 Allan Kaprow lives on both in the memory of his students and in his work. The innovative artist and former UCSD professor of visual arts was known for creating the term “happenings,” which incorporates the audience, objects and events into an interactive artistic event or performance. “Art as Life,” an exhibit he was planning before he passed away in April 2006, originated in the Haus der Kunst in Munich, Germany, and was on display from March until June 30 this year at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.
The exhibition was divided into two parts: “Museum as a Place of Meditation,” a collection of his earlier pieces, and “Museum as an Agency of Action,” which included reworked happenings, such as his 1959 piece “18 Happenings in 6 Parts,” designed by artists who knew Kaprow well.
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Everyday life is the subject matter of Allan Kaprow’s art,” Jeff Kelley wrote in Childsplay his biography on his friend. “Breathing into your partner’s mouth, sweeping the street until the pile of litter is too big, going on ‘a shopping spree at Macy’s.’”
Or as Kaprow said in 1961: “happenings are events that, put simply, happen.”
Contributors to Making Waves: Kim Edwards, Tiffany Fox, Raymond Hardie, Pat JaCoby, Annie Reisewitz
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