Robert Whitman, Two Holes of Water - 3, performed at 9 Evenings: Theatre & Engineering, 1966

Excerpt from 9 Evenings: Theatre & Engineering, A Series of 10 Documentary Films
Directed by Barbro Schultz Lundestam
Produced by Billy Klüver and Julie Martin
Original footage by Alfons Schilling
ca. 1995–2007

In 1966, Swedish electrical engineer Billy Klüver and American visual artist Robert Rauschenberg gathered 10 avant-garde artists and 30 Bell Labs engineers to participate in a collaborative, multidisciplinary project combining new technologies with theatre, dance, and music. The event, 9 Evenings: Theatre & Engineering, took place at the 69th Regiment Armory in New York from October 13–22, 1966. More than 10,000 people attended the performances. The event led to the founding of the organization Experiments in Art and Technology the following month.

Robert Whitman, Two Holes of Water - 3, performed at 9 Evenings: Theatre & Engineering, October 18 and 19, 1966
Performance Engineer: Robby Robinson

Artist Robert Whitman’s performance transformed the Armory into a drive-in movie theatre where cars functioned as projection booths. He combined various sources for the projections, including documentary recordings, live television broadcasts, and footage shot during the performance using a closed-circuit system.

This clip is part of the Getty Research Institute exhibition Sensing the Future: Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.), on view at the Getty Center from September 10, 2024 through February 23, 2025. Learn more at getty.edu/sensing_the_future

The complete footage of 9 Evenings: Theatre & Engineering, A Series of 10 Documentary Films is available for researchers at the Getty Research Institute (accession number 2023.M.37):
http://primo.getty.edu/GRI:GETTY_ALMA...

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