Archives of American Art

Oral history interview with Bill T. Jones

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.jones18
Creators:
Jones, Bill T.
Kitto, Svetlana, 1980-
Dates:
2018 March 23
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
5 Items
sound files (3 hr., 34 min.) Audio
digital, wav
59 Pages
Transcript
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
An interview with Bill T. Jones conducted 2018 March 23, by Svetlana Kitto, for the Archives of American Art's Visual Arts and the AIDS Epidemic: An Oral History Project, at Jones' office, New York Live Arts, in New York, New York.
Scope and Contents
Jones speaks of his childhood in the Finger Lakes region; his initial encounter with Arnie Zane; formative family traditions of storytelling and religious expression; the roots of his interest in biography; moving to San Francisco with Zane to join American Dance Asylum; returning to New York and auditioning for Clark Center Festival; his body of duet works with Zane; Zane's AIDS-related death in 1988; the role of questions and personal experience in his process of art-making; changes in LGBTQ attitudes and expression since the 1980s; the effect of Zane's death on his life and career; his appreciation of personal style and reaction to being labeled queer or punk in retrospect; working with many different individuals and communities on Last Supper at Uncle Tom's Cabin/The Promised Land; his exploration of mortality and disease in Still/Here; his subsequent body of work and its animating interests; his leadership of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and New York Live Arts; major honors he has received; his ongoing effort to honor Zane's legacy; and his sense of his future in the dance world. Jones also recalls Richard Bull, Lois Welk, Louise Roberts, Bill Katz, Robert Longo, Harvey Lichtenstein, Seán Curran, Laura Dean, Merce Cunningham, David Vaughan, John Cage, John Cowles, Sage Cowles, Sunny Dupree, Arlene Croce, Demian Acquavella, Liz McComb, Cynthia Mayeda, Garland Wright, Kim Cullen, Steven Hendel, Oprah Winfrey, Barack Obama, Janet Wong, and others.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Bill T. Jones (1952- ) is an artist and dancer in New York, New York. Svetlana Kitto (1980- ) is a writer and oral historian in Brooklyn, New York.

Administration

Sponsor
Funded by the Keith Haring Foundation.
Existence and Location of Copies
Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.

Digital Content


Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access
The transcript and recording are open for research. Contact Reference Services for more information.
System Details
Recorded on Tascam DR-100MKII R000329.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Artists -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Dancers -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Visual Arts and the AIDS Epidemic: An Oral History Project Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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