Happening
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the 1967 comedy film, see The Happening
Following the late 1950s, a Happening was a performance, event or situation meant to be considered as art. Happenings could take place anywhere, were often multi-disciplinary, often lacked a narrative and frequently sought to involve the audience in some way. Key elements of happenings were planned, but artists would sometimes retain room for improvisation.
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] Origins
Allan Kaprow first coined the term Happening in the Spring of 1957 at an art picnic at George Segal (artist)'s farm to describe the art pieces that were going on. 'Happening' first appeared in print in the Winter 1958 issue of the Rutgers University undergraduate literary magazine, Anthologist. The form was imitated and the term was adopted by artists across the U.S., Germany, and Japan. Jack Kerouac referred to Kaprow as "the Happenings man," and an ad showing a woman floating in outer space declared, "I dreamt I was in a happening in my Maidenform brassiere."
Kaprow’s piece 18 Happenings in 6 Parts (1959) is commonly cited as the first happening, although the first happening is sometimes considered to have been a 1952 performance of Theater Piece No. 1 at Black Mountain College by John Cage, who was a teacher of Kaprow in the mid-1950s. Accounts of exactly what this performance involved differ, but most agree that Cage recited poetry and read lectures, M. C. Richards read some of her poetry, Robert Rauschenberg showed some of his paintings and played phonograph records, David Tudor performed on a prepared piano and Merce Cunningham danced. All these things took place at the same time, and among the audience rather than on a stage. Happenings flourished in New York City in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Key contributors to the form included Carolee Schneemann, Red Grooms, Robert Whitman, Jim Dine, Claes Oldenburg and Robert Rauschenberg. Some of their work is documented in Michael Kirby's book Happenings (1966).
[edit] Around the world
In Britain, the first Happenings were organised in Liverpool by the poet and painter Adrian Henri. However, the most important event was the Albert Hall “Poetry Incarnation” on June 11, 1965, when an audience of 7,000 people witnessed and participated in performances by some of the leading avant-garde young British and American poets of the day (see British Poetry Revival and Poetry of the United States). One of the participants, Jeff Nuttall, went on to organise a number of further Happenings, often working with his friend Bob Cobbing, sound poet and performance poet.
In Belgium, the first Happenings were organized around 1965–1968 in Antwerp, Brussels and Ostend by artists Hugo Heyrman and Panamarenko.
In Australia, the Yellow House Artist Collective in Sydney housed 24-hour Happenings throughout the early 1970s.
Behind the Iron Curtain, in Poland, in the second half of 1980s, a student based Happening movement Orange Alternative founded by Major Waldemar Fydrych became known for its much attended Happenings (over 10 thousand participants at one time) aimed against the military regime led by General Jaruzelski and the fear blocking the Polish society ever since the Martial Law had been imposed in December 1981.
[edit] Another form
By 1999, another form of the Happening appeared in Brussels, Belgium, created by students of the Free University of Brussels (ULB). The meaning of this form of the Happening is that "Things Happen", and sometimes you can't do anything about it. It is presented in an everyday, everytime, everywhere "game" where people can constrain other people to do something or to undergo a certain situation. This is done by simply saying the word "happening" before you take action on a person or force him to do something. The key point is that when someone has said "Happening", it's too late and the "victim" has no other choice but to be a temporary puppet of the Happeninger (the one who's doing the Happening) and not answering back. Revenge has no place in this game. The only way to avoid a Happening, is to prevent it by saying "no way" and showing your index finger in an horizontal position to a person when you suspect he's going to perform a Happening on you in the upcoming minutes. The safety time implied by the "no way" is not precisely defined, it is contextual. Many students played this game by punching one another on the shoulder as a Happening, but a Happening doesn't have to be a bad thing.
[edit] See also
- Performance art
- Fluxus (art movement)
- Situationism
- Flash mob
- Fluxus at Rutgers University
- Bread and Puppet Theater
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- [1] in progress database of individuals, places, and events.
- Personal Experience of Art by Stefan Hager — a collection of “abstract Happenings” based on conceptual art by well-known artists.
- Happenings in Belgium
- Al Hansen material
- Happenings by Orange Alternative in Poland
