Happening

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.

The term originated with Allan Kaprow’s piece 18 Happenings in 6 Parts (1959), 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, 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.

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 organised 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 2nd half of 1980's, 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 General Jaruzelski military regime and the fear blocking the Polish society ever since the Martial Law was imposed in December of 1980.

See also

• Fluxus (art movement)
• Performance art
• Situationism
• Flash mob

External links

• 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