9 Evenings Reconsidered

Book excerpt: In 1966, a Bell Laboratories physicist brought a group of avant-garde artists together with 10 open-minded members of the science and technology fields for 9 Evenings: Theatre and Engineering, a series of investigatory Happenings which took place at the 69th Regiment Armory and were duly noted by critics Lucy Lippard and Brian O'Doherty. The resulting seminal performances included John Cage's Variations VII, in which 30 photocells were mounted around the performance space, activating a variety of sound sources -- including a blender, 20 radio channels and two Geiger counters -- as the performers moved around. An 88-page exhibition catalogue includes original essays, reprinted reviews of the original performances "9 Evenings: Theatre and Engineering" by Lucy Lippard and Brian O'Doherty, and an interview with Herb Schneider (engineer)