While early exhibitions have investigated primarily representations of dance in the fine arts media or forms of collaboration related to the moving image, MOVE takes a different approach by asking: How are the perceptions and movements of exhibition visitors guided by artistic parameters which prescribe specific modes of contemplation? What is the connection between vision and movement? To what extent do these artworks in some way transform museum visitors into active participants – even into dancers?

MOVE was organized by Stephanie Rosenthal of the Hayward Gallery in London, and includes works by Janine Antoni, Pablo Bronstein, Trisha Brown, Boris Charmatz, Lygia Clark, William Forsythe, Simone Forti, Dan Graham, Christian Jankowski, Isaac Julien, Mike Kelley, Maria La Ribot, Xavier Le Roy & Mårten Spångberg, Robert Morris, Bruce Nauman, João Penalva, Tino Sehgal, Franz Erhard Walther, and Franz West. In Düsseldorf, the exhibition will be expanded to include selected works from the permanent collection by artists such as Carl Andre, Robert Morris, Jackson Pollock, and others.

The exhibition integrates an interactive archive which sets the theme of art and dance into a wider historical context. The archive was developed especially for this exhibition in collaboration with André Lepecki, a professor of performance studies at New York University. The selection includes more than 170 works (Merce Cunningham, Allan Kaprow, Yvonne Rainer, Meg Stuart, Kazuo Shiraga, Atsuko Tanaka and Sasha Walz).