On the evening of April 23, 1971, performance artists Marilyn Wood and Jim Burns celebrated the fleeting moments, muddled sounds, and disguised details of New York City by unleashing museum-goers into the city’s rush-hour mayhem. Participants were given one of 10 activity sheets, or “scores,” composed of active and perceptive tasks to promote environmental awareness and appreciation through sensory experience. As Act II of the three-part “ACTS” exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Crafts, April 3 – June 6, 1973, Wood and Burns used “Citysenses” to transcend the gallery walls and reveal the inherent artistry of the constructed New York environment and its inhabitants.

Among the archival materials from the exhibition are a series of yellowed papers, handwritten notes, and a litter of delicate pages document the odd tasks and cryptic to-dos that Wood undoubtedly enjoyed prescribing to her obliging audience. Step eight of the “Subterranean Score,” for example, told the participant to “find a place where you can curve up a glass staircase to the surface. Return underground and find your way.” Each task balanced an authoritative demand with an existential request that made the artwork a winning, heady scavenger hunt. In the “Subway Score,” tucked in among 15 other exercises, a single line reads: “Find a happy person.”

Although most of the exercises resulted in an experience or memory, Wood and Burns also composed a sculptural installation in the museum using articles collected or purchased during the duration of a score. French newspapers, graffiti, found objects, personal maps, and notations all comprised the collaborative multimedia work that grew and evolved over the duration of the exhibition.

As Wood discusses "Citysenses” in this video, her passion, elegance, and charisma shine. Although we share this video for the purpose of education and entertainment, we also share it as a memorial to the life and work of Wood. After dancing with the Alwin Nikolais Dance Company at the Henry Street Playhouse (1951 - 1957), collaborating with artists like John Cage and Robert Rauschenberg in her years at the Merce Cunningham Dance Company (1958 - 1963), founding the International Center for Celebration in 1987, and triumphing with creative endeavors, Wood died on June 16, 2016.

Taylor Rose recently received her BA in art history from the University of Minnesota, and will soon be pursuing graduate work at the Sotheby’s Institute of Art in New York City. This summer she’s a 2016 Windgate museum intern working with ACC Library staff to digitize and edit audio and film footage from the ACC archives.