Joseph Kosuth is part of A Walk on the Wild Side: ‘70s New York in the Norman E. Fisher Collection at MOCA Jacksonville, Jacksonville, US.
Comprised of nearly 700 objects in a variety of media, the Norman E. Fisher Collection is one of MOCA Jacksonville’s most significant holdings. It was donated to the museum in 1979 by the family of Jacksonville native Norman Fisher, who became immersed in the New York cultural scene in the 1970s, befriending many of the luminaries of the time.
The collection offers an expansive view of late-20th-century American culture; a moment of radical creative experimentation across the visual, literary, and performing arts. It was a time when artists broke down the barriers between different art forms and collaborated in newfound and innovative ways. The questioning of the basic tenets of their different media, whether painting, sculpture, dance, music, film or poetry, led them to provoking crossovers and reciprocity.
A Walk on the Wild Side:‘70s New York in the Norman E. Fisher Collection at MOCA Jacksonville traces this time of experimentation through the works in the Norman E. Fisher Collection, complemented with national loans of sculptural work, video performances, prints, and installations. “It has been incredibly exciting to work with the Norman E. Fisher Collection in preparation of the exhibition,” says Senior Curator Ylva Rouse. “The artworks, printed media and documentation that Norman Fisher amassed give us a rare insight into this boundary breaking period in American Art, that in many ways prefigured the ways in which artists present their work today.”
A Walk on the Wild Side: ‘70s New York in the Norman E. Fisher Collection at the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville is made possible through the generous support of exhibition sponsors Anne and Charlie Joseph, the FSCJ Foundation, and Jacksonville University, along with the support of Centennial sponsors for MOCA Jacksonville's 100th Anniversary year from Lauren and Ted Baker, the City of Jacksonville, the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville, the Jesse Ball duPont Fund, the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs, Joan and Preston Haskell, The MOCA Board of Trustees, and the University of North Florida.
A Walk on the Wild Side features several focus points based on the Collection, such as the iconic performance and exhibition space and workshop 112 Greene Street, that together with the FOOD restaurant and Avalanche magazine constituted a network and mouthpiece for these artists’ experimental art practices, taking place in what would later be known as SOHO. At the time though, it was a derelict industrial area, in a city on the edge of bankruptcy. For the artists, it provided an affordable place to live and work, and an arena in which to stage their artwork and performances. 112 Greene Street, in a building owned by artist Jeffrey Lew and his wife, Rachel Wood, became a space where artists had the freedom to push boundaries and take risks, most famously by Gordon Matta-Clark and Alan Saret, who were instrumental in defining it as a space with a social context. 112 Greene Street became a prototype for the slew of alternative spaces that were created by artists during this time as outlets for their new art and their collective energy. Some of these survived the transition into established non-profits and have become iconic, such as The Kitchen, established in 1971; Artists Space in 1972; JUST ABOVE MIDTOWN (J.A.M.) in 1974; Franklin Furnace in 1976; and the Drawing Center and the New Museum in 1977, among many others. 112 Greene Street eventually became White Columns, still active today.
Another focal point is Einstein on the Beach, represented by original sketches and scores in MOCA’s collectionWorking with stage and theatre director Robert Wilson, musician Philip Glass (whose Ensemble would later turn part of Jeffrey Lew’s building into a recording studio) presented his astounding new sounds in this groundbreaking contemporary opera that revolutionized the classical music world. Conceived in the spring, summer and fall of 1975, and engaging some of the artists and dancers in the exhibition, such as artist and musician Richard “Dickie” Landry, , the Einstein on the Beach opera was the first of a trilogy described by Glass as portraits of people whose personal vision “transformed the thinking of their times through the power of ideas rather than by military force.” “Einstein” consisted of four interconnected acts and was five hours long, with no intermissions. Instead, the audience was invited to wander in and out at liberty during performances. The acts were intersticed by what Glass and Wilson called “knee plays” – brief interludes that provided time for scenery changes. The text consisted of numbers, solfège syllables, and some cryptic poems by poet Christopher Knowles, performed primarily by choreographer Lucinda Childs, Sheryl S. Sutton, and Samuel M. Johnson. Initially no US Opera house would present it, and it would premiere in Avignon, France, in July of 1976. Following its tremendous success, it was brought to the Metropolitan Opera House for two sold-out performances in November 1976.
EXHIBITING ARTISTS
Vito Acconci. Guglielmo Achille. Aftograf. Richard Artschwager. Enrico Baj. John Baldessari. Wall Batterton. Liza Béar. Peter Beard. Samuel Beckett. Ed Bereal. Paul Bergtold. Richard Bernstein. Lynda Benglis. Billy Al Bengston. Frank D. Bisbee Jr. David Bowie. Su Braden. David Bradshaw. Joe Brainard. Barry Bryant. William Bryant. William S. Burroughs. James Byars. John Cage. Cavellini. Marc Chagall. Sarah E. Charlesworth. Christo. Jean Cocteau. Samuel Taylor Coleridge. William Copley. Diego Cortez. Jackie Curtis. Ronnie Cutrone. Jaime Davidovich. Constance De Jong. Walter de Maria. Jimmy deSana. Betty Dodson. Peter Downsbrough. Jean Dupuy. Gil Evans. Arman Fernandez. Ronaldo Ferri. Edward Fitzgerald. Dan Flavin. Hollis Frampton. Richard Gallo. John Geldersma. Jon Gibson. Gilbert & George. John Giorno. Tina Girouard. Cynthia Giuard. Philip Glass. Carol Goodden. Gianfranco Gorgoni. Marty Greenbaum. Richard Hamilton. Duncan Hannah. Suzanne Harris. Michael Harvey. Alex Hay. Mary Heilmann. Richard Hell. Eva Hesse. Dick Higgins. Jene Highstein. Ralph Humphrey. Robert Indiana. Anthony J. Ingrassia. Lewis Jackson. Posy Jackson. Neil Jenney. Jasper Johns. Ray Johnson. Joan Jonas. Stephen Kaltenbach. Leandro Katz. On Kawara. Ellsworth Kelly. Dick Knowles. Kasper König. Joseph Kosuth. Ronnie Landfield. Richard Landry. Julien Levy. Jeffrey Lew. Stephen Lewis. Roy Lichtenstein. Frank Loscalzo. Lance Loud. Angus MacLise. Christopher Makos. Gerard Malanga. Babette Mangolte. Robert Mapplethorpe. Gordon Matta-Clark. Anthony McCall. Taylor Mead. Sol Mednick. Malcolm Morley. Robert Morris. Muky.Gerard Murrell. Toby Mussman. Bruce Nauman. Richard Nonas. Adrian Nutbeam. Claes Oldenburg. Yoko Ono. Dennis Oppenheim. Henry Pearson. Richard Peck Jr. Nancy Lewis Peck. Roland Penrose. Irving Petlin. Mischa Petrow. Lil Picard. Mel Ramos. Robert Rauschenberg. Man Ray. Jean Reavey. Michael Reisura. Nancy Reitkopf. Leo Richard. Terry Riley. Rodriquez. Robert Rohm. Mimmo Rotella. Dieter Roth. Ed Ruscha. Kathryn Ruskin. John Sanborn. Alan Saret. Francesco Scavullo. Steve Schapiro. Van Schley. William Schwedler. Richard Serra. Tony Shafrazi. Edward Shostak. Patti Smith. Keith Sonnier. Robert Stanley. Paul Steiner. Frank Stella. Betsy Sussler. Hisachika Takahashi. Cherry Vanilla. Bernar Venet. Diane Wakoski. Andy Warhol. Robert Watts. William Wegman. Lawrence Weiner. Hannah Weiner. Gary Weis. H. C. Westermann. Robert Wilson. Princess Winifred. Holly Woodlawn. La Monte Young.
