MIAMI.- Legendary avant-garde choreographer Merce Cunningham has selected Miami artist Daniel Arsham for his first-ever collaboration in Miami. The dance, visual art, and music collaboration by Merce Cunningham, Daniel Arsham and composer David Behrman, will have its world premiere at Carnival Center for the Performing Arts as part of its Merce in Miami celebration during 2007, and will be the subject of a major two-part exhibition project organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art titled, Merce Cunningham: Dancing on the Cutting Edge, that will document Cunningham’s vital role in contemporary art.

Arsham, 25, was selected by Cunningham from a field of four young Miami artists recommended by Bonnie Clearwater, Executive Director and Chief Curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art. Throughout his more than 50-year career, Cunningham, 87, has teamed with such renowned visual artists as Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Frank Stella and Andy Warhol, to create dynamic stage sets and costumes for his productions.

“The selection process was not an easy one as all the artists recommended had qualities that were promising for this project,” said Trevor Carlson, Executive Director of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. “Daniel Arsham emerged as a young artist who is far advanced in his technique and personal vision. Merce Cunningham is very excited to collaborate with him. Incorporating Daniel’s work is going to be an interesting and exciting challenge.“

Bonnie Clearwater noted, “This is an extraordinary opportunity for Daniel Arsham. Merce Cunningham generally only creates one new major production a year and it is exciting that he has chosen to work with a young Miami artist for 2007. This work will have its world premiere at the new Carnival Center for the Performing Arts. It will then go on view at MOCA’s satellite gallery, MOCA at Goldman Warehouse. As part of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company repertory, it will be performed worldwide.”

Justin Macdonnell, Artistic Director of Miami Performing Arts Center stated, “It is wonderfully appropriate that Daniel Arsham has been selected as a collaborator in Carnival Center for the Performing Arts' Merce in Miami project. Daniel Arsham and Merce Cunningham share an intellectual companionship, an interest in the ephemeral that is destined to yield superb, thought-provoking and meaningful work.”

MERCE IN MIAMI

The Merce in Miami celebration, commissioned by Carnival Center for the Performing Arts, showcases the life and work of legendary choreographer Merce Cunningham through creative collaborations with the Museum of Contemporary Art, New World School of the Arts, Florida Dance Association, Miami Dade College, and South Florida Composers Alliance. Scheduled to take place in spring 2007, Merce in Miami will include the world premiere of a commissioned piece, a restaging of Cunningham’s mammoth Ocean, major works from the Merce Cunningham Dance Company repertoire, a festival of his music collaborators, workshops, master classes, and various other creative endeavors illustrating the impact of Merce Cunningham on the arts world. Two landmark exhibitions of Cunningham’s visual arts collaborations will be presented by the Museum of Contemporary Art.