Aperture Foundation
547 W 27th Street, 5th Floor
New York, NY 10001

www.aperture.org

www.facebook.com/aperturefoundation

@aperturefnd

Aperture Foundation is an independent gallery and publisher found within the Chelsea art district. Unlike other commercial galleries, Aperture has adopted new media technologies in their operations. Aperture is committed to navigating photography’s evolution, keeping in mind its history while exploring its potential in the future. With this mission in mind, it is no surprise they are early adopters of new media technologies according to Digital Media Associate, Jason Bailey.

Bailey explained the development of one of the gallery’s first interactive applications for the iPad — centered on the performance artist, Merce Cunningham. Throughout his life Merce Cunningham came up with new ways to blend art and technology. Bailey explained that Cunningham changed the way people thought about space and time onstage, he explored dance on film before just about anyone else, and long before James Cameron and Hollywood made motion-capture cool, he was using three-dimensional computer animation to choreograph. The app, is both a comprehensive primary source and a multimedia buffet — Bailey sees it as a model for how performing artists can share their art through technology. It expands on a 1997 Aperture venture, “Merce Cunningham: Fifty Years,” a book by the Cunningham archivist David Vaughan chronicling Cunningham’s life and career. For Mr. Vaughan [pictured above with the app], working on the app was a way to stay connected to Cunningham.