PLATFORM 2012: Judson Now presents work by Judson-era artists reflecting their current artistic interests and includes artists who influenced Judson pre-1962 and contemporary artists who claim Judson as a direct point of reference. Fifty years after the first Concert of Dance at Judson Memorial Church in 1962, Judson’s ideas and radical experiments are still influencing the way artists work today. And it’s been thirty years since Judson Dance Theater Reconstructions was presented at Danspace Project which marked Judson’s 20th anniversary in 1982.

Yvonne Rainer’s Parts of Some Sextets (1965). Performance at Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT., March 6, 1965. Robert Morris, Lucinda Childs, Steve Paxton, Yvonne Rainer, Deborah Hay, Tony Holder, Sally Gross, Robert Rauschenberg, Judith Dunn, and Joseph Schlichter. Photo: Peter Moore © Estate of Peter Moore/VAGA, NYC.

Many of the artists who participated in the more than 200 experimental evenings from 1962–1966 are still making, performing, exhibiting, and touring their work. Their generative cross-disciplinary experiments gave rise to some of the most important movements of the 1960s and 1970s and still inspire younger generations in all disciplines to take artistic risks. Judson Now is not a comprehensive survey but rather a snapshot of Judson’s influence in the current moment. Judson Dance Theater’s mythic reach is vast, its artists were many, its experiments were multidisciplinary, and the energy and vision spilled out of the Judson Church into lofts, theaters, churches, and even to other cities. There can be no one narrative to sum up Judson, which took place in, around, and outside the Church in the early 1960s. Judson Now takes place over 10 weeks. Public events include performances, discussions, panels, film showings, and artists’ residencies.

Danspace Project will publish a catalogue co-edited by Jenn Joy and Judy Hussie-Taylor featuring archival and contemporary images, interviews, and essays.