Happening

A happening is a performance, event or situation meant to be considered as art. Happenings lack a narrative, are often multi-disciplinary, and frequently seek to involve the audience in the performance in some way. Elements of them may be planned while retaining room for improvisation. They can take place anywhere.

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The term originated with Allan Kaprow's piece 18 Happenings in 6 Parts (1959), although the first happening is sometimes considered to be a 1952 performance of Theater Piece No. 1 by John Cage (a teacher of Kaprow in the mid-50s) at Black Mountain College. Accounts of exactly what this performance involved differ, but most agree that Cage recited poetry and read lectures, M. C. Richards read her poetry, David Tudor performed on a prepared piano, Robert Rauschenberg showed some of his paintings and Merce Cunningham danced. All these things took place at the same time, and among the audience, rather than on a stage.

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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. One of the participants, Jeff Nuttall, went on to organise a number of further happenings, often working with his friend, the sound and performance poet Bob Cobbing.

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In Belgium, the first happenings were organised by the artists Hugo Heyrman and Panamarenko, in Antwerp, Brussels and Ostend (1965—1968).

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In Australia The Yellow House Artist Collective in Sydney housed 24 hour happenings throughout the early 1970s.

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Improvisation: Improvisation is the act of making something up as it is performed. This term is usually used in the context of music, theater or dance....

Allan Kaprow: AMERICAN PAINTER, ASSEMBLAGIST, CREATOR OF HAPPENINGS and theorist, born 1927 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Within a brief and intense early career, Kaprow progressed from an interest in Abstract Expressionism and many-levelled paintings incorporating collage to assemblage. He enrolled in Hans Hofma...

John Cage: John Milton Cage (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American experimental music composer and writer. He is well known for his 1952 composition...

Happening related Images and Photos (experimental)

The Happening

It's All Happening Ploughing and Harrowing and Sowing Together

Toy Story Strange Things Are Happening Canvas Giclee Print