mind began turning around. I thought, ‘wouldn’t it be wonderful if each sculpture sounded completely different from the other and the whole could be run by one machine . . . .'” – David Tudor

Forgotten Bodies and Their Images: Maria Hassabi’s PLASTIC

Posted by Martha Joseph, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Media and Performance Art

Maria Hassabi. PLASTIC. 2015. Installation view, The Museum of Modern Art, February 21–March 20, 2016. Pictured: Maria Hassabi, Oisín Monaghan, Molly Lieber, Hristoula Harakas. Photo: Thomas Poravas. © Maria Hassabi

There are forgotten bodies throughout The Museum of Modern Art. At least, that is how artist and choreographer Maria Hassabi refers to them. On staircases, in the Marron Atrium, and on furniture, visible from balconies and vantage points throughout the building, dancers fall, walk, crawl, or lounge on the floor, alongside accumulated dust and discarded ticket stubs.

Collecting Alvin Lucier’s I Am Sitting in a Room

Posted by Martha Joseph, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Media and Performance Art

In 1969 American composer Alvin Lucier first performed his landmark work I Am Sitting in a Room, conceived for voice and electromagnetic tape. Lucier read a text into a microphone. Attempting to smooth out his stutter, he began with the lines, “I am sitting in a room, the same one you are in now. I am recording the sound of my speaking voice.” As described in the text, his voice was recorded, then played back into the room. This process was repeated, and with each iteration Lucier’s recorded speech grew muddled, sounding distant, and specific sonic frequencies started to dominate the recorded sound.