MINNEAPOLIS, MN.- The Walker Art Center opened Glacial Decoy, an exhibition celebrating the iconic collaboration between postmodern dance pioneer Trisha Brown and renowned artist Robert Rauschenberg. In 1979, the Walker premiered Brown’s first performance for a theatrical stage, titled Glacial Decoy, following many years of the dancer and choreographer producing works for unusual spaces like rooftops, churches, and lofts. With the opportunity to imagine a different kind of immersive experience, she invited Rauschenberg, whom she met in one of choreographer Merce Cunningham’s dance classes, to create the set design and costumes for the performance. The project allowed Rauschenberg to extend his visual arts practice in new directions and marked his first return to photography in 15 years. Nearly 50 years after its debut in Minneapolis, the work remains a key part of the Trisha Brown Dance Company’s repertoire and a distinct moment in Rauschenberg’s illustrious career.

Trisha Brown and Robert Rauschenberg: Glacial Decoy invites new audiences to experience the performance and the partnership between two groundbreaking artists. With works drawn primarily from the Walker’s extensive collection, the exhibition is anchored by continuously advancing projections of 159 unique photographs produced by Rauschenberg. The projections served as the set design for the performance and reflected the artist’s own response to Brown’s distinct choreography, which saw her dancers in constant motion. The exhibition also features the Rauschenberg-designed costumes; video footage of the performance by the Trisha Brown Dance Company in New York in 2024; rarely seen archival materials documenting the Company’s 1979 residency performance in Minneapolis; and five prints from Rauschenberg’s Rookery Mound series (1979), which he created in relation to this project. Trisha Brown and Robert Rauschenberg: Glacial Decoy is curated by Brandon Eng, Curatorial Assistant of Visual Arts at the Walker, and will remain on view through May 24, 2026.

The exhibition is part of the Walker’s series Collection in Focus, which explores distinct strengths and interesting aspects of the institution’s growing collection. It also kicks off Dancing with Bob: Rauschenberg, Brown, and Cunningham Onstage, a program presented as part of the Walker’s 2025-26 Performing Arts season, including the Trisha Brown Dance Company remounting Brown’s Set and Reset (1983) and Cunningham’s rarely seen Travelogue (1977) on November 11 at Northrop, copresented by the Walker and Northrop.

“The Walker Art Center’s decades-long support of iconic innovators Merce Cunningham, Trisha Brown, and Robert Rauschenberg was central to our emergence as one of the world’s leading multidisciplinary art centers,” said Philip Bither, McGuire Director and Senior Curator, Performing Arts. “Revisiting their audacious collaborations through an exhibition of Rauschenberg’s stunning Glacial Decoy costumes and set pieces and through Trisha Brown Dance Company itself performing timeless Merce and Trisha collaborative works with Rauschenberg will showcase the continued power of these rare artistic collaborations. The continued influence of these figures will be seen through works across the season by leading dance artists of our current times, including Kyle Abraham, Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener among others.”

The performance Glacial Decoy captures Brown’s fluid, off-kilter choreography against the shifting and fading large-scale projections of Rauschenberg’s black-and-white photographs. The dancers’ movements often push the body in several directions, with fully extended arms and legs tracing wide arcs. These broad actions are punctuated by quick and subtle ones like turned wrists, nodding heads, and rolled torsos. These elements connect one phrase of the performance to the next, propelling the dancers forward. Rauschenberg’s set work gives additional structure to the performance, with the advancing photographic projections moving across the stage and acting as a metronome aligned with Brown’s choreography. In time, the movements of the dancers and the set meld together, creating an evanescent sensation and engaging viewers on multiple levels.

Rauschenberg’s costumes add further complexity to the work, casting silhouettes around the dancers that both conceal and emphasize the body. The artist created two groups of costumes. The first featured sheer paneled shirts and skirts (as well as leggings, now lost to time) and was used only in rehearsals and at the work’s May 1979 premiere. Prior to the work’s debut in New York in June 1979, Rauschenberg created new costumes—the now recognizable pleated white translucent dresses and cap sleeves. These dresses give a weightless and ephemeral visual effect and contribute to the power of the fading images of the set.

Trisha Brown and Robert Rauschenberg: Glacial Decoy features elements from both groups of costumes. The exhibition is completed with archival photography as well as works on paper by both artists that reflect this performance and collaboration as an extension of their broader creative work. Exhibition curator Brandon Eng: “Glacial Decoy is a rich work that contains some of Brown’s most expressive choreography, and highlights Rauschenberg’s distinctive approach to cross-medium experimentation. Glacial Decoy is not only a landmark work of postmodern dance, but also a key moment in the Walker Art Center’s history. It exemplifies the museum’s tradition of offering artists the support and structure to take new risks and expand and elevate their practices. For over 40 years, audiences around the world have experienced this work, this exhibition brings Glacial Decoy home to the city where the work was premiered and developed.”