Microcinema is sad to announce the passing of one of modern art’s masters, Robert Rauschenberg. He leaves a legacy of paintings, sculpture, prints, photography and performance art.
Rauschenberg practiced his craft at an especially important time in the late 20^th century, the nascence of the juncture between art and technology. Robert was a catalyst in this respect, teaming up with his friends and collaborator John Cage , Merce Cunningham , Jasper Johns , Cy Twombly and more. Especially important was his contribution to Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T. ), a group formed with Bell Labs’ Billy Kluver to match up cutting edge artists with scientists and researchers holding technology with no intended usage.

Microcinema and ARTPIX have been working together to retell the history of this era through a ten dvd set of the epic 9 Evenings which was organized by Robert Rauschenberg and Billy Kluver. 9 Evenings was the first large-scale collaboration between artists and engineers and scientists.

The two groups worked together for 10 months to develop technical equipment and systems that were used as an integral part of the artists’ performances. Their collaboration produced many "firsts" in the use of new technology for the theater, both with specially-designed systems and equipment and with innovative use of existing equipment. Closed-circuit television and television projection was used on stage for the first time; a fiber-optics camera picked up objects in a performer's pocket; an infrared television camera captured action in total darkness; a Doppler sonar device translated movement into sound; and portable wireless FM transmitters and amplifiers transmitted speech and body sounds to Armory loudspeakers. As Billy Kluver has written: "9 Evenings was unique in the incredible richness and imagination of the performances.

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