1 00:00:07,299 --> 00:00:12,179 ["Joan Jonas: New York Performances"] 2 00:00:25,580 --> 00:00:30,499 Growing up in New York, I was very lucky to be living near museums. 3 00:00:30,499 --> 00:00:33,350 I remember going to MoMA and going to the Metropolitan Museum, 4 00:00:33,350 --> 00:00:37,230 and I remember the first time I ever went to the opera. 5 00:00:38,500 --> 00:00:40,540 It was a Wagner opera. I went with my mother, 6 00:00:40,550 --> 00:00:42,769 and I remember I had toys that I was playing with. 7 00:00:42,769 --> 00:00:45,170 I just remember the valkyrie-- 8 00:00:45,170 --> 00:00:47,850 the women dressed in armor. 9 00:00:50,300 --> 00:00:53,340 Big women with horns on their head. 10 00:00:56,340 --> 00:00:58,600 Then later when I was a little bit older, for instance, 11 00:00:58,609 --> 00:01:01,179 I was lucky enough to see a Balanchine piece: 12 00:01:01,179 --> 00:01:05,019 "Afternoon of a Faun" with Tanaquil Le Clercq. 13 00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:10,420 You know, things like that make a big impression on you when you're young. 14 00:01:11,090 --> 00:01:15,870 ["Organic Honey's Vertical Roll" (1973)] 15 00:01:20,630 --> 00:01:22,880 I wanted to develop my own language, 16 00:01:22,880 --> 00:01:26,810 and the minute I started performing, I began to invent in a different way-- 17 00:01:26,810 --> 00:01:28,650 through my body movements, through... 18 00:01:28,650 --> 00:01:33,550 "How do I use music, sound, and three-dimensional space?" 19 00:01:34,570 --> 00:01:39,520 I was very interested in film and how to translate my work into another medium 20 00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:42,820 so that it would not disappear. 21 00:01:50,710 --> 00:01:53,280 My first film, it came from an indoor performance-- 22 00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:54,690 my first performance at... 23 00:01:54,690 --> 00:01:57,420 it was at Saint Peter's Church, actually. 24 00:01:57,420 --> 00:02:00,940 We decided to film it outdoors; I wanted to put it outdoors. 25 00:02:01,780 --> 00:02:02,820 ["Wind" (1968)] 26 00:02:02,820 --> 00:02:05,720 And it was just coincidence--it was the coldest, windiest day of the year 27 00:02:05,720 --> 00:02:08,280 in the Long Island Sound, right on the beach. 28 00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:09,239 It was very, very difficult. 29 00:02:09,239 --> 00:02:11,099 It was really freezing. 30 00:02:17,420 --> 00:02:20,470 I went there with a group of young artists who were my friends 31 00:02:20,470 --> 00:02:22,110 and we worked together. 32 00:02:22,110 --> 00:02:26,030 Judy Padow, Eve Corey, Keith Hollingworth... 33 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:28,180 they were the performers. 34 00:02:28,190 --> 00:02:29,770 I was in it, too. 35 00:02:30,720 --> 00:02:34,520 Peter Campus did the camera, and then we edited it together. 36 00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:49,380 [Songdelay by Joan Jonas] 37 00:02:58,060 --> 00:03:00,700 ["Songdelay" (1973)] 38 00:03:00,700 --> 00:03:03,740 [sound of two blocks being clapped against each other] 39 00:03:03,740 --> 00:03:06,440 [sound of a ship's horn] 40 00:03:07,220 --> 00:03:10,630 In some of my pieces there are other artists, 41 00:03:10,630 --> 00:03:13,170 like the outdoor piece, "Songdelay". 42 00:03:16,440 --> 00:03:19,680 The people in that little group was Gordon Matta-Clark, 43 00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:22,480 and Carol Gooden, and Tina Girouard, 44 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:25,800 and Steve Paxton, and Penelope. 45 00:03:27,980 --> 00:03:32,800 [sound of two blocks being clapped against each other, delayed from the visuals] 46 00:03:35,810 --> 00:03:42,810 I'd set it up and give them all kinds of props and objects or tasks. 47 00:03:52,780 --> 00:03:57,500 For instance, Gordon and Carol just painted a circle and a line. 48 00:03:57,510 --> 00:03:58,680 That's what they did. 49 00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:01,640 And then they walked back and forth with a stick. 50 00:04:01,640 --> 00:04:04,280 Penelope, I gave her the sticks to play with 51 00:04:04,290 --> 00:04:07,069 and she stuck them in her pants and did a little dance. 52 00:04:07,069 --> 00:04:12,309 So, people both followed directions and then they played with the objects. 53 00:04:13,560 --> 00:04:15,950 So it was very playful and people had more time, 54 00:04:15,950 --> 00:04:20,260 and I'd say it was a more relaxed, kind of, atmosphere. 55 00:04:20,260 --> 00:04:22,560 In a way, we all helped each other and worked together, 56 00:04:22,569 --> 00:04:26,199 and people really enjoyed being in other people's works. 57 00:04:26,199 --> 00:04:29,460 You know, everybody had time to do that. 58 00:04:31,100 --> 00:04:35,340 In the Sixties and Seventies, it was comparatively easy to do a work outdoors. 59 00:04:35,340 --> 00:04:37,360 You didn't have to get permission--you could just go there. 60 00:04:37,360 --> 00:04:39,830 And there was many interesting sites, 61 00:04:39,830 --> 00:04:42,639 like the place where I performed "Songdelay". 62 00:04:43,220 --> 00:04:44,920 I first did it at Jones Beach, 63 00:04:44,930 --> 00:04:49,449 but then brought it to Chambers and the West Side, right on the river. 64 00:04:49,449 --> 00:04:51,749 And the piers were still there. It was beautiful! 65 00:04:51,749 --> 00:04:52,649 [sound of a ship's horn] 66 00:04:57,490 --> 00:05:01,270 So that's all gone now. You can't do that anymore. 67 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:15,360 ["Street Scene" (1976)] 68 00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:18,360 [sounds of people singing in the streets] 69 00:05:32,400 --> 00:05:35,540 Then another time later in 1976, 70 00:05:35,540 --> 00:05:39,339 I went down at night with Pat Steir and Andy Mann, 71 00:05:39,339 --> 00:05:44,459 and we just improvised for the camera in the streets--in Wall Street. 72 00:05:44,460 --> 00:05:46,020 You can't do that anymore, either. 73 00:05:46,029 --> 00:05:49,719 You know, so that whole playfulness is gone. 74 00:05:49,719 --> 00:05:53,599 It's not something I do so easily anymore. 75 00:06:04,760 --> 00:06:07,420 I had to write to the New York Times to say, you know, 76 00:06:07,430 --> 00:06:10,270 "No one's ever reviewed my work." 77 00:06:10,270 --> 00:06:12,560 People didn't know how to write about it. 78 00:06:12,569 --> 00:06:14,719 And then the guy came to every performance, 79 00:06:14,719 --> 00:06:18,119 but that was only at that moment, you know. 80 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:22,580 Everybody knew that that moment was special, in the Sixties and Seventies. 81 00:06:22,589 --> 00:06:23,809 It was a special moment. 82 00:06:23,809 --> 00:06:26,469 I'm not saying it's better or worse, but it was just a special moment. 83 00:06:26,469 --> 00:06:27,760 ["Joan Jonas Dances As Organic Honey, Fictional Woman"] 84 00:06:27,760 --> 00:06:30,039 Now, young artists in other places are doing the same. 85 00:06:30,039 --> 00:06:31,589 Of course, they always will be. 86 00:06:31,589 --> 00:06:37,110 So maybe in Brooklyn, or the Midwest, or Chicago, 87 00:06:37,110 --> 00:06:40,240 that this kind of work is going on, for sure. 88 00:06:40,240 --> 00:06:43,620 But New York is not so exciting to use. 89 00:06:44,999 --> 00:06:48,839 There's not so many empty lots or places.