2025 marks the centennial of Robert Rauschenberg, a boundary-defying artist whose prolific six-decade career spanned painting, performance, choreography, costume design, set building, and radical collaboration. In celebration of his 100th birthday, I am producing a series of performance pop-ups that honor this legacy, drawing on the Rauschenberg archives and focusing especially on his early works as a collaborator, choreographer, and performer. Performance was central to Rauschenberg’s practice; he created costumes, designed sets, choreographed, performed, and worked alongside Merce Cunningham, John Cage, Trisha Brown, Steve Paxton, and other groundbreaking artists. For him, the stage was an open space where disciplines converged and hierarchies dissolved.
This yearlong project aims not only to highlight Rauschenberg’s artistic contributions but to embody his spirit of experimentation and collective creation. This ethos guides the curation, production, partnerships, and cadence of the series. Each activation brings together a diverse group of collaborators across dance, visual art, and performance. Planned events include a public screening of 9 Evenings: Theater and Engineering with a panel discussion; restagings of Antic Meet and Homage to David Tudor with exhibition elements; and newly commissioned reimaginings of Pelican, Spring Training, and Linoleum.
Performances will unfold throughout the centennial year, emerging every few months to cultivate anticipation, surprise, and a sense of ephemeral “happening.” Venues such as WSA, Judson Memorial Church, Anthology Film Archives, Connecticut College, and the Rockefeller Center Rink offer a blend of historical resonance and public accessibility. Each site is ADA compliant and close to public transit, ensuring that inclusivity remains central to the project and that audiences extend beyond traditional dance and art communities.
Across screenings, performances, and commissions, audiences and artists will encounter Rauschenberg not only as a historic figure but as a living presence whose ideas continue to shape contemporary practice. Through the generosity of partnering institutions, collaborators, and communities, his centennial becomes not just a commemoration but an active celebration of experimentation, collaboration, and art’s power to bring people together.