Version bêta
31 October - 14 December 2008

7 to 28 November

The show "9 Evenings Reconsidered: Art, Theater and Engineering," held this summer at Zurich's Museum für Gestaltung, was mounted by the List Visual Arts Center of MIT. Echoing that exhibition and offering a world premier, Version bêta has decided to screen a number of films shot in 1966 at the 69th Regiment Armory in New York during the first major series of collaborative experiments between 30 scientists and ten artists from theater, dance and music. The series was the work of the engineer Billy Klüver, who gave the event its impetus. Boasting the participation of among others John Cage, Deborah Hay, Steve Paxton, Robert Rauschenberg and David Tudor, these experiments took shape as ten evenings of performances entitled "9 Evenings: Theater
and Engineering." The aim was to give concrete expression to artistic projects that had been considered unrealizable until then. These films, generously on loan to Version beta from the Pompidou Center, Mnam/Cci, Paris, constitute a highpoint in the culture's awareness of the rich vein of possibilities opened by the association of art and technology.

Friday 7 November at 7 PM

Robert Rauschenberg, Open Score, 31 min. Screening presented by the art critic Susanne Hillman.

Friday 14 November at 7 PM

Öyvind Fahlström, Kisses Sweeter Than Wine, 71 min. Screening presented by Julie Martin from Experiments in Art and Technology.

Friday 21 November at 7 PM

John Cage, Variations VI I, 41 min, followed David Tudor, Bandoneon ! [Bandoneon Factorial], 40 min.

Friday 28 November at 7 PM

Lucinda Childs, Vehicle, 2008,10 min.
Robert Whitman, Two Holes of Water, 2008, 10 min.
Yvonne Rainer, Carriage Discreteness, 2008, 10 min.
Steve Paxton, Physical Things, 2008,10 min.
Deborah Hay, Solo, 2008,13 min.
Alex Hay, Grass Field, 2008, 15 min.
Screening presented by the art critic Susanne Hillman.

To introduce the audience to the 9 Evenings screenings cycle, Version bêta called Susanne Hillman, who expressed what where the stakes of these first collaborations between artists and scientists and about the films that resulted from them.

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