Choreographer Merce Cunningham famously prided himself on making artistic decisions based on chance, sometimes even just before curtain. By contrast, "Common Time," Walker Art Center's astounding, expansive exhibition connecting Cunningham and his artistic collaborators, was years in the making.
Curators spent many hours mulling how to represent dance, costumes, set decor and music in a gallery setting. Their greatest accomplishment is never, in all their attentive micro-planning, losing sight of the spontaneous energy that epitomized Cunningham and his nearly 70-year career.
They recognized that even though the collection includes a treasure trove of video, reuniting some of his dancers for live performances would be vital to the exhibit's success. Four were in the galleries for the grand opening Wednesday and Thursday, dancing for an audience of critics, music fans and art lovers from around the country.
"Common Time" is the largest display of Cunningham-related art that the Walker has put on public view since acquiring the choreographer's collection in 2011.
When Cunningham died at age 90 in 2009, he left behind a detailed plan for preserving his dances and disbanding his company after a legacy tour. He did not, however, specify the landing spot for the company's ephemera, including sets and costumes by boldfaced art-world names like Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg.
Although the Walker has not shared the purchase price, its prospects were bolstered by its long-standing relationship with the Cunningham company, which dates to 1963, when the troupe was more a less a handful of dancers road-tripping in a van, with a set by Rauschenberg strapped on top and a soon-to-be famous composer named John Cage riding shotgun.
Cunningham was an egoless impresario who didn't own a tux. That's obvious from the very first gallery that Walker visitors enter. To the left is a video of Cunningham performing "Changling," a 1957 solo he created by listing all the movements he could perform with each limb, then putting them in order using chance processes. The tattered red wool body suit and felt skull cap he wore are front and center, and in the next room, there is a rather garish red-and-pink sculptural "combine" that Rauschenberg created especially for the top of that van.
This is not an exhibition that will bowl viewers over with its beauty. A 2013 Ballets Russes retrospective featuring music, sets and costumes, presented by the National Gallery of Art and Victoria and Albert Museum, had that advantage; Matisse and Debussy are more conventional draws than Isamu Noguchi and David Tudor.
