Rituals of Rented Island: Object Theater, Loft Performance, and the New Psychodrama—Manhattan, 1970–1980

Oct 31, 2013–Feb 2, 2014

The artist Jared Bark, masked and wrapped in a string of light bulbs.
The artist Jared Bark, masked and wrapped in a string of light bulbs.

Jared Bark (b. 1944), LIGHTS: on/off, performance at The Clocktower, June 21, 1974. Photograph by Babette Mangolte; © 1974. All reproduction rights reserved

This exhibition illuminates a radical period of 1970s performance art that flourished in downtown Manhattan, or what filmmaker and performance artist Jack Smith called “Rented Island,” and still remains largely unknown today. Working in lofts, storefronts, and alternative spaces, this group of artists, with backgrounds in theater, dance, music, and visual art, created complex new forms of performance to embody and address contemporary media, commercial culture, and high art.

Rituals of Rented Island includes: Vito Acconci, Laurie Anderson, Jared Bark, Ericka Beckman, Ralston Farina, Richard Foreman/Ontological-Hysteric Theater, Julia Heyward, Ken Jacobs Apparition Theater of New York, Mike Kelley, Kipper Kids, Jill Kroesen, Sylvia Palacios Whitman, Yvonne Rainer and Babette Mangolte, Stuart Sherman, Theodora Skipitares, Jack Smith, Michael Smith, Squat Theatre, Robert Wilson/Byrd Hoffman School of Byrds, and John Zorn/Theatre of Musical Optics. As part of the exhibition, performances will take place both within and outside the exhibition’s galleries, including reinvestigations of groundbreaking 1970s performances by Laurie Anderson, Jared Bark, Julia Heyward, Sylvia Palacios Whitman, and others. 

Rituals of Rented Island: Object Theater, Loft Performance, and the New Psychodrama—Manhattan, 1970–1980 is organized by Jay Sanders, Curator and Curator of Performance.

Significant support for this exhibition is provided by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the National Committee of the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Film Series: Further Rituals of Rented Island
At Anthology Film Archives

In conjunction with Rituals of Rented Island, join us at Anthology Film Archives for a film series co-curated by J. Hoberman, Andrew Lampert, and Jay Sanders. The series includes videos, films, and documentation and features many pieces not on view in the exhibition. All screenings take place at Anthology Film Archives, 32 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10003.

January 16
Program 1: Vito Acconci, 7:30 pm

January 17
Program 2: Ericka Beckman/Theodora Skipitares, 7:30 pm
Program 3: Ralston Farina, 9:30 pm

January 18
Program 4: Jill Kroesen, 3:30 pm
Program 5: Julia Heyward, 6:30 pm
Program 6: Michael Smith, 8:45 pm

January 19
Program 7: Robert Wilson, 4 pm
Program 8: Richard Foreman, 6 pm
Program 9: Yvonne Rainer, 8:45 pm

January 20
Program 10: Babette Mangolte, 7:15 pm
Program 11: Chantal Akerman, 9:15 pm

January 21
Program 12: James Nares, 7 pm
Program 13: Jack Smith, 9 pm

Events

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In the News

Interview: "Rituals of Rented Island: Babette Mangolte"
—Performa

"Like a time capsule, the show takes you back to the recent past in New York art history. But with enough patience, it becomes clear that work is as relevant today as it was then, defiantly edgy and challenging."
—Time Out

"Rituals of Rented Island is an essential show."
—Gallerist

"The radical performance-art period of the 1970s gets a multimedia rewind."
—Newsday

"A walk-in Wunderkammer whose curiosities include electrified costumes and glow-in-the-dark props as well as film footage, photographs, and ephemera."
—The New Yorker

"Mr. Sanders is doing the right curatorial thing in bringing [certain figures] back to the spotlight."
—The New York Times

"Those ’70s Shows: An Interview with Jay Sanders"
—Art in America

Rituals of Rented Island: Object Theater, Loft Performance, and the New Psychodrama—Manhattan 1970–1980 . . . promises to revisit an era in New York when performance art was still a daringly ephemeral, market-challenging medium, not the big-ticket, deluxe, staged and restaged thing it has become.
—The New York Times

"I Remember Ralston: J. Hoberman on the Art of Ralston Farina"
—Artforum

"8 Museum Shows You Need to See This Fall"
—The L Magazine

On the Hour

A 30-second online art project:
Maya Man, A Realistic Day In My Life Living In New York City

Learn more about this project

Learn more at whitney.org/artport

On the Hour projects can contain motion and sound. To respect your accessibility settings autoplay is disabled.