{Re}HAPPENING 9 photo by Michael Oppenheim
{Re}HAPPENING 11
Since 2010, Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center (BMCM+AC) has hosted the {Re}HAPPENING inspired by John Cage’s 1952 Theatre Piece No. 1, an unscripted performance at Black Mountain College considered by many to be the first Happening. The annual {Re}HAPPENING brings together dozens of contemporary artists whose work responds to and extends the legacy of Black Mountain College visionaries such as John Cage, David Tudor, Merce Cunningham, M.C. Richards, Ruth Asawa, and Robert Rauschenberg.
The 2023 {Re}HAPPENING celebrates the event’s 11th anniversary, featuring a host of artists presenting work throughout the Lake Eden campus. Visitors will encounter an immersive collection of projects in the tradition of BMC—installation, sound, movement, visual art, and interactive media.
SELECTED PROJECTS
A Device to be Heard, A Device to Forgive All Those Who Have Wronged You, A Device for Outward Enjoyment, ©Hillerbrand+Magsamen
Husband-wife team Hillerbrand+Magsamen will present 147 Devices for Integrated Principles, a playful interdisciplinary performance. In Devices, they animate everyday objects in a desperate and perhaps futile way to connect to each other and the audience. Written by Kirk Lynn with an original score by composer Peter Stopschinski, it has been exhibited across the country, as well as virtually, and was released as a limited edition book project in 2020.
Lovers Leap Stills, Jonathan Furnell
Jonathan Furnell, Rachel Pittman, & Holden Treadway’s work Lovers Leap is a multidisciplinary installation, performance and screening that explores Appalachian representation and mediation. Inspired by Martha Graham’s Appalachian Spring, this project blends original music, found footage film, and dance in an interactive space that encourages audience reflection and participation.
Photos of HomeSick taken by Emmanuel Figaro
Leslie Rosenberg, Liz Trader Williams, and Ethan Schultz will install their large-scale multimedia sculpture project, HomeSick. HomeSick is composed of 12 floating, geometric house structures. During the evening, these whimsical houses light up with dynamic video projections playing in unison with audio samples, including testimonials of Asheville residents speaking on behalf of their housing experiences. HomeSick was exhibited as part of the city of Asheville’s “Art in the Heart” public art initiative.
The Atlanta Improvisers Orchestra is a supergroup of members of Atlanta’s cutting edge experimental music scene, united by composer Ofir Klemperer to explore the possibilities of large group musical improvisation. The group spontaneously creates exquisite orchestral soundscapes and compositions using the concept of conduction, or conducted improvisation, that harnesses and encourages the unpredictable ideas, individual imaginations, and diverse approaches to music that each musician brings.
Drew Barker & Maurice Watson will present A Distant Marker, a movement piece instigated and inspired by the history of the Western North Carolina Railroad. About 13 miles east of the Black Mountain College site there is a distant marker memorializing the hundreds of mostly Black, incarcerated men and women who built the nearby railroad under cruel and crude conditions. The cost of building the railroad for many of those workers was their lives. Activating history through movement, Barker & Watson partner with The RAIL Project to create this piece.
Drop of Sun Studios and Lamplight AVL will be curating the John Cage room at {Re}HAPPENING 11. Since the studio’s launch in 2015, Drop of Sun has become a hub for musical creativity, working with local and nationally recognized artists including Indigo De Souza, Animal Collective, Trevor Hall, Angel Olsen, and many more.
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What I say to this house by Astrid Kaemmerling & Becca J.R. Lachman
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100,000 Suns in a Drop of Dew by Eddie Lohmeyer
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CACTUS CARE by Gwen Charles
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Lover’s Leap by Jonathan Furnell, Rachel Pittman, & Holden Treadway
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All I Ever Wanted Was A House I Could Scream In by Michael Holmes & Landon George
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Multi-Vocal Painting by Mollie Hosmer-Dillard
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Crickets and Cockroaches by Appalachian State University Students
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A Performance by Atlanta Improvisers Orchestra
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Live in a Room Without Time by Brett Naucke
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Dance to Anything: Lake Eden by Chris Reeves & collaborators
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The Shapes of Movement by Crystal Gregory, Gwen Charles, & the Moving Architects
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Adjunct by DEBORAH, a group composed of Eleanor Hullihan, Jimmy Jolliff, Emma Judkins & Adam Schatz with costumes by Asli Bulbul
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A Distant Marker by Drew Barker & Maurice Watson
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147 Devices for Integrated Principles by Hillerbrand+Magsamen
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What’s Left by Julie Rothschild & Laura Hoffman
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Doom Scroller by Kayla Hammonds
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Fountain of You by Swannatopia’s Experimental Art Club
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Málning by Madeline Yahr
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My World within the Bubble by Asheville Contemporary Dance Theatre
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Wildflowers Walks (+ Trees Too), a guided walk with Julie J Thomson
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The Last Letter Writer by Trong Gia Nguyen & David Raymond
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HomeSick by Leslie Rosenberg, Liz Williams, & Ethan Schultz
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John Cage Room – Curated by Drop of Sun Studios and Lamplight AVL
See the full lineup at www.blackmountaincollege.org/rehappening-2023-artists
About the {Re}HAPPENING
The {Re}HAPPENING is a one-day event at the historic campus of Black Mountain College, 15 minutes from Asheville. It is part art event, part fundraiser, and part community instigator, providing a platform for contemporary artists to share their responses to the vital legacy of Black Mountain College by activating the buildings and grounds of the BMC campus with installations, new media, music, and performance projects.
General admission brings in hundreds of visitors annually. In addition to providing a forum for regional artists and an accessible, immersive, educational experience for attendees, every year the event is a community collaboration between local businesses and arts organizations.
General Information
April 8th from 3-10pm
Tickets
$30 – Advance Adult Admission (ends 4/7)
$37 – Regular Adult Admission
$15 – Youth (10 to 17 yo) / Student (w/ID)
FREE – Shuttle
$15 – Parking Pass (please see below)
Carpooling and shuttling are highly encouraged. Free parking will be available at the Lower Lot of the Asheville Chamber of Commerce (36 Montford Ave), allowing visitors to kick back and enjoy the ride with Gray Line Trolleys to Lake Eden. The FREE Dymaxion Shuttle, sponsored by Gray Line Trolley, will run between the Asheville Chamber of Commerce lower lot (36 Montford Avenue) and Camp Rockmont. Please allow for a few minutes’ wait.
Shuttle Schedule*
Pick up at Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Asheville:
3, 4, 5, 6, 7:30, 8:30
Pick up at Camp Rockmont for return to Asheville:
3:30, 4:30, 5:30, 6:30, 8, 9, 10
*please note that the shuttle driver will take a break at the Chamber of Commerce from 7:00pm to 7:30pm
Uber and Lyft are not guaranteed in Black Mountain but are a great option to connect with the Trolley in Downtown AVL.
Purchase tickets online at www.blackmountaincollege.org or at Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center (120 College Street in Downtown Asheville).