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This exhibition focuses on works specifically made for presentation in gallery and museum spaces by Robert Whitman, a seminal figure in the context of Expanded Cinema and multimedia performance. "Playback" brings together a selection of key works from the early 1960s to late 1970s spanning various media, including sculptures with projections, film installations, laser works, and his suite of Dante Drawings.
Playback will travel to Museo Serralves, Porto, Portugal, July 2004-October 2004 and the Museo Arte Contemporanea Barcelona in Barcelona, Spain, from January to April 2005.
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| Checklist of Works |
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1. Garbage Bag, 1964
(2003 reconstruction)
formerly titled Shopping Bag
16mm film loop transferred to DVD, color, silent; projector, paper bag
16 x 12 x 61/2 inches
(40.6 x 30.5 x 16.5 cm)
Collection Copley Eisenberg
2. Bathroom Sink, 1964
(2003 reconstruction)
16mm film loop transferred to DVD, color, silent; projector, mirror, sink
8 x 19 x 17 inches (20.3 x 48.3 x 43.2 cm)
32 inches (81.3 cm) from floor mirror,
30 x 22 inches (76.2 x 55.9 cm)
84 inches (213.4 cm) from floor
84 x 30 x 19 inches (213.4 x 76.2 x 48.3 cm) overall
Collection of the artist
3. Shower, c. 1964
16mm film loop transferred to DVD, color, silent; projector, shower stall and curtain, water, water pump
80 x 30 x 30 inches (203.2 x 76.2 x 76.2 cm)
Collection Robert Rauschenberg
4. Window, 1963
(2003 reconstruction)
16mm film loop transferred to DVD, color, silent; projector, window frame, foliage
window, 96 x 36 inches (243.8 x 91.4 cm)
shadow box, 140 x 96 x 46 inches (355.6 x 243.8 x 116.8 cm)
screen, 60 x 78 inches (152.4 x 198.2 cm)
Collection of the artist
5. Solid Red Line, 1967
laser and mechanics
9 min. revolution
dimensions variable; here, 231/2 x 28 feet (716.3 x 853.4 cm)
Collection Dia Art Foundation
6. Dante Drawings, 1974–75
27 double-sided drawings
graphite, colored pencil, pastel, wax crayon, and aluminum foil
each 291/2 x 411/2 inches (74.9 x 105.4 cm)
Collection Dia Art Foundation
7. Spyglass (Film Images, 1960–1976), 1976/2003
4 16 mm film loops transferred to DVD, color, silent; 4 projectors, 4 screens, 4 mirrors
mirrors, 96 x 96 inches (243.8 x 243.8 cm)
screens, 96 x 96 inches (243.8 x 243.8 cm)
octagon, 27 feet (823 cm), diameter
Collection Dia Art Foundation
Robert Whitman's Prune Flat (1965) and Light Touch (1976) will be
performed at 7:30 pm, September 10–12, 2003.
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| Selected Bibliography |
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Robert Whitman: Playback. New York: Dia Art Foundation, 2003. Texts by George Baker, Lynne Cooke, David Joselit, Ben Portis, and Robert Whitman.
Off Limits: Rutgers University and the Avant-Garde, 1957–1963, ed. Joan Marter. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, in association with Newark Museum, 1999. Interview with Whitman by Joseph Jacobs, pp. 146–47.
Palisade: Robert Whitman. Yonkers, N.Y.: Hudson River Museum, 1979. Interview by Barbara Rose.
Rose, Barbara. "Considering Robert Whitman." In Projected Images: Peter Campus, Rockne Krebs, Paul Sharits, Michael Snow, Ted Victoria, Robert Whitman. Minneapolis: Walker Art Center, 1974.
Kirby, Michael. The Art of Time: Essays on the Avant-Garde. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1969.
"Robert Whitman." Interview by Richard Kostelanetz. In The Theatre of Mixed Means: An Introduction. By Richard Kostelanetz. New York: Dial Press, 1968.
Robert Whitman: 4 Cinema Pieces. Chicago: Museum of Contemporary Art, 1968. Text by Jan Van der Marck. "Sound for 4 Cinema Pieces," by Robert Whitman, EvaTone Soundsheet.
Kirby, Michael. Happenings: An Illustrated Anthology. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1965. Statement by Whitman, pp. 134–83.
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| Biography |
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Robert Whitman was born in New York City in 1935. He studied literature at Rutgers University from 1953 to 1957 and art history at Columbia University in 1958. He began in the late fifties to present performances, including the pioneering works American Moon (1960) and Prune Flat (1965), as well as to exhibit his multimedia work in some of New York's more influential experimental venues, such as the Hansa, Reuben, and Martha Jackson galleries. With the scientists Fred Waldhauer and Billy Klüver and artist Robert Rauschenberg, Whitman cofounded, in 1966, Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.), a loose-knit association that organized collaborations between artists and scientists. His one-person exhibitions include such venues as the Jewish Museum, New York (1968), the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (1968), the Museum of Modern Art, New York (1973). Dia organized a retrospective of his theater works in 1976. Several theater projects have also toured to various European venues, including the Moderna Museet, Stockholm (1987 and 1989) and the Centre Pompidou, Paris (2001 and 2002).
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| Funding |
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Support for this exhibition has been provided by The National Endowment for the Arts; Altria Group, Inc.; Lannan Foundation; and the members of the Dia Art Council.
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