Experiments in Art and Technology: Why Doesn’t He Dance a Little Better? (Bonus)

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Announcer: This is a Getty Podcast.

Zoe Goldman: Hi, I’m Zoe, and I’m the producer of Recording Artists.

One of my favorite parts of working on this series is getting to sift through the archival audio. For context, there are roughly 10,000 hours of recordings in the Getty Research Institute collection—which is enough to listen 24/7 for a year and still not reach the end of it!

And if I’m being honest, a lot of it is pretty boring. But then, every once in a while, there are these little moments that let you peek into someone’s personality or thought process. And these are the moments we share in the podcast.

One of the hardest parts of putting together each episode, though, is figuring out what we have to cut, either for time or because it just doesn’t quite fit the story we’re telling. A lot of these left-behind moments stick in my head long after we wrap.

So while we’re working hard on bringing you season four, I thought I’d share some of the clips we had to cut this season. I also hope this gives you a little taste of what it’s like to listen to this old audio—a little less cut up and cleaned up than it is in our main episodes.

In this first bonus episode, I’m sharing a clip from Robert Rauschenberg’s interview with Barbara Rose. As soon as I heard him share this anecdote, I was telling everyone about it because I found it so funny. I love a little art world gossip. But it’s also really telling about who Rauschenberg was and how he interacted with his artist friends.

For background: Rose and Rauschenberg are talking about a falling out between Rauschenberg and choreographer Merce Cunningham. Rauschenberg had been designing stage sets for Cunningham’s dance company. They had been on tour together in India along with Cunningham’s partner, John Cage, and the artist Jasper Johns. I’ll let Barbara Rose take it from here:

Barbara Rose: That was all very strange, I’ve never understood what went on.

Robert Rauschenberg: Oh, you heard something from the other side?

Rose: Oh, uh, yeah, well no, I never heard anything except Bob isn’t doing the, the—Bob is being difficult and he’s not doing the sets anymore.

Rauschenberg: I was fired, by John, who thought he was representing Merce. And then when Jasper came into the scene, you know, being all pontifical, uh, for Merce, and the sake of art, uh, accused me of being nothing but a liar.

But I remember, you know, like, like, like, like, uh, two or three days of just pure tears about how I never asked for anything and why, you know, how could—cause what John was saying to me that he said, Merce said, that I was trying to steal the show.

Rose: Oh, yeah. Well, the sets and costumes were very...

Rauschenberg: Okay, why doesn’t he dance a little better then? What am I going to do? Less?

Rose: They were pretty splendid.

Rauschenberg: Well, alright, but I can’t do less to make somebody else look better.

Goldman: I wanna make this my new motto: don’t do less to make somebody else look better.

Alright, I hope you enjoyed that extra little peek into Rauschenberg’s world. I’ve got to get back to work on season four, but stay tuned for another bonus clip next month!

Recording Artists is sponsored by the Getty Patron Program. This series is produced by me, Zoe Goldman. This episode was mixed by Jaime Roque. Christopher Sprinkle is executive producer. Theme music by Bryn Bliska.

Find transcripts and learn more on our website at getty dot edu slash recording artists.