She was a Julliard-trained cellist who found her calling in avant-garde performance art. She was part of the Fluxus movement, one of the few women involved, and collaborated with many other avant-garde artists, most notably Nam June Paik. Paik created many electronic contraptions that she would use in performance, such as the TV bra.
It's exactly what it sounds like.
She orchestrated 15 public avant-garde festivals in New York from 1963 to 1980. She wanted all types of avant-garde to reach as wide an audience as possible. She once played a piece on her cello while strung up by a dozen weather-balloons, floating over the Sydney Opera House. Nbd.
I think that McLuhan included her in TMITM where he did because of her balance between the old and the new in her art. On the page before hers, he talks about a transition phase between the old way of doing things and the new, the former trying to persist over the latter but ultimately failing. Moorman's life and work exemplifies this idea: she was raised in Little Rock, Arkansas in the 40s and 50s, about as traditional as you can get. She was extremely committed to her music and constantly looked for ways to improve her technique until she got bored with classical cello in her late 20s. She transitioned to the new, the avant-garde style of performance, and the more she got involved in it the more she was convinced that it was the right style for her. She constantly pushed the boundaries of her performance, seeing how much she could get away with. From the old and the new, "Moorman invented a new mode of performance that combined classical rigor, jazz improvisation, and avant-garde experiment--informed by intuition, daring, and love of spectacle" (Joan Rothfuss, Topless Cellist).
The idea of someone playing a traditional cello piece while nude or suspended in the air seems so ridiculous, probably because of the formality associated with classical music -- the cello itself is often not included in the modern band's array of instruments.
ReplyDeleteThe performative aspect of her work lends itself so well to this dissonance, and it is clear based on the title "topless cellist" that the performance survived beyond the music.
Yeah, I think it's great that she's using this super academic instrument and doing something insane with it in a lot of different ways.
DeleteThis woman is awesome. It's so great how when she got bored with classical music she didn't just stop playing and try to move on to something entirely different; she took the classical music and ran with it. Hell yeah.
ReplyDeleteCharlotte Moorman seems amazing! And you definitely made me want to read her biography. It's always so inspiring to see people come from traditional, conservative backgrounds to become progressive, avant-garde cellists! In all seriousness, though, Moorman seems to be an especially talented and important figure that I need to learn more about. Also, it's crazy that she roomed with Yoko Ono in college!
ReplyDeleteThis woman is fascinating. I will probably be Googling more about her later today. I think she really embodies the thing we were discussing at the end of class about whether just being in one medium is enough. If she had just remained a classical cellist, would she have been remembered? Also, her sky balloon piece was amazing, but seeing someone suspended in the air by balloons like that makes me nervous.
ReplyDeleteOf all of the classical instruments, cello remains my favorite, and the idea of bringing it to this level of absurdity is great and in my opinion a fresh and exciting route that more artists should explore.
ReplyDeleteShe seems super cool. She's definitely a person that went beyond what was okay to do at the time and changed a lot of people's thinking. Definitely why she's in the Massage. I also think it's nice to see a "professionally-trained" musician who could very easily subscribe to mainstream academic music doing something completely crazy and weird. Often that's only achieved by someone who has a non-academic outlook on art or music.
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