Preceded by the works of the post-World War Dadaists, the theories of Antonin Artaud, and the performances of the Futurists, “Happening” was a term coined by Allan Kaprow in the late 1950’s to describe his unique do-it-yourself art events that sought to blur the boundaries between art and everyday life. Kaprow, a painter, lecturer, and assemblage artist, began staging Happenings as art events requiring active participation from viewers rather than passive spectatorship. Shaped by audience participation, Happenings relied upon the juxtaposition of people, objects and events to create unexpected interactions that would ultimately determine the outcome of the work. In the 1993 article Collaboration without Object(s) in the Early Happenings , Johanna …show more content…
It was perhaps his most developed attempt to involve all aspects of human activity without reducing the event to a mere recreation of one form of practice in an improbable location. He sought to present several different forms all occurring at once in a manner that would resemble a three-ring circus of activity. 18 Happenings included collages and sculptures, plastic sheeting and folding chairs, and different stations that created an environment that melded the atmospheres of art gallery, theater, and construction zone. The performance involved common everyday activities, structured movements, and noise making at specific times during the …show more content…
But in following Kaprow’s expectations for his pieces, collective activity merely means the viewer’s willful participation in the scripted performance exactly as intended. While Kaprow activated the audience within the artwork, he failed to create an environment of exchange in which the process of interaction was as important a factor as the event itself. His insistence on the following of a precise course of events, developed entirely by him, restricts the kind of interaction he allowed in the work and limits the extent to which it could be considered
Some of these animations add visuals when a complex idea is being described, such as the idea of the ‘lemon dance” or the ‘rubber room’ in New York. Guggenheim also takes the idea of tenure and uses these techniques to twist tenure into somethi...
People usually expect to see paintings and sculptures in Art Galleries. Imagine the surprise one finds when they are presented with a man stitching his face into a bizarre caricature, or connected to a machine which controls the artist’s body. These shocking pieces of performance art come under the broad umbrella that is Postmodernism. Emphasis on meaning and shock value has replaced traditional skills and aesthetic values evident in the earlier Modernist movements.
Literary theorist, Kenneth Burke, defined dramatistic explaination by the prescence of five key elements. This list of elements, now popularly known as Burke’s Pentad, can be used to asses human behavior as well as dicipher literary themes and motives. The five elements; agent, purpose, scene, act, and agency, have been found highly useful by performance study practitioners in translating texts into aesthetics. When systematically applying Burke’s Pentad to “Burn Your Maps,” a short story by Robyn Joy Leff published January 2002 of the Atlantic Monthly, the analyzer can realistically grasp the emotional and logical motivations and tones of the text. By doing so, the performer becomes an enlightened vessel for the message Leff wants to communicate. The Pentad can be described with simple questions like: Who? What? When? Where? How?, but asking the small questions should always lead to more in depth analysis of the element, and it should overall, explain the deeper question: Why?
... performance pieces from becoming materialized via their documentation, one still finds many discreetly taken photographs and videos of his pieces circulating the web. Likewise, the reception of Yoko Ono’s 2003 reprisal of Cut Piece (1964) as captured by CBSnews.com’s article, “Crowd Cuts Yoko Ono’s Clothing Off” is typical of the sensationalized reception which characterizes the market consumption of avant-garde practices . So Burger was right in saying the culture industry consumes the most radical of gestures, for no one is completely outside the market, the circuit of exchange. On the other hand, no one is completely inside of it—there remain parts of humanity to which the market can stake no claim, Following this, we can perhaps write this addendum to the avant-garde demand: to integrate art within life-praxis, and make visible what is absent from both .
A website collects the letters produced either by phone or computer. These messages are distributed to 20 lights placed above an arts center in Japan until it is caught. The interaction and demonstration is more random than Vertical Elevation however it involves spectators on location to participate to alter their live experience. As we have learned this is important to the artist. Rafael states, “There is no catharsis, no build-up, no narrative…the piece is better compared to a water fountain in a public square than to a son et lumière show.” (Lozano-Hemmer, Amodal
With an admiration for the unconventional, I am moved by Jackson Pollock’s Autumn Rhythm (number 30). If I could see any art piece in person, this would be my choice. I believe that Pollock’s radical painting style and the way in which he lay the canvas flat on the floor to work, gives this piece a deepened perspective. There is a visible control in the chaos to which Pollock has said "I can control the flow of paint: there is no accident." Seeing this piece in person would awaken my unconsciousness, and convey the feeling of spontaneity that I wish society will still embrace.
The criticism relies on two assumptions. One, that rhetoric creates reality, and two, that convergence occurs. With regards to rhetoric creating reality we are to assume that the symbolic forms that are created from the rhetoric are not imitations but organs of reality. This is because it is through their agency that anything becomes real. We assume to that convergence occurs because symbols not only create reality for individuals but that individual’s meanings can combine to create a shared reality for participants. The shared reality then provides a basis for the community of participants to discuss their common experiences and to achieve a mutual understanding. The consequence of this is that the individuals develop the same attitudes and emotions to the personae of the drama. Within this criticism the audience is seen as the most critical part because the sharing of the message is seen as being so significant.
Kaye, N. (1994) Introduction Live Art: Definition and Documentation: Contemporary Theatre Review, 2(2) 1-7. Available from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.library.lincoln.ac.uk/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=5f6d73cd-867b-4324-98a3-af7794b3dde7%40sessionmgr104 [accessed 21 November].
... a way for audiences and performers to connect on a closer level. They are both experiencing the surreal, disassociating themselves from the performance taking place. They both become more introspective. The performance becomes a vehicle for self-understanding, metacognition.
dance. Elements of design and stagecraft are used to enhance the physicality, presence and immediacy of
The role of the circus is both complex and simple it is in itself a
This essay will be demonstrating the key concepts of Schechner´s Performance Theory and after that there will be a performance discussed based on these concepts. Richard Schechner dedicates his studies to performing arts and performance. He sees that performance is not only theatre and actual plays, but everything in life, ranging from everyday life to rituals and art.
The shape of the theatre allows each spectator to see some of his fellow spectators as well... so they could see and respond to their collective reaction t...
His concern with the diversity of facial expression and with the expressiveness of body language is a conscious means of breaking taboos against what is ugly, absurd or instinctual. Sagazan’s performance explores extreme emotional states provoking more questions than answers. The contemporary “primitivism” movement in design and art examines objects that will become ritualized, layered with another spirit or energy - embedding them with a soul. Primitivism is, ins...