The Magic Theater Exhibition Files

The Magic Theater, an avant-garde exhibition held at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, was funded through the Performing Arts Foundation of Kansas City with local industries and firms contributing over $400,000 in goods and services. The exhibition was organized and coordinated by Ralph T. Coe with assistance from museum staff. Eight artists were selected to design works of art that involved sound, light, and inter-activity. The artists selected were Stephen Antonakas, Howard Jones, Stanley Landsman, Boyd Mefferd, Terry Riley, Charles Ross, James Seawright and Robert Whitman. The works of art were constructed on site, at the Nelson, with help from the entire community of art patrons, students, teachers and officials working for six weeks to pull the show together. It opened on May 29, 1968 and was scheduled to run through June 23, 1968. However, due to its popularity, the show was held over. The show then traveled to four additional museums including the Museum of Contemporary Crafts (New York, N.Y), the Montreal Museum (Montreal, Canada), the Toledo Museum (Toledo, Ohio), and the City Art Museum of St. Louis (St. Louis, Missouri). After the completion of the last showing, each piece was returned to the artist as specified in the contract between the artists and Performing Arts Foundation.