David Zwirner has announced representation of British choreographer and dancer, Sarah Michelson. Based in New York since 1991, Michelson’s work comments on how the aesthetics of dance change in relation to sound, movement, architecture and various historical and cultural conditions.
“I strive for truth and beauty as a dance maker,” Michelson once noted, “attempting to make work that risks rejection based on its aesthetics and at its deepest structural core denies safety in favor of trying to understand through action, honestly questioning what is the very nature and value of my dance-making.”
Dance, and by extension, performance art, has been a vital genre of art history, both in the last century and long before. Yet most funding for performance art has come from nonprofit spaces. “The temporal and ephemeral quality of dance stands in stark contrast to our social-media-saturated world,” said David Zwirner in a statement, “and it has proven to be one of our most vital art forms.”
In addition to the announcement, David Zwirner will also host a new residency program, where Michelson, along with prominent and emerging dancers and choreographers, will perform within the gallery each year. “Without a doubt, Sarah is one of the most exciting choreographers of her generation, and I am so honored to be working with her and, through her, to be able to support and promote dance artists in this new partnership,” Zwirner added.
“One thing that is very important to me as I make this move to work with the gallery—who are so open and responsive—is to help develop a platform in which other dance artists can have access to this structure in the way I have had,” said Michelson, whose first performance with the gallery will come at its new Los Angeles space in 2024.
Elsewhere, Wales Bonner will curate a new exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
