Contemporary art involves a mixture of colors, extravaganza, which can not be perceived remotely. One of her genres is happening. This is literally the art of action. In it, the viewer himself is a demiurge. He doesnāt ask about the āvots happeningā, but actively takes part in everything himself, improvising and mixing all known styles and techniques. The border between the viewer and the artist in modern art is almost erased, sometimes creating the impression that they are changing places. Happings are often held in crowded public places. For example, in the subway, train 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
Such a form of contemporary art as happening, examples of which can be found today at social events and at parties, first appeared in 1950-1960. The first to use it was John Cage. His student, Allan Kaprow, coined the name for these "spontaneous and haphazard theater events." He offered to drink wine on the street with an unfamiliar simple passer-by. That was his first happening. Representatives of this direction do not think about the meaning, so the actions can even be so simple, but it's still an art. Among them are Boyce, Dyne, Cage, Kaplan, Oldenburg, Rauschenberg, Lebel, Liechtenstein.
Happening is a multidisciplinary style that is characterized by non-linear narrative and active participation in the audience. An author can think through key elements. However, if everything goes wrong in accordance with his plan, then there is no need to stop anything and start over. The main thing is the process, not the result. Happening involves the improvisation of all the characters. The latter include ordinary people who passed by. Everyone has the right to freedom of expression at the expense of creativity. In the 1960s, the term was used in a broader sense. Back then, a formal event and a meeting of friends at a game of billiards could be called happening. 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: general and differences
Back in 1966, Rauschenberg insisted on the absence of criteria for new art forms. However, while the border between them is not yet so blurred that they are not classified at all. The differences are power. Since contemporary art involves the creation of something completely new, it is important for us to understand the weaknesses of the existing one.
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, photo and video shooting are not mandatory, but they are not prohibited. However, the author of the idea does not record everything that is happening, as is customary in the 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 the performance, the creative realization of the artistās position, rather than the interaction between the participants, is more important. Happening turns everyday life into art. Performance, however, does not imply duplication of ordinary actions, but the creation of a new world, which should temporarily replace reality for viewers. Happy affirm freedom of expression for every person. Performance - for the author only.
Gunter Sachs and his contribution to the development of art
The film "Happening in White" at the time made a splash among the representatives of Bohemia. However, he remained virtually unknown to the ordinary viewer. Nevertheless, it was in this picture that the slowdown of shooting was used for the first time, to which the modern viewer is so used. Gunter Sachs always strived to be the first in everything. He began to collect his collection of contemporary art when it was not yet fashionable. Gunther introduced Europe to the work of Andy Warhol, and made America fall in love with Claudia Schiffer. During his life, he managed to excel in many areas. Among them is cinema.
In 1972, the International Olympic Committee awarded the first prize to his painting "Happening in White." But cinema was not the only hobby of Sachs. He took brilliant photographs, went in for sports, created his own clothing models, opened museums and galleries, and even studied astrology, although their significance is denied by modern science. Gunter Sachs always loved to experiment. For example, he was the first to shoot a naked model for a glossy magazine. Photographs of Sachs are still exhibited at exhibitions around the world.
The origin of the direction
For the first time, Allan Kaprow used the term āhappeningā in 1957 to describe an action held at an art picnic on George Segal's farm. In 1958, the essay "Jackson Pollock Legacy" was published. Kaprow also uses the term in it. Gradually, he came into use. The difficulty was that happenings are hard enough to describe. It can be anything. Wardrip and Montfort give their definition of the term. Happening is the name for performances and events conducted by Allan Kaprow during the years 1950-1960 and including theatrical elements, but implying a limited involvement of spectators in the action. However, this is too narrow a definition. In 1972, Gary Botting gave the following interpretation: "The happenings discarded the story and plot matrix and replaced it with an even more complex one - incident and event."
Kaprow was a student of John Cage. The latter was the author of several musical happenings in 1952. Therefore, it is Cage who is sometimes called the founder of the direction. However, this is a rather controversial proposition. Since Kaprow was the first to combine music and art. The whole point of happening is to blur the line between real life and creativity. And for this, not only music is needed, but at least some visual images, and better, also tastes, smells, tactile elements. Moreover, happening in art has nothing to do with the authorās imagination. They are taken from real life, because it in itself is richer than any, even the most talented, images of imagination.
Gradually happening turned into a new style of contemporary art. His "trick" 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 did not even hear about this direction. Sometimes people participate in such an action, but do not even think that they have joined the modern art. However, the role of this style is constantly growing. In the era of the knowledge economy and the information society, an increasing number of people seek to express themselves. And now the generally accepted fact is that in order to engage in art, education is not necessary.
Comparison with plays
Happening is a style that implies an organic connection between creativity and the environment. Kaprow believed that he allows you to drop the correct manners for a short moment and learn about real life. Moreover, this decision is always spontaneous. It can make you feel "dirty." Life is not always beautiful, but a person must appreciate all its manifestations. This is true freedom. And even in such conditions there is hope for development. Happenings have no philosophy or plot; this is pure improvisation.
The author can constantly think over key events, however this does not mean at all that they will come true. Each "viewer" 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 authorās vision did not coincide with the real development of the event, then you do not need to replay everything. This is the main difference with the play. The latter always makes sense. Each word in the play reflects the authorās vision. Its plot does not reflect the stream of thoughts of the audience. The viewer of the play does not participate in the action. He is an outside observer who can appreciate her quality.
Happening cannot fail. Participants can be gathered in advance, but if they do not come, then this is not a disaster. You can always attract viewers from the street. The situation is completely different with the play. Actors need to pay for the work, the scenery sometimes costs a lot of money, so success depends on the number of tickets sold. In happening, the process is much more important than the result. Even when the authorās real action and idea are completely different things, one cannot say that something went wrong. After all, the result is not important. Only happening, whose author insists on his vision, forgetting about the freedom of the publicās creativity, can be called unsuccessful. Refusal of improvisation is the death of this style.
As Red Groom noted, happening suggests that no one knows what exactly is happening. And in this he is unusually similar to real life. If the play is a finished work in which the author has laid a certain morality, then happening is pure improvisation. As in any other everyday situation, in this action everyone does what he wants and then sees the consequences of his decisions.
Contribution to the development of digital technology
Happenings contributed to the development of communications. They largely determined their modern look. The happenings allowed artists to engage the audience in problems. People were able to participate in creativity in real time. Widely known are the musicians from the group Jass Vision Trio, who play jazz improvisations. An interesting variation is political happening. 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 warmer. This is a peculiar form of protest against the absurdity of the power structure and the decisions made in it.
In Russia
Considering museum happening, one cannot help but recall the St. Petersburg Trickster. It is divided into two sections: children's and adult. The Laughter Museum allows the visitor to interact directly with the exhibits. Here art is combined with real life, giving the simple person a brilliant opportunity for self-expression. Another example of happening in Russia are monsters. They are held in many cities of the Russian Federation and neighboring countries. The first demonstration 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 lack of a script. The only thing that is communicated to the participants in advance is the meeting place. The number is already known - May 1 of each year. Participants bring placards with absurd slogans.
Monsters 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 increase 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. Chisinau, Riga and Beijing can be distinguished from the cities of neighboring countries.
Philosophy of Contemporary Art
Happening in art is not a new style, as Kaprow explained, but a volitional action. It represents the urgent need of every person. The professionalism of this art is not so important as its existentiality. The need for participation in happenings is inherent in the very nature of man. Kaprow believed that as soon as the artist was recognized and began to pay for his work, he was deprived of his right to creative freedom. Now he has to constantly meet the tastes of his audience. This may not be his intention, but it will. And this is not the fault of the public. As a result of this, his work begins to degenerate, images repeat itself, and novelty disappears forever. Kaprow said that the publicās task is not to protect the authorās freedom of expression, but the latter may well give up fame if he does not know how to cope with its consequences.
Festival as a kind of happening
Annual events such as Burning Man and the Oregon Fair promote this style among ordinary people. Festivals are positive and successful examples of happening. 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 spontaneity and improvisation. In this happening is similar to real life. He is actually it. After all, there is no border between art and life. However, not all festivals are happening. This style includes only those that do not have a pre-invented script. Good examples are Burning Man and the Oregon Fair. Each year, they attract tens of thousands of people who want to share their ideas with the world and one with the other, bringing them to life.
Good happening - inspirational!
Allan Kaprow, the founder of the movement, a man who invited people on the street to drink a glass of wine from the hands of a stranger in the 1950s and thus join the art, wrote instructions to help all beginner demiurges. She illustrates well what happening is. Examples of Kaprow inspire and provide food for thought even to people far from art. Here is the instruction in abbreviation:
- First you need to forget everything you know about traditional art. You can not get hung up on forms. Contemporary art does not involve writing pictures, or staging plays, or composing music, or shooting films. Happening is at the same time all of the above, and something completely new.
- The line between life and art should be as thin as possible. Truly talented happening makes you forget about its existence, even the author himself.
- Images from real life are always much deeper than those taken from the head. Therefore, you need to take the real situation and turn it into an art. You can infinitely much from a simple trip to the store.
- Experiment and violation of space - this is a feature of such a form of modern art as happening. Theater implies a unity of place and action. Happening can be done anywhere. You can start on a nearby avenue, and end in a neighboring city or on another continent.
- Everything should happen in real time. And there is no need to coordinate the actions of all participants. Everything is happening in happening.
- There should be no artificiality in actions. No need to think about the golden ratio, the poetic means of expressive speech and mathematical progressions. Our brain itself is quite capable of shaping natural things.
- In order to create happening, you need to be part of the world. It makes no sense to spend a few hundred dollars on hiring a bulldozer if it 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 right away.
- It is necessary to cooperate with local authorities, and not to oppose them. So everything can be made much simpler.
- The meaning of happening is not to hone all actions to perfection. This is typical of traditional art. Once started, happening can no longer be stopped or restarted.
- Each idea can be implemented only once.
- Happening cannot be observed from the side. You need to actively participate in it, to be physically involved. And this applies not only to the "audience", but also to the author.
Happenings and performances: assessments of their artistic content
Contemporary art is extremely diverse. Artists finally managed to regain their freedom of creativity. Now they easily break walls between genres, directions and styles. But this is not the end. The happening style broke the wall between art and real life, the viewer and the author. Sometimes it is considered as a kind of performance. However, this is not entirely true. Of course, the nominal boundary between these two areas of contemporary art is very thin, but sometimes itās useful to understand where it nevertheless passes. Common to them is that creative experience is placed above the end result. Performance and happening in music, images, smells, tastes, touches seeks to show the original idea. However, each participant can turn everything upside down. Both styles are characterized by situationalism and shocking. However, the most important difference between happening and performance is that in it the viewer is immediately a demiurge, the plot is created along the way on the basis of improvisations of all participants in the action.
Initially, both styles were quite radical. However, today they are becoming more and more the nature of the show and are often used at parties, social events, presentations. But if the transition of art to real life is characteristic for happening, the performance, on the contrary, assumes 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 forms of contemporary art merge more and more over time. But blurring the boundaries between them is a positive development. The disappearance of the excessive dogmatism of performance and the lack of control of happening is the way to an even better interaction between the viewer and the author, everyday life and art.