Judy Hussie-Taylor — Curating

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Judy Hussie-Taylor

Judy Hussie-Taylor is executive and artistic director of Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery in New York, where she established the Platform series of programs and performances.

Curate. Probably 1382. Spiritual guide, one who cures, in writings of Wycliffe; borrowed from Medieval Latin curatus, person having the care of souls, from cura care. The meaning of a clergyman who assists a vicar was first recorded in 1557, and originated in the Church of England.
Curator. Probably about 1375, curature, person having the care of souls, borrowed from the Anglo-French curatour, Old French curateur, learned borrowing from Latin curatorem (nominative curator) overseer, guardian, from curare care for, from cura care.
Chambers Dictionary of Etymology

It is good to be reminded that the original usage was about caring not for objects but for people. Relationships are central to curating performance; it is caring for the art and the people who make it. Might a performing arts curator be a connoisseur of relationships and situations, an expert in the care of time and ephemerality as much as of space?

The curator is commonly understood to be the person who oversees a collection of historical and/or art objects and one who creates exhibitions that contextualize those objects. The term has been applied historically to the visual arts and most often to static objects displayed in museums and galleries. In the 1960s and ’70s the curator’s role became increasingly dynamic in response to contemporary artists who were reimagining artistic practice and creating works of art outside the context of galleries and museums, often involving performance. As the legendary curator Harald Szeemann put it, “An exhibition is . . . a poem in space with plenty of room for free association.”1

The application of the term curation to performing arts is relatively new, but the function of curation is not. The performing arts curator’s role is usually embedded in her other functions as executive director, producer, presenter, manager, fundraiser, operations manager, and/or artistic director. We have of course had impresarios, including Sergey Diaghilev and, more recently, Harvey Lichtenstein, who put the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) on the international map in the 1980s through his decades-long support of Merce Cunningham, Pina Bausch, Philip Glass, Robert Wilson, and Lucinda Childs, among other artist luminaries. BAM and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis were among the first institutions to create formal positions for performing arts programmers with the word curator in the title. Since the 1970s the Kitchen in New York has engaged scholar-curators and artist-curators. Danspace Project used the term on its founding in 1974 with the distinction that its first curator, Larry Fagin, was and is a poet. He reportedly learned about dance from the poet and dance critic Edwin Denby. It would be heartening to see more hybrid curatorial teams working across disciplines, and I hope that there will be more curatorial experiments and collaborations moving in this direction. The curators of different art forms have much to offer one another.

Any curator engaged with contemporary exhibition making is involved in relationships with living artists. Perhaps what differentiates artist-curator relationships in the visual arts from those in the performing arts is that visual artists’ and curators’ work is primarily behind the scenes in preparation for an exhibition. In the performing arts, curators’ relationships and negotiations with artists take place before, during and after the event or performance. When the dancer exits the stage, the performance space, or for that matter MoMA’s atrium, where does she go? What does she need? She probably needs a glass of water, a bathroom, and a few quiet moments to catch her breath. As mundane as this sounds, the performance curator and her staff understand that those needs are as essential to the work as contextualizing, research, and presentation. But perhaps the differences matter less than the primary similarity: the fact that at the heart of the best curation lie an intimate knowledge of and relationship to living artists.

In her introduction to On Curating, Carolee Thea writes, “Among the major figures to have come of age in this cultural milieu is the independent curator. . . . Aesthetically, curators are more like theater directors, and it could be argued that they follow a performance paradigm rather than one based on the object or commodity. We could say that they are translators, movers or creators whose material is the work of others—but in any case the role of mediator is inescapable. . . . The curator inversely translates the artist’s work by providing a context to enable the public’s understanding.”2

In the performing arts, “curation” has not been codified to the same degree that it has in visual art; many presenters and organizers reject the term, perhaps because most do not have advanced degrees in art history or curatorial studies. At the same time, some visual art curators have recently questioned the title because of its overuse in popular culture. Today everyone is the curator of her own consumer experience! Every recent college grad who organizes an informal works-in-progress series is a curator! That said, training in performing arts presentation can be quite rigorous. Performing arts organizers tend to get trained in real time, under extreme pressure, or, in the best cases, by mentors, but they are always, it seems, under fire. Often performing arts organizers have been trained as artists of some kind before becoming curators. Until 2012 there was no program in the United States in which one could study or research performing arts curation.3

The curatorial strategies that we have explored at Danspace Project since 2008 include the Platform series, which was conceived as a set of exhibitions that unfold over time. The Platforms are predicated on relationships between artists, curators, scholars, historians, writers, and audiences. I often exercise poetic license by playfully referring to our collaborative curatorial process as “relational curation.” And, while not directly influenced by Nicolas Bourriaud’s Relational Aesthetics, the notion that an artistic endeavor takes into account “the realm of human interactions and its social context, rather than the assertion of an independent and private symbolic space,” resulting in “collective elaboration of meaning” is applicable to the coauthored organizing of the Platform series.4 In Hans Ulrich Obrist’s A Brief History of Curating, Christophe Cherix writes that a history of contemporary curation is important because it highlights “a network of relationships within the art community at the heart of emerging curatorial practices.”5 An active network of relationships at the heart of the dance community provides the scaffolding for the Danspace Project’s Platform series, which is but one component of Danspace’s Choreographic Center Without Walls, a center for artistic and curatorial research.


  1. Harald Szeemann, interview by Jean-Francois Chougnet, Thierry Prat, and Thierry Raspail (1997), reprinted in Harald Szeemann: Individual Methodology, ed. Florence Derieux (Zurich: JRP/Ringier, 2007), 177.  

  2. Carolee Thea, introduction to On Curating: Interviews with Ten International Curators, ed. Carolee Thea and Thomas Miccheli (New York: DAP, 2009), 6. 

  3. In 2011 Wesleyan University launched the Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance (ICPP), the first postgraduate program in the United States dedicated to curatorial practice in the performing arts. The founding directors include Pamela Tatge, executive director of the Center for the Arts, Wesleyan University, and Sam Miller, executive director of Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, in collaboration with Danspace’s director, Judy Hussie-Taylor. 

  4. Nicolas Bourriaud, Relational Aesthetics, trans. Simon Pleasance and Fronza Woods (Dijon, France: Presses du Réel, 2002), 14, 15. 

  5. Christophe Cherix, preface to Hans Ulrich Obrist, A Brief History of Curating (Zurich: JRP/Ringier; Dijon, France: Presses du Réel, 2008). 


For Further Reference

Note: Four of these six exhibitions were curated by artists.

First New York Theater Rally, abandoned CBS studio, Broadway and Eighty-first Street, New York, May 1965. Curated by Steve Paxton and Alan Solomon. Artists: Lucinda Childs, Jim Dine, Alex Hay, Deborah Hay, Robert Morris, Claes Oldenberg, Steve Paxton, Yvonne Rainer, Robert Rauschenberg, and Robert Whitman.

“Some Sweet Day,” Museum of Modern Art, New York, October–November 2012. Curated by Ralph Lemon with Jenny Schlenzka. Artists: Steve Paxton, Jérôme Bel, Faustin Linyekula, Dean Moss, Laylah Ali, Kevin Beasley, Deborah Hay, and Sarah Michelson.

“PLATFORM 2012: Judson Now,” Danspace Project, New York, September–December 2012. Curated by Judy Hussie-Taylor (with one-time-only events curated by Steve Paxton, Juliette Mapp, Patricia Hoffbauer, and Melinda Ring). Artists (in order of event): John Cage (100th birthday celebration), Rashaun Mitchell, Silas Reiner, So Percussion, Elaine Summers, Steve Paxton, Stephen Petronio, Yves Candau, Clarinda Mac Low, Jackson Mac Low, Lucinda Childs, Carolee Schneemann, Stacy Spence, Trajal Harrell, David Gordon, Valda Setterfield, Yvonne Rainer, Simone Forti, Ralph Lemon, Juliette Mapp, Lance Gries, Molly Lieber, Eleanor Smith, Jen Rosenblit, Melinda Ring, Liliana Dirks-Goodman, Michael Mahalchick, Meredith Monk, Martin Kersels, Patricia Hoffbauer, Pat Catterson, Sara Rudner, Arthur Aviles, Jennifer Monson, Sally Silvers, Claire Bishop, and Deborah Hay.

Time-Based Art Festival, Portland Institute of Contemporary Art. Curated by founder Kristy Edmunds from 2003 to 2005 (subsequent curators include Mark Russell, Cathy Edwards, and Angela Mattox).

“Retrospective Project: Eiko & Koma,” multiple US venues (Wesleyan University, Danspace Project, Park Avenue Armory, Walker Art Center, Columbia University, Tigertail, RedCat, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Dublin Dance Festival, Alverno Presents, Lincoln Center, MCA/Chicago, Skirball Center, North Fourth Art Center, Astor Galler/NY Public Library for the Performing Arts, Colorado College, Brown University, Yerba Buena Center for the arts, Clarice Smith Performing Arts, University of Maryland), April 2009–June 2012. Curated by Eiko & Koma in collaboration with Sam Miller (with site-specific co-curators: Philip Bither, Rachel Cooper, Irene and Paul Oppenheim, Jodee Nimerichter and Charles Reinhart, Ralph Samuelson, Yoko Shioya, Jan Schmidt, Peter Taub, Pam Tatge, and Judy Hussie-Taylor).

“Daylight,” Walker Art Center, September 2005. In response to the Herzog & de Meuron Walker Art Center Building. Choreographer: Sarah Michelson. Collaborators: Claude Wampler and Dominic Cullinan. Curated by Philip Bither.

See Also

Installation — Judy Hussie-Taylor

Installation — David Levine

Site — Simon Dove

Steve Paxton, Intravenous Lecture (1970), 2012. Performed by Stephen Petronio with Nicholas Sciscione. Part of Platform 2012: “Judson Now,” curated by Judy Hussie-Taylor, Danspace, New York. Photo © Ian Douglas.

Cynthia Oliver and Leslie Cuyjet in Oliver’s “Where We’re Calling From,” an evening of three short works organized by Bebe Miller and Ishmael Houston-Jones. Part of Platform 2012: “Parallels,” Danspace Project, St. Mark’s Church, New York. Photo © Ian Douglas.

Simone Forti, That Fish Is Broke, 2012. With Brennan Gerard and Terrence Luke Johnson. Part of Platform 2012: “Judson Now,” curated by Judy Hussie-Taylor, Danspace, New York. Photo © Ian Douglas.

Sarah Michelson, Daylight (for Minneapolis), 2005. Photo: Gene Pittman for Walker Art Center, Minneapolis.

Paul Chan, Waiting for Godot in New Orleans, 2007. Photo: Frank Aymami. Courtesy of Creative Time.

Andrea Fraser, Projection, 2008. Still from a 2-channel HD video projection installation. © Andrea Fraser. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Nagel Draxler.

David Levine, Bystanders, 2015. Installation view, Gallery TPW, Toronto. Performer: William Ellis. Photo: Guntar Kravis.

VALIE EXPORT, TAPP und TASTKINO (Tap and touch cinema), 1968. © 2016 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / Bildrecht, Vienna. Photo © Werner Schulz.

My Barbarian (Malik Gaines, Jade Gordon, and Alexandro Segade), Broke People’s Baroque Peoples’ Theater, 2010. Courtesy of Alexandro Segade.

Richard Maxwell, Neutral Hero, 2012. The Kitchen, New York. From left: Janet Coleman, Bob Feldman, Lakpa Bhutia, Andie Springer, Jean Ann Garrish. Photo © Paula Court.

Miguel Gutierrez and Tarek Halaby in Gutierrez's Last Meadow, 2009. Dance Theater Workshop, New York, September 2009. Photo © Ian Douglas.

Mac Wellman, Muazzez, 2014. Performer: Steve Mellor. Chocolate Factory Theater, Queens, New York (a co-presentation with PS 122). Photo: Brian Rogers.

Janine Antoni, Yours Truly, 2010. Ink on paper, 5 7/8 x 8 1/2”. © Janine Antoni. Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York.

Yvonne Rainer, score for “Trio B: Running,” from The Mind Is a Muscle, 1966–68. Graphite and ink on paper, 8 5/16 x 7 5/16". The Getty Research Institute. © Yvonne Rainer.

Susan Leigh Foster, The Ballerina’s Phallic Pointe, 2011, a performed lecture in the series Susan Foster! Susan Foster! Three Performed Lectures, produced by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage and performed at the Philadelphia Live Arts Studio, 2011. Photo: Jorge Cousineau.

Opening performance of the exhibition “Trisha Brown: So That the Audience Does Not Know Whether I Have Stopped Dancing,” Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 2008. Brown improvises movements across a large piece of paper on the Medtronic Gallery floor, holding charcoal and pastel between her fingers and toes, drawing extemporarily. Photo: Gene Pittman for Walker Art Center, Minneapolis.

Allora & Calzadilla, Sediments Sentiments (Figures of Speech), 2007. Mixed-media installation with live performance and pre-recorded sound track, dimensions variable. © Allora & Calzadilla. Courtesy of Lisson Gallery.

Martha Rosler, Meta-Monumental Garage Sale, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2012. Courtesy of the artist.

Lucinda Childs, Pastime (1963), 2012, performed by Childs at Danspace as part of Platform 2012: "Judson Now." Photo © Ian Douglas.

Siobhan Davies and Helka Kaski, Manual, 2013. Photo © Alan Dimmick. Courtesy of Glasgow Life.

“Performance Now,” curated by RoseLee Goldberg. Installation view, Kraków Theatrical Reminiscences, Poland, 2014. Photo: Michal Ramus. Courtesy of Independent Curators International (ICI).

Steve Paxton, Intravenous Lecture (1970), 2012. Performed by Stephen Petronio with Nicholas Sciscione. Part of Platform 2012: “Judson Now,” curated by Judy Hussie-Taylor, Danspace, New York. Photo © Ian Douglas.

Installation view, “Dance Works I: Merce Cunningham—Robert Raschenberg,” curated by Darsie Alexander at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 2011. Photo: Gene Pittman for Walker Art Center, Minneapolis.

Chief Dalcour and the Serenity Peace Birds in “Public Practice: An Anti-Violence Community Ceremony,” curated by Delaney Martin and Claire Tancons for New Orleans Airlift, October 25, 2014. Photo: Josh Brasted.

Ain Gordon and David Gordon, The Family Business, premiered 1993. Performers: David Gordon, Ain Gordon, Valda Setterfield. Photo: Andrew Lichtenstein. Courtesy of the photographer and Pick Up Performance Co(s).

Hotel Modern, Kamp, 2005. Photo: Herman Helle.

Janine Antoni, Anna Halprin, and Stephen Petronio, Rope Dance, 2015. Photo © Hugo Glendinning. Courtesy of the artists and The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia.

Sarah Michelson, Devotion Study #1—The American Dancer, 2012 Whitney Biennial, February 26, 2012. Photo © Paula Court. Performers: Eleanor Hullihan and Nicole Mannarino.

Ralph Lemon, How Can You Stay in the House All Day and Not Go Anywhere?, 2009. Archival print from original film. © Ralph Lemon.

Pope.L, The Great White Way, 22 miles, 9 years, 1 street (Whitney version), 2001. © Pope.L. Courtesy of the artist and Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York. Photo: Lydia Grey.

Iannis Xenakis, Terretektorh, Distribution of Musicians, 1965. Collection famille Xenakis. Courtesy of the Iannis Xenakis Archives. © Iannis Xenakis.

Lisa Bielawa, Chance Encounter, premiered 2007. Co-conceived with Susan Narucki. Photo: Corey Brennan, 2010, Rome.

Claudia La Rocco, 173-177 [or, Facebook Is Inescapable], 2013. Headlands Center for the Arts. Courtesy of José Carlos Teixeira.

Pina Bausch and the Tanztheater Wuppertal, Palermo, Palermo, Brooklyn Academy of Music, 1991. Photo: Maarten Vanden Abeele.

Tomás Saraceno, Observatory, Air-Port-City, 2008. In “Psycho Buildings: Artists Take on Architecture,” curated by Ralph Rugoff, Hayward Gallery, London. Courtesy of the artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York.

Christian Marclay, Chalkboard, 2010, paint and chalk, 210 x 1,045 inches. Installation view, “Christian Marclay: Festival,” 2010, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Collection of the artist; courtesy of Paula Cooper Gallery, New York. Photo: Christian Marclay.

Steven Schick at the “Peacock” in the Paul Dresher Ensemble Production of Schick Machine, 2009, by Paul Dresher, Steven Schick, and Rinde Eckert. Mondavi Center, UC Davis, Davis, CA. Photo: Cheung Chi Wai.

Ralph Lemon in An All Day Event: The End, part of Platform 2012: “Parallels.” Danspace, New York. Photo © Ian Douglas.

Installation view, “Allison Smith: Rudiments of Fife & Drum,” The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT. Photo: Chad Kleitsch. Courtesy of The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum.

David Levine, Habit, 2012. Installation view, Luminato Festival, Toronto, 2011. Photo: David Levine.

Meredith Monk, Shards (1969–73), 2012. Part of Platform 2012: “Judson Now,” curated by Judy Hussie-Taylor, Danspace, New York. Photo © Ian Douglas.

Berlin, Bonanza, 2006. A documentary project focusing on Bonanza, Colorado, population 7. © Berlin. berlinberlin.be.

Gob Squad, Kitchen (You’ve Never Had It So Good), 2007. Photo © David Baltzer / bildbuehne.de / Agentur Zenit Berlin.

Kit Galloway and Sherrie Rabinowitz, Hole in Space, 1980. On screens in front of Lincoln Center and The Broadway department store in Los Angeles, passersby could see and talk to their counterparts on the opposite coast, and many “reunions” were quickly set up, in this early example of video conferencing. Courtesy of the Sherrie Rabinowitz and Kit Galloway Archives.

Hans Haacke, News, 1969/2005. Installation view, “State of the Union,” Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, 2005. © Hans Haacke / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn. Courtesy of the artist and Paula Cooper Gallery, New York.

Pauline Oliveros, circa 1967. Courtesy of the CCM Archive, Mills College, Oakland, CA.

The Builders Association, Elements of Oz, 2015. Photo: Gennadi Novash. Courtesy of Peak Performances @ Montclair State University.

Ain Gordon, A Disaster Begins, 2009. Veanne Cox. Here Arts Center, New York. Photo: Jason Gardner. Courtesy of the photographer and Pick Up Performance Co(s).

Hopscotch, 2015. Directed by Yuval Sharon. Produced by The Industry, Los Angeles. Photo: Dana Ross.

The Wooster Group, BRACE UP!, 1991. Directed by Elizabeth LeCompte. Anna Köhler (on monitor) and Willem Dafoe. Photo © Mary Gearhart.

Tania El Khoury, Jarideh, 2010.

Joanna Haigood and Charles Trapolin, The Monkey and the Devil, performance installation, 2011. Performers: Matthew Wickett, Sean Grimm, Jodi Lomask. Photo: Walter Kitundu.

Jarbas Lopes, Demolition Now, in “SPRING,” curated by Claire Tancons for the 7th Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, 2008. Photo: Akiko Ota.

Lisa Bielawa, Crissy Broadcast (part of Airfield Broadcasts), San Francisco, 2013. Photo: James Block.

Erwin Wurm, One Minute Sculpture, 1997/2005. © Erwin Wurm. Courtesy of the artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York and Hong Kong.

Ethyl Eichelberger as Minnie the Maid, 1981. Photo: Peter Hujar. The Peter Hujar Archive. Courtesy of Pace MacGill and Fraenkel Galleries.

Wu Tsang with Alexandro Segade, Mishima in Mexico, 2012. Color HD video, 14:32 minutes. Courtesy of the artists, Clifton Benevento (New York), Michael Benevento (Los Angeles), and Isabella Bortolozzi (Berlin).

Young Jean Lee, Untitled Feminist Show, 2012. Baryshnikov Arts Center, New York, 2012. Hilary Clark, Regina Rocke, and Katy Pyle. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

Romeo Castellucci, On the Concept of the Face Regarding the Son of God, 2010. Philadelphia Live Arts Festival, 2013. Photo: Kevin Monko.

Jérôme Bel, Le dernier spectacle (The last performance), 1998. Photo: Herman Sorgeloos.

Troubleyn / Jan Fabre, Mount Olympus, 2015. Performance lasts 24 hours. Photo © Wonge Bergmann for Troubleyn / Jan Fabre.

Siobhan Davies Studios, Roof Studio, London. Photo: Peter Cook.

Emily Roysdon, Sense and Sense (a project with MPA), Sergels torg, Stockholm, Sweden, 2010. Courtesy of the artist.

David Lang’s home studio. Photo © Jorge Colombo.

Marcel Duchamp, Bicycle Wheel, 1964 (replica of 1913 original). Wheel and painted wood. Philadelphia Museum of Art. Gift of the Galleria Schwarz d’Arte, Milan, 1964. © Succession Marcel Duchamp / ADAGP, Paris / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, 2016.

Historical interpreters from Freetown Living History Museum, as part of Allison Smith’s 2008 project The Donkey, The Jackass, and The Mule, with the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Photo: Allison Smith and Michelle Pemberton.

Rimini Protokoll, Situation Rooms, 2013. Photo © Ruhrtriennale / Jörg Baumann.

Jeanine Oleson and Ellen Lesperance, We Like New York and New York Likes Us, 2004. A “wry look back” at Joseph Beuys’s performance with a coyote, I Like America and America Likes Me, René Block Gallery, New York, 1974. Courtesy of the artists.

Christine Hill, Volksboutique Organizational Ventures, 2001. Mixed-media installation, Kunstverein Wolfsburg, Germany. Courtesy of Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York.

Andrea Fraser, Museum Highlights: A Gallery Talk, 1989. Performance. Performance documentation: Kelly & Massa Photography. Courtesy of the artist. © Andrea Fraser.

Theaster Gates, Dorchester Projects, Chicago, 2012. © Theaster Gates. Photo © Sara Pooley. Courtesy of White Cube.

John Cage, two pages from 4'33" (original version, in proportional notation), 1952/1953. Ink on paper, 11 x 8 1/2" each sheet. Acquired by The Museum of Modern Art through the generosity of Henry Kravis in honor of Marie-Josée Kravis. © 1993 Henmar Press Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission of C. F. Peters Corporation. Photo © The Museum of Modern Art / Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY.

Yoko Ono, Painting For The Wind, summer 1961. First published in Yoko Ono: Grapefruit (Tokyo: Wunternaum Press, July 4, 1964). © Yoko Ono.

Rosemary Lee, Square Dances, 2011, commissioned by Dance Umbrella. Square Dances took place in four central London squares throughout a day, with different casts in each: 10 children in Woburn Square, 100 women in Gordon Square, 35 men in Brunswick Gardens, 25 dance students in Queen Square. Each performance involved bells, ranging from a huge church bell that struck every minute; to a handmade musical instrument using bells within its barrel structure, created and composed by Terry Mann; to tiny hand bells for the dancers. Photo: Hugo Glendinning.

Dictaphone Group, This Sea is Mine, 2012.

Joanna Haigood and Wayne Campbell, Ghost Architecture, 2004. An aerial dance installation centering on the architectural and social history of the site. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco.

Ann Hamilton, the event of a thread, 2012–13. Park Avenue Armory, New York. Curated by Kristy Edmunds. Photo © Ian Douglas.

Robert Wilson and Marina Abramović, The Life and Death of Marina Abramović, premiered 2011. Park Avenue Armory, New York, 2013. Foreground: Willem Dafoe. Photo: Joan Marcus. Courtesy of Park Avenue Armory.

Richard Maxwell, Neutral Hero, 2012. The Kitchen, New York. From left: Janet Coleman, Bob Feldman, Lakpa Bhutia, Andie Springer, Jean Ann Garrish. Photo © Paula Court.

Ann Liv Young, The Bagwell in Me, 2008. Photo: Scott Newman, Revel in New York.

Xavier Le Roy, “Retrospective,” 2012–. Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, 2012. Photo: Lluís Bover. © Fundació Antoni Tàpies.

Ethyl Eichelberger as Minnie the Maid, 1981. Photo: Peter Hujar. The Peter Hujar Archive. Courtesy of Pace MacGill and Fraenkel Galleries.

David Levine, Habit, 2012. Installation view, Luminato Festival, Toronto, 2011. Photo: David Levine.

Rimini Protokoll, 100% Yogyakarta, 2015. Teater Garasi, Yogyakarta, Java, Indonesia. © Goethe-Institut Indonesien / KDIP Viscom.

Bebe Miller Company, A History, 2012. Angie Hauser and Darrell Jones. Photo: Michael Mazzola.