Ceremonies Out of the Air

More than 60 works across media, including major ensemble performances, emerging in the afterlife of postmodern dance.

Philadelphia–based artist, dancer and choreographer Ralph Lemon (born 1952) is one of the most significant figures to arise from New York’s downtown scene in the 1990s. This catalog, published on the occasion of the first US museum exhibition of Lemon’s work in movement, film and installation, traces the arc of his ongoing collaborations, which extend far beyond the paradigm of dance.

Texts by exhibition curators Connie Butler and Thomas Lax are accompanied by essays and contributions by Kevin Beasley, Adrienne Edwards, Darrell Jones, Ralph Lemon, Okwui Okpokwasili, Kevin Quashie and Kari Rittenbach. Featuring a dust jacket that unfolds into a poster, the book includes full-color illustrations of Lemon’s artworks and reproductions of his sketches and notations.