The Living Temple: Don and Moki Cherry

Ars Nova Workshop

Moki Cherry, set created for a performance of the Organic Music Society, a troupe of artists convened by Don and Moki Cherry, mid-70s, Italy. Photo courtesy of Ars Nova Workshop.

Moki Cherry, Tibetan style ceiling canopy, 1977. Photo courtesy of Galleri Nicolai Wallner.

Lisa Alvarado, Sound Talisman installation view, 2017, Bridget Donahue gallery, New York, NY. Photo by Bridget Donahue.

Recipient

Grant Year 2022

Grant Amount $231,600

Status Forthcoming

Updated May 30, 2023

A retrospective on the collaboration between Black jazz composer and musician Don Cherry (1936–1995) and Swedish visual artist and designer Moki Cherry (1943–2009) recreates the life partners’ integrated vision of art without boundaries among genres, artistic disciplines, and cultures. Driven by what the Cherrys called a “Total Music” philosophy, the pair organized hybrid spectacles blending folk music, tapestries, projections, live theater, and architecture. Contemporary artist Lisa Alvarado (of avant-garde band Natural Information Society, inspired by the Cherrys’ Organic Music Society) designs an immersive environment to house the exhibition, bringing together textiles, paintings, music, video, and other media. A catalogue with essays from prominent artists and scholars accompanies the exhibition.

The total grant amount represents project funding plus an additional 20% in unrestricted general operating support.

Recipient

Ars Nova Workshop

Ars Nova Workshop (ANW) is an award-winning presenter that elevates the profile and expands the boundaries of jazz and contemporary music. Winner of the ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming and Philadelphia Magazine’s “Best of Philly” award, ANW is an internationally recognized jazz, experimental, and new classical music presenter.

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