9 Нощи: Театър и инженерство (9 Evenings: Theatre and Engineering)

9 Нощи: Театър и инженерство представляват серия от пърформънси от 13 до 23 октомври 1966г, където артисти и инженери от Лабораториите Белл и Мъри хил в Ню Джърси си колаборират в първия от серия от пърформънси по-късно познати като E.A.T. or Experiments in Art and Technology.

Проекта 9 Нощи: Театър и инженерство първоначално е замислен от Роберт Раусченберг и Били Клювер и има за цел да бдъе представен като част от Стокхолмския Фестивал за технологии и изкуство през 1966г. Преговорите с фестивала не минават добре и Били Клювер решава събитието да се проведе самостоятелно и го нарича 9 Нощи: Театър и инженерство. Състои се от 10 артисти и 30 инженера, които създават смесица от авангарден театър, танци и представят нови технологии.

9-те нощи са първата съвместна проява от подобен мащаб между артисти, инженери и учени. Двете групи работят заедно за 10 месеца, през които разработват техническото оборудване и системите, които са ключова част от художествените произведения на артистите.

Their collaboration produced many "firsts" in the use of new technology for the theater, both with specially-designed systems and equipment and with innovative use of existing equipment. Closed-circuit television and television projection was used on stage for the first time; a fiber-optics camera picked up objects in a performer's pocket; an infrared television camera captured action in total darkness; a Doppler sonar device translated movement into sound; and portable wireless FM transmitters and amplifiers transmitted speech and body sounds to Armory loudspeakers.

Artists involved with 9 Evenings include: John Cage, Lucinda Childs, Öyvind Fahlström, Alex Hay, Deborah Hay, Steve Paxton, Yvonne Rainer, Robert Rauschenberg, David Tudor, and Robert Whitman.

Notable engineers involved include: Bela Julesz, Billy Klüver, Max Mathews, John Pierce, Manfred Schroeder, and Fred Waldhauer.

Performances

   Variations VII by John Cage
   Vehicle by Lucinda Childs
   Kisses Sweeter Than Wine by Öyvind Fahlström
   Grass Field by Alex Hay
   Solo by Deborah Hay
   Physical Things by Steve Paxton
   Carriage Discreteness by Yvonne Rainer
   Open Score by Robert Rauschenberg
   Bandoneon! (A Combine) by David Tudor (performance engineer Fred Waldhauer)
   Two Holes of Water - 3 by Robert Whitman

Billy Klüver about 9 Evenings

   "The idea of the artist-engineer collaboration materialized with 9 Evenings: Theatre and Engineering, a group of collaborative performances that took place from 13 to 23 October 1966 at the 69th regiment Armory on Lexington Avenue in New York City.

   I first discussed the idea with Robert Rauschenberg, and we decided to go ahead. We invited artists to participate: Steve Paxton, Robert Whitman, Alex Hay, Deborah Hay, David Tudor, Öyvind Fahlstrom, John Cage, Yvonne Rainer, Lucinda Childs, and Robert Rauschenberg. I recruited engineers from Bell Laboratories to work on the project.

   On January 14, 1966, the group of artists and engineers began to meet. At the first artist-engineer meeting, I told the artists to ask for anything they wanted and the engineers responded with suggestions on how to accomplish their ideas. These meetings lasted through March, and we collected more than seventy artists' requests. Not all of these were realized.

   The engineers went to work. As time went on one engineer was assigned to each artist depending on what the artists' project was and what the engineer's speciality was. Other engineers worked on equipment and systems that would be used by more than one artist.

   The 69th Regiment Armory on Lexington Avenue at 25th Street was empty and available. The many Armories located around New York City serve as headquarters and practice halls for local National Guard Units, who still hold drill practice there. This particular Armory had been the site of the famous Armory show of 1913, that introduced modern European art to the United States, and where Marcel Duchamp showed Nude Descending the Staircase. It was a very exciting space, although the acoustics were terrible. The reverberation time for sound was 6 seconds. The artists liked the idea of its size. It would now be possible to reach a much larger audience than they had had at Judson Church or at the downtown Happenings. Audience size had become an issue for them.

   We moved into the 69th Regiment Armory to set up on October 8th, with only five days to the first performance. During the next five days we installed the electrical system for the stage lights and other equipment, laid miles of cable, installed the sound system with 12 speakers in the balcony surrounding the central space, and set up the bleachers for the audience. The artists held rehearsals as best they could.There were endless conferences. The Armory had a vaulted steel roof, 40 meters high in the center. It was a challenge.

   9 Evenings left a permanent impression on the artists who participated and on the many younger artists who were in the audience. It has become a classic event."