'Happenings': Performances

"The line between the Happening and daily life should be kept as fluid, and perhaps indistinct, as possible." Allan Kaprow

American Moon (1960) Artist: Robert Whitman

Artwork description & Analysis: American Moon by Robert Whitman was first performed at the Reuben Gallery in New York. The piece consisted of six paper tunnels that radiated outwards from the performance area in which the audience would sit to watch piles of cloth being moved accompanied by various sounds. Curtains with grids of paper were then hung in front of the tunnels and a movie was projected onto them while performers made slight movements to the cloth causing distortions in the movie. At the end of the screening the tunnels were ripped down and the curtains removed. Lights flashed as figures rolled on the floor, a giant plastic balloon was rolled around and someone swung on a trapeze, all to a soundtrack of a vacuum cleaner. Whitman called these works "abstract theater" as abstracted sounds and images were a significant aspect of his work. In the variety of frenzied activity, Whitman claimed his work was much like a three-ring circus.

Cloth, paper, clear plastic, wood and cellophane tape.

Vídeo : Allan Kaprow - How to Make a Happening

https://youtu.be/8iCM-YIjyHE

American Moon (1960) Artist: Robert Whitman

https://vimeo.com/11051193

Yard (1961) Artist: Allan Kaprow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuWxCtCDj6I