A Playful Dance

Walker Art Center unveils new collection exploring Merce Cunningham's collaboration with Robert Rauschenberg

Costumes from Summerspace, above, and Antic Meet, below, are among the items on display at the new Dance Works exhibit at the Walker Art Center.

Image credit: Photos by Gene Pittman

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Merce Cunningham: Thank You and Goodbye

By: Molly Burke

Against the backdrop of the inviting taupe walls hung four, cream-colored, ruffled dance costumes, their shadows swaying slightly as people shuffled in the gallery. It seemed as though the dresses still formed around invisible bodies that at any second, could leave their spot and leap around the gallery.

It is an appropriate and alluring first vision of the Walker Art Center’s newest acquisition: an immense collection of artifacts from the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. The new exhibit, Dance Works I: Merce Cunningham/Robert Rauschenberg, in the Medtronic Gallery features costumes, props, backdrops, sets and other artifacts used on the modern dance company’s tour from the 1950s onward.  

It is the first in a series of research exhibits focusing on Cunningham's collaboration with visual artists that will land at the Walker (Dance Works II: Merce Cunningham/Ernesto Neto opens on Dec. 15), and is opening in conjunction with the dance company's farewell tour, which lands at the Walker this weekend.

Philip Bither, the Walker’s senior curator of performing arts, estimates that the art center acquired as many as 2,000 objects from the dance company, an amount that means there is likely to be something for every visitor. “This is the largest single acquisition in the Walker’s history,” says Bither at the gallery opening.

Although the acquisition includes work by Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns, the exhibit focuses mainly on renowned choreographer Merce Cunningham and his relationship with artist and collaborator Robert Rauschenberg. Their collaborations and solo work can be seen across the gallery in the form of multi-colored backdrops, eccentric dance costumes and bizarre props that include doors, bike wheels, chairs, silverware and even taxidermy animals.

The most notable pieces include a massive 30- by 60-foot backdrop that was painstakingly spray-painted inch-by-inch, as well as those four ruffled dresses that turned out to be made from real parachutes (and, by the way, are much heavier than they look).

The playfulness of Cunningham’s choreography and Rauschenberg’s art brings certain luminosity to the gallery, as metallic costumes reflect from wall to wall and colors range from black to neon yellow to the brightest of reds.

“[Cunningham and Rauschenberg] maintained a childlike interest in exploring the unknown,” says Trevor Carlson, the dance company’s executive director. “Cunningham gave freedom and liberation to his company, allowing others to work independently so they could get to something greater.”

This playful and energetic collection found a perfect complement and home in the Walker—a museum that knows modern art better than any place in the state. Thankfully, this captivating collection is here to stay.

To mark a “new era” in their relationship with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, the Walker Art Center is hosting a series of workshops, live performances, dance works and talks. You can see the dance company’s “Legacy Tour” Nov.4-6. For more information and tickets visit  walkerart.org.