demento

Image 1:

No to spectacle. No to virtuosity. No to transformations and magic and make-believe. No to the glamour and transcendency of the star image. No to the heroic. No to the anti-heroic. No to trash imagery. No to involvement of performer or spectator, No to style. No to camp. No to seduction of spectator by the wiles of the performer. No to eccentricity. No to moving or being moved.

Image 2: Side by side, the 1965 No Manifesto and comments made upon Yvonne Rainer’s revisitation of the piece in 2008. Together, they say:

1965: No to spectacle. 2008: Avoid if at all possible. 1965: No to virtuosity. 2008: Acceptable in limited quantity. 1965: No to transformations and magic and make-believe. 2008: Magic is out; the other two are sometimes tolerable. 1965: No to the glamour and transcendency of the star image. 2008: Acceptable only as quotation. 1965: No to the heroic. 2008: Dancers are ipso facto heroic. 1965: No to the anti-heroic. 2008: Don’t agree with that one. 1965: No to trash imagery. 2008: Don’t understand that one. 1965: No to involvement of performer or spectator. 2008: Stay in your seats. 1965: No to style. 2008: Style is unavoidable. 1965: No to camp. 2008: A little goes a long way. 1965: No to seduction of spectator by the wiles of the performer. 2008: Unavoidable. 1965: No to eccentricity. 2008: If you mean “unpredictable,” that’s the name of the game. 1965: No to moving or being moved. 2008: Unavoidable.

(Yvonne Rainer revisited her 1965 "No Manifesto" in 2008 for Manifesto Marathon at Serpentine Gallery.)