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Black Mountain College was a school in
North America tucked away in the Blue
Ridge Mountains of North Carolina which
had a major influence on the arts as we
know them today
Black Mountain was founded in 1933 by
this man John rice he wanted to create a
new kind of education and at the center
of his curriculum were the arts rice
believed that making art was vital to
education because it taught observation
judgment and action
skills that could be applied to any walk
of life Black Mountain was a school like
no other there were no grades no
required courses no exams no fees you
graduated when he wanted students and
teachers lived together learn together
and dance together they served each
other meals they ran a farm working in
harvesting the land it was a community
where life and education were
intertwined
Black Mountain became a magnet for some
of the most influential names of the
20th century artists composers
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dancers and poets some stayed for years
some just for the summer it became a
melting pot of ideas experimentation was
encouraged and everything celebrated it
created an environment of collaboration
between artists and a rethinking of what
art could be theatrical performances
were commonplace at Black Mountain where
the line was blurred between art and
entertainment black mountain came to be
very significant in the history of
performance in the summer of 1952 one
evening in the dining hall an unnamed
performance took place John Cage had
come up with an idea for an event it
involved artists working together but
independently at the same time he
invited his friends to perform with
inset time frames there was no script
and no rehearsals some say Robert
Rauschenberg played records and showed
his paintings Charles Olson read his
poetry cage discusses in Buddhism Merce
Cunningham danced and was chased by a
dog coffee was served this work would
later be known as theater piece number
one it's now considered to be the first
happening and one of the first works of
performance art this was the beginning
of something new art dance music and
performance altogether and one work
Kage Cunningham and Rauschenberg
continued to collaborate for years to
come in 1953 Cunningham established his
famous dance company at Black Mountain
he asked her option berg to make a set
for his new dance the artist created
this it's a hybrid of painting and
sculpture but it's also a prop for the
dancers it represents everything that
rauschenberg learned at Black Mountain
an artwork that was also an object an
object designed to be part of a
performance nothing like this had ever
been made before Cunningham said he
loved it because it was impossible to
know what it was in the end black
mountain ran out of money it closed in
1957 but it's 24 years left behind a
legacy of artistic collaboration and
freedom one that has influenced
generations to come it encouraged the
idea of art as social practice and
taught that making art can help us gain
a greater understanding of the world in
the words of Joseph Albers we do not
always create works of art but rather
experiments it is not our intention to
fill museums we are gathering experience
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you
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