ABSTRACT
While certain works from the 1960s are considered as audiovisual, immersive, environmental installations, this chapter aims to establish the extent to which the use of ‘active’ space within the early work of La Monte Young and Terry Riley might contribute to audience engagement and immersion and furthermore inform a contemporary practice in the visual arts. It presents observations from a wider investigation into the relevance of both composers to contemporary immersive practice, highlighting their work during the 1960s — a period in which North America was recovering from the Second World War and in which developments in post-war technology coincided with an economic boom that saw new materials and technology become available to artists and composers alike, in ‘an environment of excess and experimentation’. The chapter recognizes the potential of the venue itself to be opened up for the audience to undertake a performative role and to be combined with a new technology to create new forms of ‘active’ spaces.
