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, Anni Albers, M.C. Richards, Ruth Asawa, Buckminster Fuller, Josef Albers, and Robert Rauschenberg.
The 2024 {Re}HAPPENING celebrates the event’s 12th 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.
The {Re}HAPPENING will also feature all-day installations including a large-scale immersive performance sculpture installation by Cilla Vee Life Arts; an audio-visual projection tunnel by Geo Lynx; an installation exploring the relationship between music and textiles by Qianwen Yu; an interactive, animated bog ecosystem by Victoria Bradbury; a spatialized multi-channel immersive audio experience by Christopher Hamilton; a solar-powered sound collage by Matt Allison; a multi-media event with historical footage and live sound mixing by Matt Greenwell and Ron Buffington; and a prismatic playground by Swannatopia, 10-year veterans of the event.
Interdisciplinary performances will include an experimental fantasy operetta by Majid Araim; a layering of bodies, projections, fabric, and sound by Caitlyn Schrader, Sean Mulachy, and Bjorn Bates; a participatory gathering of clay, movement, and improvisational sound by Kiran Jandu and Michael Medeiros; a nomadic dance journey by Julie Becton Gillum; a three-phased interdisciplinary happening by the Chicago-based Sound Performance Land Collective; a 4-6 hour reading performed at a distance by Justin William Evans; an improvisatory music and dance exchange with a plant by Lindsey Jones and Allen Fogelsanger; a multi-channel video performance based on Xanti Schawinsky’s Spectodrama by Miles Lamberson; a workshop, film, and performance with salvaged plastic by Tom Hansell, Trevor McKenzie, and Julie Shepherd-Powell; and an aria for the elements by experimental vocalists Alisha Erao (Lush Agave) and Elisa Faires.
Sound-based projects will also include a cello performance inspired by Robert Rauschenberg’s “Erased de Kooning Drawing” by John Popham; harmonic and polyrhythmic performances with invented instruments by Spiral Garden; a new collaborative performance by filmmaker Madison Brookshire and composer Laura Steenberge; a concrete compositional experiment between poet Rachel Allen and sculptor Nathan Carter; and a presentation of little-known works by the 20th century composer Netty Simons, performed and organized by Zach Aliotta.
Other participatory and family-friendly sessions will include a collaborative bookmaking workshop with artists from Local Cloth; a chance to build Buckminster Fuller-inspired geodesic structures with Michael Webster; and a meditative music gardening circle with Sarah Louise.
See the full lineup at https://www.blackmountaincollege.org/rehappening/2024-artists
About the {Re}HAPPENING
The {Re}HAPPENING is a one-day event at the historic campus of Black Mountain College, 20 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.
TRANSPORTATION:
FREE – Shuttle
$15 – Parking Pass
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. This 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
Pick up at Camp Rockmont for return to Asheville:
3:30, 4:30, 5:30, 7, 9, 10
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).
Food and Beverage
{Re}HAPPENING will feature local food trucks including Cecilia’s Kitchen and The Smoking Onion, with beverages provided by the Bridge & Tunnel Coffee Truck and Wedge Brewing.