Charlotte Moorman was an American cellist and performance artist who gained some notoriety for her Avant Garde performances at festivals she helped organize beginning in 1963. Moorman was trained as a classical musician at Julliard and later joined the American Symphony Orchestra in the late 1950s. She is widely known for her performance art however, as one of her performances of Nam June Paik's Opera Sextronique would lead to her arrest for performing the work topless. Paik and Moorman were longtime collaborators, with Paik composing many pieces exclusively for Moorman. Paik also produced a documentary film after Moorman's death in 1991 entitled "The Topless Cellist." This collection was originally edited, compiled, and produced by the manager of Moorman's estate Barbara Moore. This collection is one of 100 limited edition archives that were sold at an exhibition on the life and work of Moorman in 2000. This collection has been arranged chronologically, and the contents largely address the 15 annual Avant Garde Festivals that Moorman organized and at which she performed.

0.42 linear feet (1 document box)

Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Research Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Research Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Department of Special Research Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.

The collection is open for research.