Hunter Zabar Visiting Artist Yvonne Rainer Presents Public Lecture at the Kaye

On November 11th, Hunter welcomed innovative and influential choreographer, choreographer, filmmaker, and writer Yvonne Rainer to the Kaye Playhouse stage as part of the Judith Zabar Visiting Artist series.
 
A founding member of the Judson Dance Theater that revolutionized post-modern dance, Rainer is known for her minimalist, challenging artistry.  She spent fifteen years of her career as a prolific choreographer and dancer, creating and championing dances with a non-traditionally beautiful vocabulary, finding art in the mundane and non-expressive motion of the body.   In the early 1970’s, Rainer turned her unsparing experimentation to filmmaking, making seven feature-length films, culminating in the award-winning MURDER and murder (1996) in which she explored the politics of illness, lesbian identity, and love.
 
Rainer returned to dance in 2000 with a commission from the Baryshnikov Dance Foundation, and has since made six dances. Her most recent piece, “Concept of Dust, or How do you look when there’s nothing left to move?” received its east coast premiere at the Museum of Modern Art in June. The New York Times said it was “full of happy surprises,” calling the piece’s mood “mint-fresh, diverse, curious, and remarkably innocent.”
 
Rainer has received numerous awards, including two Guggenheim Fellowships, three Rockefeller fellowships, a Wexner Prize, and a MacArthur “genius” fellowship. She has penned six books, including her 2006 memoir Feelings Are Facts: A Life.
 
Hunter’s Judith Zabar Visiting Artist Program brings internationally recognized artists to campus to present public lectures and work directly with students in Hunter's MFA program in master classes, critical seminars and private tutorials. 
 
Past Zabar artists have included: Vito Acconci, Janine Antoni, Robert Barry, Mel Chin, Peter Doig, Charles Gaines, Alfredo Jaar, Joan Jonas, Jeff Koons, Glenn Ligon, Sharon Lockhart, Inigo Manglano-Ovalle, Christian Marclay, Kerry James Marshall, Tracey Moffatt, Wangechi Mutu, Gabriel Orozco, Laura Owens, Elizabeth Peyton, Paul Pfeiffer, William Pope.L, Walid Ra’ad, Doris Salcedo, Shahzia Sikander, Fred Tomaselli, Nari Ward, Carrie Mae Weems, and Stanley Whitney.
 
Rainer’s lecture was held on November 11, 2015 at 6:30pm in the Kaye Playhouse, located on East 68th Street, between Lexington and Park Avenues.