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96.
ACTION MUSIC: Spring Arts Festival '68.
Poster + programme announcing a performance of “Mixed Media Opera” by Nam June Paik and Charlotte Moorman at the University of Cincinnati, April 1 (1968). Poster printed offset litho in black on white stock on recto and verso. 56x35cm.
Bill Sontag’s design for the poster features an outline of a large cello with a photograph of a woman’s breasts superimposed over its upper part, a provocative reference to the arrest of Moorman and Paik on the grounds of “partial nudity” during the performance of “Opera Sextronique” in New York a little over a year earlier. The verso prints brief artists’ biographies. Centre folded horizontally and vertically. Fine.
The programme, consisting of a single sheet folded once to make 4pp., prints biographical notes on the performers and lists the works performed. These included compositions by George Brecht and James Tenney, Earle Brown, John Cage, Yoko Ono, Joseph Beuys, Henning Christiansen, Takehisa Kosugi, Giuseppe Chiari, and Nam June Paik. Jonas Mekas is listed as a guest performer (a joint speech with Paik), and Jud Yalkut as the film technician. Near Fine.
