Happening

Happenings emerged as a form of Action art. The term dates back to the action "18 Happenings in 6 Parts", which was organised by Allan Kaprow (1927-2006) in the New York Reuben Gallery, in 1959. Kaprow was a key figure involved in initiating the Happenings. His action possessed some of the features characteristic of a Happening: it was pre-planned, but retained an open, not entirely calculable structure – like a collage made from different information. This was intended to elicit audience participation and response. In addition, Happenings were neither tied to specific places nor times and took place only once. The inclusion of the audience, which distinguished the Happening from Fluxus events, was also intended to symbolise the bridging of the gap between art and life, as the events extended into real life. John Cage’s (1912-92) piece "4'33", during which he sat at a piano for 4 minutes and 33 seconds without playing a note, is often regarded as being the first happening, because the work’s main goals were the staging of silence, and the prompting of different unpredictable reactions from the public.
Other important organisers of Happenings included Charlotte Moorman and Robert Whitman. The most important German representative of the genre was Wolf Vostell (1932-98). The focus of Vostell’s Happenings was his use of the Décollage technique - ripping posters in order to create new ones. These mirrored the open and fragmentary form of the events, as well as the ubiquitous wear and tear of everyday life.