MoMA’s Department of Media and Performance Art recently acquired the immersive installation Rainforest V (Variation 1) (1973–2015) by David Tudor. Conceived by Tudor in 1973, this pivotal early electro-acoustic work was adapted in 2015 by his longtime collaborators, Composers Inside Electronics (CIE).
David Tudor and Composers Inside Electronics. Rainforest V (Variation 1). 1973–2015. Sound installation of 20 objects, dimensions variable. Installation view, Broadway 1602. Courtesy Broadway 1602, New YorkThe genesis of Rainforest V comes from the sound score Tudor created for Merce Cunningham’s 1968 dance Rainforest. Premiering at the State University of New York at Buffalo, Cunningham’s performance featured dancers in nude-colored costumes (designed by Jasper Johns) surrounded by helium-filled Mylar pillows from Andy Warhol’s installation Silver Clouds, which floated freely around the stage.
While Tudor created a number of other iterations of Rainforest, the breakthrough moment occurred in 1973 with Rainforest IV, when the work expanded from a sonic composition to a collaborative installation. That summer, Tudor attended a workshop with a group of young artists and composers at a New Music festival in Chocorua, New Hampshire. This group—which included future members of CIE—suggested that he work with larger objects and suspend them freely in space to increase their resonant properties and add a visual element to the work.
“My piece Rainforest IV was developed from ideas I had as early as 1965…. An offer came, which didn’t get realized…I was asked to make a proposal for a park in Washington. The idea was to have a sounding outdoor sculpture, so my mind began turning around. I thought, ‘wouldn’t it be wonderful if each sculpture sounded completely different from the other and the whole could be run by one machine . . . .’” – David Tudor
Born in 1926, Tudor was a pianist, composer, and early pioneer of live electronic music. The majority of his compositions utilize custom-built modular electronic instruments, innovations that positioned him at the forefront of postwar music technology. He worked with several members of the artist and engineer collaborative Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.), including founding members Robert Rauschenberg and Robert Whitman.