On 24th January 2022, Tate Modern will open a major free installation in the Tanks reconceiving Trisha Brown’s ground-breaking postmodern dance Set and Reset 1983. In March, the installation will be activated with ticketed performances by the internationally renowned London-based dance companies Candoco Dance Company and Rambert. It will be presented in collaboration with Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels, a new performance festival taking place across London. Tickets will go on presale to Tate Members on 19th January and general sale will open on 21st January.
Trisha Brown (1936–2017) was one of the most influential dancers and choreographers of her generation. Celebrated for her artistic experimentalism and collaboration with other artists, musicians and designers in 1960s New York, Brown pioneered a unique process of ‘memorised improvisation’. Set and Reset marked an important shift in Brown’s practice where her fluid yet idiosyncratic dance style was developed into a multi-layered choreographic structure. Comprising choreography by Trisha Brown, soundtrack by Laurie Anderson, stage-set and costumes by Robert Rauschenberg and lighting by Beverly Emmons, Set and Reset first premiered in 1983 and marked a pivotal moment in dance and art history. This free display at Tate Modern will feature elements from the staging, as well as documentation of the performance, and rarely seen videotapes that show Brown building and rehearsing the choreography with her dancers. The stage-set, costumes, soundtrack and lighting, devised by Brown and her collaborators Laurie Anderson, Beverly Emmons and Robert Rauschenberg, will join Tate’s collection as an installation. Through the generosity of the Trisha Brown Dance Company and the Tate Americas Foundation, this acquisition opens up new possibilities for how museums can collect and represent dance as it intersects with visual art.
From 12th–14th March 2022, London-based dance company Rambert will perform Set and Reset within the installation at Tate Modern, marking the first time that dancers outside of the Trisha Brown Dance Company have been allowed to perform the 1983 iteration of the work. Alongside the original score, lighting, sets and costumes, Rambert will showcase the fluid and unpredictable style of the original choreography. The following week, from 19–21 March 2022, Candoco Dance Company will perform Set and Reset/Reset, a radical reconstruction of Brown’s original choreography fused with the dancers’ own impulses and instincts. Candoco is one of the world’s leading contemporary dance companies that seeks to expand and challenge the perceptions of what dance can be. Through its company of disabled and non-disabled dancers Candoco continually pushes the boundaries of dance, creating distinctive performances and far-reaching learning experiences. A seminal work in its repertoire, Set and Reset/Reset has been performed by the company to audiences across the world for over ten years.
In collaboration with Trisha Brown Dance Company, Tate will also present Set and Reset/Unset, a series of informal performances that will provide a rare insight into the core principles and processes that Brown used to create her choreography. Taking place within the installation across multiple dates between March and August 2022, these free events will build upon Trisha Brown’s own history of combining spoken-word with movement and delivering lectures about her process while her dancers performed on stage.
The display and performances of Set and Reset form part of Tate’s wider commitment to exhibiting, collecting and researching live art and performance. In May 2022, Tate Modern will stage Lee Mingwei’s performance Our Labyrinth 2015– ongoing, in which single dancers, dressed in floor-length sarongs and wearing ankle bells, take it in turns to sweep a mound of rice in labyrinthine patterns on the floor. The work, which is in the Tate collection, will be presented in the Turbine Hall.
Set and Reset by Trisha Brown is curated by Catherine Wood, Senior Curator of International Art (Performance), Tate Modern with Fiontán Moran and Tamsin Hong, Assistant Curators, Tate Modern.
tate.org.uk/visit/tate-modern/tanks
ABOUT DANCE REFLECTIONS BY VAN CLEEF & ARPELS
A devotee of dance ever since its origins, the Maison is today strengthening its commitment to the arts with Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels. Guided by the values of creation, transmission and education, this initiative aims to uphold the artists and institutions that showcase the choreographic repertoire, while encouraging new productions. Since fall 2020, the Maison has been supporting diverse performances at festivals, as well as several companies for their future creations.
Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels also organises an annual choreographic event in one or more cities within a single region. The first of these encounters, set to take place in London in March 2022, will be an opportunity to bring together an extensive selection of choreographic works. The programme, designed in collaboration with Sadler’s Wells, the Royal Opera House and Tate Modern, will explore dance from the 1970s until today.
ABOUT TRISHA BROWN DANCE COMPANY
Trisha Brown Dance Company (TBDC) is a dance company dedicated to the performance and preservation of the work of Founding Artistic Director and Choreographer, Trisha Brown. Established in 1970, TBDC has toured throughout the world presenting work, teaching, and building relationships with audiences and artists alike.
ABOUT CANDOCO DANCE COMPANY
Candoco is a world-leading professional dance company. Bridging the mainstream and the experimental, their bold approach and powerful collaborations create distinctive performances and far-reaching learning experiences. They celebrate different ways of seeing, of being and of making art, putting them at the forefront of conversation around dance and disability and continually expanding perceptions of #whatdancecanbe. @candocodancecompany
ABOUT RAMBERT
Rambert believes that to give brilliant and daring people the chance to inspire others, is to give them the power to move the world forward. Britain’s oldest dance company is also one of the world’s most diverse and forward-looking. They transform everyday spaces by making dance that is awe-inspiring, adventurous, dynamic and relevant and taking it to their neighbourhood, the nation and the world. Rambert want to hear the most exciting and radical ideas wherever they may come from and connect with brilliant and daring audiences and participants from all backgrounds. They deliver inspiration, ambition and belief, through performance; dance and wellness classes for people of all ages and abilities; and outreach and community initiatives, in person and online, through Rambert Home Studio. @rambertdance
