Charlotte Moorman
Charlotte Moorman
Rare Performance Documents 1961–1994 (Volume 1: Paik–Moorman Collaborations)

Famously described by composer Edgard Varèse as “the Jeanne d’Arc of New Music”, Charlotte Moorman (*1933 †1991, USA) was a central figure of the New York avantgarde in the 1960s and 70s. In 1963 Moorman established the annual New York Avant-Garde Festival, which she organised until 1982. She first met and collaborated with Nam June Paik in 1964. Their partnership lasted until Moorman’s death in 1991. Paik created some of his best-known pieces for Moorman, including "TV Bra for Living Sculpture" (1969) and "TV Cello" (1971).

Performance Documentation, Aachen, Germany
1965, b&w, silent, 4:14 min
Charlotte Moorman at the Howard Wise Gallery
1969, colour, silent, 1:43 min
TV Bed, the Everson Museum of Art, New York
1972, b&w, sound, 1:10 min
TV Cello
1973, performance, b&w, silent, 1:42 min
Waiting for Commercial
1972, performance, b&w, sound, 8:20 min
New Television Workshop
1971, performance, colour, sound, 7:25 min

Newly restored, rare performance material from Nam June Paik’s personal archives includes documentation of Paik’s emblematic collaborative pieces with Charlotte Moorman, such as TV Bed, TV Cello and TV Bra. These works were performed at ven- ues that resonate in video art history, such as the Howard Wise Gallery, the Everson Museum of Art and the WGBH television studio. Several performance documents are without sound.

Courtesy Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI), New York

Document media
Video, b&w, colour, sound, silent, 25:08 min

Issue date
compiled 2000

Tags
fluxus, gaze, happening, mass media, music