Originally published in 1974 by the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Yvonne Rainer’s Work 1961–73 documents the artist’s landmark early works at the intersection of dance, performance, and art.

Assembled ostensibly as a survey, Work 1961–73 features a multitude of documentary forms, including scripts, excerpts from the artist’s notebooks, press reviews, correspondence, photographic documentation, literary excerpts, contextualizing texts by the artist, diagrams, film stills, floor plans, scores, and more. As such, the publication resembles an artist book that generously gives the reader access to Rainer’s modes of working, as well as the social and political context around which the work was made. The publication is also a book of writing, with the artist’s frank, witty, and sometimes humorous prose intimately leading the reader through each work.

Reprint of Simone Forti’s 1978 publication Angel. Originally produced as a document of a 1976 performance at Fine Arts Building, which included readings and the hologram Angel. With photos by Babette Mangolte.

An Account of an Ongoing Personal Discourse and Its Manifestations in Dance.

Tracing a period in her life from the 1969 Woodstock Festival through the following years living on the land, this singular dance artist’s direct and poetic writings bring a turbulent transitional era to life. Arriving in New York in the early 60’s from California, she brought with her a series of pieces that proved to be a serious influence on the development of “post modern” dance in years to come. Her “dance-constructions” were based on a concern with bodies in action, the movement not being stylized or presented for its visual line but rather as a physical fact. Combining drawings, “dance reports” (short descriptions of events whose movement made a deep impression on the author’s memory), and documentary materials such as scores, descriptions, letters to colleagues, and photographic records of performances, Forti’s eye toward creating idioms for exploring natural forms and behaviors is evident throughout.

*This is the reprint by Contact Editions and not the original 1st edition by Novia Scotia College of Art and Design from 1974.