Peter Taub
Encyclopedia
Peter Taub is the director of performance programs at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
. Taub has been at the head of the MCA’s performing arts program since its conception in 1996.
Taub earned a BA from Princeton
in cultural history
and photography
and later went on to receive an MFA in photography and sculpture
from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He has participated in policy committees and boards for various Chicago-based cultural organizations.
Taub says that when curating shows for the MCA, he does not look for linear narratives: "I think that the episodic, fractured narrative really is closer to our multitasking world....I try to have work on our stage that is similarly multifaceted."
—the museum’s performing arts program founded in 1996—features performers ranging from Chicago-based artists such as eighth blackbird
and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago
to artists from the Congo
, Poland
, Mexico
, Ireland
, and beyond. Under Taub’s leadership, the MCA Stage
developed an ensemble-in-residence program as well as the MCA Composers Stage series, which is devoted to supporting the new and experimental music
scene, and the MCA Global Stage series, which features international theater companies.
Taub has commissioned new works for the MCA by artists including Meg Stuart
/Damaged Goods, The Builders Association, William Kentridge
/Handspring Puppet Company
, and Ernest Khabeer Dawkins, among others. In 2007, the MCA commissioned cello and video work by Maya Beiser
, and it commissioned a work by Reggie Wilson Fist & Heel Performance Group. MCA Stage 2011 commissions include Lucky Plush Productions The Better Half and Curious Theatre Branch Still in Play: A Performance of Getting Ready.
is the first exhibition and performance project Taub curated for the MCA. The 2011 exhibition consists of three performances—Naked, The Caravan Project, and Regeneration—and a gallery component.
The MCA Stage
has hosted notable dance performers, such as the Trisha Brown
Dance Company, most recently in 2011, celebrating the company’s 40th year, Bill T. Jones
(2008), and Merce Cunningham
(2007); Taub is noted as key player in Chicago’s growth as a dance city.
In 2008, the MCA Stage
hosted the Chicago-debut of New York-based Elevator Repair Service
and its performance of Gatz, a seven-hour reading and reenactment of F. Scott Fitzgerald
's The Great Gatsby
. A Chicago critic writes, "Those lucky enough to catch Gatz were treated to a perspective-altering experience. When the show finally hit New York in 2010, it was the talk of the town, but Chicagoans had already beentheredonethat, thanks to the MCA."
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is a contemporary art museum near Water Tower Place in downtown Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The museum, which was established in 1967, is one of the world's largest contemporary art venues...
. Taub has been at the head of the MCA’s performing arts program since its conception in 1996.
Education and career
Prior to joining the MCA staff, Taub was the executive director of the Randolph Street Gallery. Taub has more than 20 years experience in developing visual and performance art exhibitions and community outreach programs.Taub earned a BA from Princeton
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
in cultural history
Cultural history
The term cultural history refers both to an academic discipline and to its subject matter.Cultural history, as a discipline, at least in its common definition since the 1970s, often combines the approaches of anthropology and history to look at popular cultural traditions and cultural...
and photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
and later went on to receive an MFA in photography and sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He has participated in policy committees and boards for various Chicago-based cultural organizations.
Taub says that when curating shows for the MCA, he does not look for linear narratives: "I think that the episodic, fractured narrative really is closer to our multitasking world....I try to have work on our stage that is similarly multifaceted."
MCA Stage
The MCA StageMCA Stage
The MCA Stage is the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago’s performing arts program. Founded in 1996 with the opening of the MCA’s new building at Chicago, Illinois.-History:...
—the museum’s performing arts program founded in 1996—features performers ranging from Chicago-based artists such as eighth blackbird
Eighth blackbird
eighth blackbird is a Grammy Award-winning contemporary music sextet based in Chicago. The group derives its name from the eighth stanza of Wallace Stevens' poem Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird...
and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago is an American dance company based in Chicago. HSDC performs in downtown Chicago and its metropolitan area and tours nationally and internationally throughout the year....
to artists from the Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, and beyond. Under Taub’s leadership, the MCA Stage
MCA Stage
The MCA Stage is the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago’s performing arts program. Founded in 1996 with the opening of the MCA’s new building at Chicago, Illinois.-History:...
developed an ensemble-in-residence program as well as the MCA Composers Stage series, which is devoted to supporting the new and experimental music
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
scene, and the MCA Global Stage series, which features international theater companies.
Taub has commissioned new works for the MCA by artists including Meg Stuart
Meg Stuart
Meg Stuart is an American Choreographer and Dancer based in Brussels, Belgium. She is one of the key figures in the European and International contemporary dance world -Biography:...
/Damaged Goods, The Builders Association, William Kentridge
William Kentridge
William Kentridge is a South African artist best known for his prints, drawings, and animated films. These are constructed by filming a drawing, making erasures and changes, and filming it again. He continues this process meticulously, giving each change to the drawing a quarter of a second to two...
/Handspring Puppet Company
Handspring Puppet Company
The Handspring Puppet Company is a puppetry performance and design company established in 1981 by Adrian Kohler and Basil Jones, situated in Cape Town, South Africa. Thys Stander is the company's chief puppet maker.-History:...
, and Ernest Khabeer Dawkins, among others. In 2007, the MCA commissioned cello and video work by Maya Beiser
Maya Beiser
Maya Beiser is an American cellist who lives in New York City. She has an international career as a performer and recording artist. She was raised on a kibbutz in Israel by her French mother and Argentine father, and graduated from Yale University School of Music...
, and it commissioned a work by Reggie Wilson Fist & Heel Performance Group. MCA Stage 2011 commissions include Lucky Plush Productions The Better Half and Curious Theatre Branch Still in Play: A Performance of Getting Ready.
Key performances
Time is Not Even, Space is Not Empty by the Japanese-American dance artists Eiko & KomaEiko & Koma
Eiko Otake and Takashi Koma Otake, generally known as Eiko & Koma, are a Japanese performance duo. Since 1972, Eiko & Koma have worked as co-artistic directors, choreographers, and performers, creating a unique theater of movement out of stillness, shape, light, sound, and time...
is the first exhibition and performance project Taub curated for the MCA. The 2011 exhibition consists of three performances—Naked, The Caravan Project, and Regeneration—and a gallery component.
The MCA Stage
MCA Stage
The MCA Stage is the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago’s performing arts program. Founded in 1996 with the opening of the MCA’s new building at Chicago, Illinois.-History:...
has hosted notable dance performers, such as the Trisha Brown
Trisha Brown
Trisha Brown is a postmodernist American choreographer and dancer.Brown was born in Aberdeen, Washington, and received a B.A. degree in dance from Mills College in 1958. Brown later received a D.F.A. from Bates College in 2000. For several summers she studied with Louis Horst at the American Dance...
Dance Company, most recently in 2011, celebrating the company’s 40th year, Bill T. Jones
Bill T. Jones
Bill T. Jones is an American artistic director, choreographer and dancer.-Early life:Jones was born in Bunnell, Florida and his family moved North as part of the Great Migration in the first half of the twentieth century. They settled in Wayland, New York, where Jones attended Wayland High School...
(2008), and Merce Cunningham
Merce Cunningham
Mercier "Merce" Philip Cunningham was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of the American avant-garde for more than 50 years. Throughout much of his life, Cunningham was considered one of the greatest creative forces in American dance...
(2007); Taub is noted as key player in Chicago’s growth as a dance city.
In 2008, the MCA Stage
MCA Stage
The MCA Stage is the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago’s performing arts program. Founded in 1996 with the opening of the MCA’s new building at Chicago, Illinois.-History:...
hosted the Chicago-debut of New York-based Elevator Repair Service
Elevator Repair Service
Elevator Repair Service are a New York-based theater ensemble founded by director John Collins and a group of actors in 1991.ERS have performed in various New York including Performance Space 122, The Performing Garage, HERE, The Ontological at St. Mark's Church, The Flea, The Kitchen, and Soho...
and its performance of Gatz, a seven-hour reading and reenactment of F. Scott Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost...
's The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby is a novel by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. First published in1925, it is set on Long Island's North Shore and in New York City from spring to autumn of 1922....
. A Chicago critic writes, "Those lucky enough to catch Gatz were treated to a perspective-altering experience. When the show finally hit New York in 2010, it was the talk of the town, but Chicagoans had already beentheredonethat, thanks to the MCA."
See also
MCA StageMCA Stage
The MCA Stage is the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago’s performing arts program. Founded in 1996 with the opening of the MCA’s new building at Chicago, Illinois.-History:...
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is a contemporary art museum near Water Tower Place in downtown Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The museum, which was established in 1967, is one of the world's largest contemporary art venues...