Charlotte Moorman
1933-1991
Famously described by composer Edgar Varese as "the Jeanne d'Arc of new music," Charlotte Moorman was a central figure of the New York avant garde of the 1960s and '70s. Both as a performer of new music and an organizer of exhibitions, she became one of the iconic figures of the period. In 1963 Moorman established the annual New York Avant Garde Festival, which she ran until 1982. It was at the second of these, in 1964, that she met and first collaborated with Nam June Paik, and their partnership was to last until Moorman's death in 1991. Paik created some of his best-known pieces for her, including TV Bra for Living Sculpture (1969) and TV-Cello (1971), and she was featured in many of his classic performances and videotapes, including Global Groove (1973). Mainstream notoriety came to Moorman in 1967, when she was convicted on a charge of indecent exposure during a performance of Paik's Opera Sextronique. Ironically, this controversy led to Moorman becoming a guest on TV talk shows, giving her a place in the public's consciousness as the "Topless Cellist." Though her performances were marked by a playful delight in the absurd, this was framed at all times by a high seriousness…
Films