Charlotte Moorman

An archive of original programs, photographs, posters and documents from the career of the avant-garde cellist and performance artist Charlotte Moorman.

• Charlotte Moorman (American).
• Edited by Barbara Moore.
• Designed by Jim McWilliams
• New York: Bound & Unbound, 2000.
• Contains 22 manila envelopes in original hinged cardboard box with decorative printed labels designed by McWilliams. 
• Contents include a total of 169 items, ordered chronologically, with individual envelope contents fully catalogued in Envelope I: Table of Contents. 
• One of just 100 copies assembled and compiled by Moore in conjunction with an exhibition held at the Bound & Unbound gallery in 2000.

The founder of the Annual New York Avant Garde Festival of New York, the Juilliard-trained Moorman was a frequent collaborator with Nam June Paik, John Cage, Joseph Beuys, Carolee Shneeman and Yoko Ono, her onetime roommate and great admirer. Moorman's own musical performances—variously topless (in Paik's Opera Sextronique, for which she was arrested), suspended from helium balloons (in Jim McWilliams's Sky Kiss), underwater, in an electric bikini, and fully nude playing an ice cello—showed spectacular physical fortitude and endurance as well as creativity, musicality and an absolute commitment to the experimental. Among the highlights of this remarkable catalogue are: an original flyer for a 1967 performance of Opera Sextronique ("Why is sex a predominant theme in art and literature prohibited ONLY in music?"); a program for the New York premiere of La Monte Young's Trio for Strings, featuring Moorman on cello; and original posters and programs for the 15 Avant Garde Festivals she created, bringing together Sun Ra, Ligeti and Stockhausen; Stan Brakhage and Allan Kaprow; John Giorno, Ray Johnson, and John Lennon.

This collection was originally edited, compiled and produced by Barbara Moore, who assembled the sets from duplicates from Moorman's archive. Arranged chronologically, the contents largely follow each of the annual Avant Garde Festivals Moorman organized and at which she performed. An archive and tribute of both depth and richness.