Happening - what is it? Examples in art

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Modern art involves a mixture of colors, an extravaganza that cannot be taken aloof. One of her genres is happening. It is literally the art of action. In it, the viewer himself is the demiurge. He does not inquire about “what's happening”, but actively takes part in everything, improvising and mixing all known styles and techniques. The boundary between the viewer and the artist in contemporary art is practically erased, sometimes creating the impression that they are changing places. Happenings are often held in crowded public places. For example, in the subway, at the station, city squares. For the first time, these events began to be held in the 1950s. Among the first was Allan Kaprow, the author of the term.

Description

Happening, a form of modern art, examples of which today can be found at social events and parties, first appeared in the 1950s and 1960s. John was the first to use it. Cage. His student Allan Kaprow coined the name for these "spontaneous and unsystematic theatrical events". He offered to drink wine on the street with an unfamiliar simple passerby. This was his first happening. Representatives of this trend do not think about the meaning, so the actions can be even so simple, but it's still art. Among them are Beuys, Dine, Cage, Kaplan, Oldenburg, Rauschenberg, Lebel, Liechtenstein.

Happening is a multidisciplinary style characterized by a non-linear narrative and active participation of the audience. The author can think through the key elements. However, if everything does not go according to his idea, then there is no need to stop anything and start again. The main thing is the process, not the result. Happening involves the improvisation of all actors. The latter include ordinary people who passed by. Everyone has the right to freedom of expression through creativity. In the 1960s, the term was used in a broader sense. Then a happening could be called both a formal event and a meeting of friends playing billiards. In principle, this is correct, since the very purpose of this style is to blur the boundaries between everyday life and creativity. However, today the narrow meaning of the term is more often used.

Performance, happening and other types of neo-art: similarities and differences

As far back as 1966, Rauschenberg insisted that there were no criteria for new art forms. However, while the border between them is not yet so blurred that they do not exist at all.classify. Differences are strength. Since contemporary art involves the creation of something completely new, it is important for us to understand what the weaknesses of the existing one are.

Happening appeared as a trend in the 1950s and 1960s as part of pop art. A decade later, it arose in conceptualism. For such a direction as happening, photography and video shooting are not mandatory, but not prohibited. However, the author of the idea does not record everything that happens, as is customary when conducting a performance. It is characterized by a clear study of the script. Happening does not involve any planning and relies entirely on interactivity and improvisation. In fact, there is no author in it. After all, each viewer can turn the action upside down.

In performance, the creative realization of the artist's position is more important than the interaction between the participants. Happening turns everyday life into art. Performance, on the other hand, does not involve duplication of ordinary actions, but the creation of a new world, which should replace reality for the audience for a while. Happening affirms freedom of expression for every person. Performance - only for the author.

Gunther Sachs and his contribution to the development of art

The film "Happening in White" at one time made a splash among representatives of Bohemia. However, he remained virtually unknown to the common spectator. Nevertheless, it was in this picture that the slowdown of shooting, to which the modern viewer is so accustomed, was first used. Gunter Sachs has always strived to be the first in everything. He began to collect his collection of modern art, when it was not yet fashionable. Gunther introduced Europe to the works of Andy Warhol, and made America fall in love with Claudia Schiffer. During his life he managed to distinguish himself in many areas. Cinema among them.

In 1972, the International Olympic Committee awarded the first prize to his painting Happening in White. But cinema was not Zaks' only passion. He took brilliant photographs, went in for sports, designed his own clothes, opened museums and galleries, and even researched astrology, although their significance is denied by modern science. Gunther Sachs has always loved to experiment. For example, he was the first to shoot a nude model for a glossy magazine. Sachs' photographs are still on display in exhibitions around the world.

The birth of a direction

The first time Allan Kaprow used the term "happening" was in 1957 to describe an art picnic at George Segal's farm. In 1958, the essay "The Legacy of Jackson Pollock" was published. In it, Kaprow also uses the term. Gradually, he came into use. The difficulty was that happenings are hard to describe. It can be anything. Wardrip and Montfort give their definition of this term. Happenings are commonly referred to as performances and events held by Allan Kaprow throughout the 1950s and 1960s and included theatrical elements, but implying limited involvement of the audience in the action. However, this is too narrow a definition. In 1972, Gary Botting gave this interpretation:“Happenings have discarded the matrix of story and plot and replaced it with an even more complex one - incidents and events.”

Kaprow was a student of John Cage. The latter was the author of several musical happenings in 1952. Therefore, Cage is sometimes called the founder of the direction. However, this is a rather controversial proposition. Since it was Kaprow who first combined music and visual arts. The whole point of happening is to blur the line between real life and creativity. And this requires not only music, but at least some visual images, and better - also tastes, smells, tactile elements. Moreover, happening in art has nothing to do with the author's fantasy. They are taken from real life, because it in itself is richer than any, even the most talented, images of the imagination.

Gradually happening has become a new style of contemporary art. His "chip" was the lack of boundaries between the viewer and the author. These roles in the usual sense of the word do not exist here at all. Today, happenings are quite common. They are organized not only by representatives of creative bohemia, but also by ordinary people. However, as before, many have not even heard of such a direction. Sometimes people participate in such an action, but do not even think that they have joined modern art. However, the role of this style is constantly growing. In the era of the knowledge economy and the information society, more and more people seek to express themselves. Moreover, it is now generally accepted that in order todo art, no education needed.

Comparison with plays

Happening is a style that implies an organic connection between creativity and the environment. Kaprow believed that it allows you to discard the correct manners for a short moment and get to know real life. Moreover, this decision is always spontaneous. It can make you feel "dirty". Life is not always beautiful, but a person should appreciate all its manifestations. This is where real freedom lies. And even in such conditions there is hope for development. Happenings have no philosophy or plot, they are pure improvisation.

The author can constantly think over key events, but this does not mean at all that they will come true. Each "spectator" is an active participant in the action. Therefore, it can develop in the most unpredictable way. And there is no disaster in this. If the vision of the author did not coincide with the real development of the event, then there is no need to replay everything. This is the main difference with the play. The latter always makes sense. Each word in the play reflects the vision of the author. Her story does not reflect the flow of the audience's thoughts. The spectator of the play does not participate in the action in any way. He is an outside observer who can look down on her quality.

Happening cannot fail. Participants can be collected in advance, but if they do not come, then this is not a disaster. You can always attract spectators from the street. With the play, things are quite different. Actors need to be paid for their work, scenery sometimes costs a lot of money, so successdepends on the number of tickets sold. In a happening, the process is much more important than the result. Even when the actual action and the author's idea are completely different things, it cannot be said that something went wrong. After all, the result is not important. Only that happening can be called unsuccessful, whose author insists on his vision, forgetting about the freedom of creativity of the public. Refusal to improvise is the death of this style.

As Red Groom pointed out, happenings assume that no one knows exactly what is going on. And in this it is unusually similar to real life. If the play is a finished work, in which the author laid down a certain moral, then happening is pure improvisation. As in any other everyday situation, in this action, everyone does what they want, and then see the consequences of their decisions.

Contribution to the development of digital technologies

Happenings contributed to the development of communication tools. They largely determined their modern look. Happenings allowed artists to engage the audience in problems. People were able to participate in real-time creativity. The musicians from the Jass Vision Trio group are widely known for playing jazz improvisations. An interesting variety is political happenings. He questions the seriousness of power. An example is the mass demonstrations of a quasi-party organization called "Subtropical Russia". They are in favor of lowering the boiling point of water to 50 degrees Celsius and for changing the country's climate towards a warmer one. This is a kind of protest against the absurdity of the powerstructure and decisions made in it.

In Russia

Considering the museum happening, one cannot help but recall the St. Petersburg "Trickster". It is divided into two sections: children's and adult. The Museum of Laughter allows the visitor to directly interact with the exhibits. Here, art is combined with real life, giving the common man a brilliant opportunity for self-expression. Another example of happenings in Russia are monstrations. They are held in many cities of the Russian Federation and neighboring countries. The first monstration took place in 2004 in Novosibirsk. Since then they have been held every year. The difference between monsters and flash mobs and performances is the absence of a script. The only thing that is communicated to the participants in advance is the meeting place. The date is already known - May 1 of each year. Participants bring posters with absurd slogans.

Demonstrations question political demonstrations. They are a form of protest, expanding the boundaries of rights and freedoms. Although the slogans on them are apolitical, but the monstrosities contribute to an increase in the social activity of the population. Today they are held annually in such Russian cities as St. Petersburg, Moscow, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Petrozavodsk, Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Kursk, Krasnoyarsk, Omsk, Perm, Tomsk, Simferopol, Yaroslavl, Tyumen. From the cities of neighboring countries, Chisinau, Riga and Beijing can be distinguished.

Philosophy of contemporary art

Happening in art is not a new style, as Kaprow explained, but a volitional act. It is an essential need of every human being. The professionalism of this art is not so important as its existentiality. The need to participate in happenings is inherent in the very nature of man. Kaprow believed that as soon as an artist was recognized and paid for his work, he was deprived of his right to freedom of creativity. Now he has to constantly conform to the tastes of his audience. This may not be his intention, but it will happen. And this is not the fault of the public. As a result of this, his work begins to degenerate, images begin to repeat themselves, and novelty disappears forever. Kaprow said that it is not the public's job to protect an author's freedom of expression, but that the author may well turn down fame if he does not know how to deal with its consequences.

Festival as a kind of happening

Annual events such as Burning Man and the Oregon Fair help popularize this style among ordinary people. Festivals are positive and successful examples of happenings. Anyone can participate in such events and try to create something amazing and unique. In fact, the festival does not imply the presence of spectators in the usual sense for us. Someone is the author of the idea. But everyone can become a demiurge and change the course of events.

All beauty is in spontaneity and improvisation. This happening is similar to real life. In fact, he is her. After all, there is no boundary between art and life. However, not all festivalsare happenings. This style includes only those that do not have a pre-designed script. Good examples are Burning Man and the Oregon fair. Every year they attract tens of thousands of people who are willing to share their ideas with the world and one with another, bringing them to life.

Good happening - inspiring

Allan Kaprow, the founder of the direction, a man who in the 1950s offered people on the street to drink a glass of wine from the hands of a stranger and thus join the art, wrote instructions to help all novice demiurges. It illustrates well what a happening is. Kaprow's examples inspire and give food for thought even to people who are far from art. Here is the instruction in abbreviation:

1. First you need to forget everything you know about traditional art. You can't get hung up on forms. Modern art does not involve painting, or staging plays, or composing music, or making films. Happening is both all of the above and something completely new.
2. The line between life and art should be as thin as possible. A truly talented happening makes even the author forget about its existence.
3. Images from real life are always much deeper than those taken from the head. Therefore, you need to take a real situation and turn it into art. There is an infinite amount to be gained from a simple trip to the store.
4. Experimentation and violation of space is a feature of such a form of contemporary art as happening. Theater presupposes unity of place andactions. Happening can be done anywhere. You can start on a nearby avenue and end up in a nearby city or on another continent.
5. Everything should happen in real time. And there is no need to coordinate the actions of all participants. Everything is real in the happening.
6. There should be no artificiality in actions. No need to think about the golden ratio, poetic means of expressiveness of speech and mathematical progressions. Our brain itself is quite capable of shaping natural things.
7. In order to create a happening, you need to be part of the world. It makes no sense to spend a few hundred dollars on hiring a bulldozer if he is already laying the road somewhere. You just need to go to this place and include a road worker in your happening. If your idea involves something completely unrealistic, then it is better to abandon it immediately.
8. We need to cooperate with local authorities, not oppose them. This makes things much easier.
9. The point of happening is not to hone all the actions to perfection. This is characteristic of traditional art. Once started, the happening cannot be stopped or restarted.
10. Each idea can be realized only once.
11. Happening cannot be observed from the outside. You need to actively participate in it, be physically involved. And this applies not only to the "viewers", but also to the author.

Happenings and performances: assessments of their artistic content

Modern art is extremely diverse. Artistsfinally managed to win back the freedom of creativity. Now they easily break down the walls between genres, trends and styles. But this is not the end either. Happening style broke the wall between art and real life, viewer and author. Sometimes it is considered as a kind of performance art. However, this is not entirely true. Of course, the nominal boundary between these two areas of contemporary art is very thin, but sometimes it is useful to understand where it is after all. What they have in common is that the creative experience is placed above the final result. Performance and happenings in music, images, smells, tastes, touches tend to show the original idea. However, each participant can turn everything upside down. Both styles are characterized by situational and outrageous. However, the most important difference between a happening and a performance is that in it the viewer is immediately a demiurge, the plot is created along the way based on the improvisations of all participants in the action.

Initially, both styles were quite radical. However, today they are increasingly acquiring the character of a show and are often used at parties, social events, and presentations. But if happening is characterized by the transition of art into real life, then performance, on the contrary, suggests that everyday life disappears, giving way to another world invented by the author. However, in both cases, the interpretation depends on the audience. Performance, happening and other types of contemporary art are increasingly merging over time. But erasing the boundaries between them -this is a positive development. The disappearance of the excessive dogmatism of performance and the lack of control of happenings is the way to even better interaction between the viewer and the author, everyday life and art.