Abstract
In 1990, William Forsythe created The Books of Groningen – Book N(7), an installation commissioned by the Dutch city of Groningen and architect Daniel Libeskind. This early choreographic object is composed of a water canal, a series of willow trees pulled by wires in order to grow in arched shape and a bush hedge. At a time of marked interest in expanded choreography as it develops in conjunction with choreography’s links to visual art, as well as in choreographic history, this article considers Book N(7) in relation with diverse historical conceptions of choreography – as dance-making, as an organisation of moving bodies, as notation and pre/scription. This analysis shows that the installation negates certain aspects of choreographic history while exemplifying and perpetuating others, therefore situating itself between different historical construals of choreography. At the same time, it points to the ways in which Book N(7) defies the possibility both of complete ruptures and of smooth continuities with the choreographic past, engaging in a negotiation which reworks this past in the present. Framing this analysis of The Books of Groningen – Book N(7) by references to certain of Forsythe’s ulterior works, this article presents the installation as a part of the artist’s longlasting, shifting engagements with the notion and history of choreography.
Highlights
In the late 1980s, while the Dutch city of Groningen was preparing to celebrate its 950th anniversary, figures of the city’s public life envisioned a large-scale urban project that would mark the city’s boundaries in order to mark its anniversary
The architect Daniel Libeskind was commissioned to prepare a masterplan according to which nine further architects, thinkers and artists2 proposed installations – called markers or tokens – to be erected around the city
Completed in 1990, it is still situated in a field at the fringes of urban Groningen and consists of a straight, approximately 400-meterslong canal excavated in the field, parallel to which a series of willow trees was planted
Summary
Anna Leon is a dance historian and theorist based in Vienna She studied Psychology and Philosophy in Bristol and Philosophy of Art in Paris, before completing a PhD in the Dance Studies department of the University of Salzburg. Expanded Choreography and Choreographic History, was supported by the NEON Foundation (Greece), the Leventis Foundation (Switzerland/ Cyprus), and the Marie Andessner Stipendium of the University of Salzburg. She has held/will hold teaching engagements at the Universities of Salzburg, Vienna and Bern, as well as SEAD - Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance and the Institut Français.
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