Molissa Fenley: Bardo
Overview
Presented by the New York City AIDS Memorial on what would have been Keith Haring’s 67th birthday, Bardo marked the first performance in 30 years of Molissa Fenley’s moving choreographic tribute to Haring (1958–1990). Premiered exactly 35 years prior at Haring’s memorial service at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, the dance troupe performed the piece twice back-to-back—a structural gesture measuring the passage of time between the work’s origins, its current remount, and Haring’s passing.
Project Context & Curatorial Role
As Commissioner and Producer alongside curator Nick Hallett, I brought Fenley’s historical work to the LGBT Community Center. The project reconnected contemporary audiences with a foundational piece of dance history created in direct response to the AIDS epidemic.
Fenley first met Haring in 1978 during his time at the School of Visual Arts, establishing a lasting friendship and artistic dialogue that included their early video collaboration Video Clones. Bardo stands as both a formal tribute to Haring's artistic legacy and an intimate expression of personal mourning.
Drawing its title from the Tibetan word describing the dreamlike state between death and rebirth, Bardo combines sudden stillness and fluid movement to evoke a space repeatedly emptied and filled. The performance offered a profound reflection on the liminal spaces between loss, memory, and spiritual renewal.
Role: Commissioner/Producer, with Nick Hallett, Curator
Date: May 4, 2024
Location: LGBT Community Center, New York
Photographs © Julie Lemberger
