Charles Atlas: MC9, Tate Modern

Charles Atlas, award winning artist and filmmaker, opens MC9 at Tate Modern on 19 March. Running for just a week, his multi-channel video installation explores the intersections of media and dance. Shown in the UK for the first time, MC9 brings together filmed footage spanning the 40 year period of collaboration between Atlas and acclaimed dancer and choreographer Merce Cunningham.

Atlas and Cunningham worked together to develop a radical new way of incorporating the camera into live performance. Referred to as media dances, they allow the camera to play an active part in the choreography. MC9 showcases Atlas’ ideas about reinterpreting, editing, and presenting existing material. The installation includes scenes from acclaimed media dances like Fractions 1978, Locale 1980, Channels/Inserts 1981 and Ocean 2011.

Taking place at The Tanks, Tate Modern, the event is complemented by live collaborations with Paris-based dancer and choreographer duo Cecilia Bengolea and François Chaignaud and New York-based performance artist Johanna Constantine in a series of open rehearsals and ticketed performances with live video editing and projection.

Atlas’ work actviely crosses the borders between the fields of dance, performance and the visual arts. Beginning his career in the early 1970s in New York, he was part of the first generation of artists to explore the artistic possibilities of video.

BMW Tate Live Performance Event: Charles Atlas, 19 – 26 March, The Tanks, Tate Modern, Bankside, London, SE1 9TG.

Credits
1. Photo HD chaignaud bengolea twerk credit, Jean-Marie Legros, Chaignaud-bengolea Photo credit Jean-Marie Legros.
2. Charles Atlas, Hail the New Puritan, 1986 video, colour, sound, 1 Hr 24 Mins 47 Secs choreography Michael Clark Courtesy Vilma Gold, London.