Off the wall Part 2- seven Works by Trisha Brown – Whitney Museum of American Art

Off the Wall Part 1-Thirty Performative Actions focuses on body in live performance through the eye of a camera, in a drawing, on a printed surface.

For the Part 2, and on the occasion of the 40^th anniversary of her company, Trisha Brown returns to the Whitney with re performances from 1970 like Man Walking Down the Side of a Building, featuring Stephen Petronio strapped in a harness.

Around 1970, Brown, began to construct dances known as “equipment pieces”, using external support systems like ropes, mountain climbing gears, cables, in order to challenge the force of gravity. “I always feel sorry for the parts of the stage that aren’t being used. I have in the past felt sorry for the ceilings and walls. It’s perfectly good space, why doesn’t anyone use it?” Brown has wondered. Hence, she challenges not only the dance itself as it has no narrative like in a traditional way but also our perception of space and bodies gravity.

This time the audience is standing, on the street, in front of the Whitney Museum, looking up, preparing their camera and phones to record the performance. Suddenly comes to my mind, The Man on Wire, Philippe Petit, who a few years later, in 1974, will cross between the Twin Towers walking on a wire. Was he inspired by her work?

Although bringing performance art outside of an institution, in unexpected places like a roof, seems casual today, I guess she was the pioneer in breaking the rules. I now understand the value of her heritage that resonates from new circus to the recent performance by Willi Dorner, Bodies in Urban Spaces, at Crossing The Line/FIAF festival, where human sculptures are performing on the street of Wall street.