Beyond the Happening: Performance Art and Politics of Communication

The Happenings that burst on to the late 1950s cultural scene were rapidly declared passé and even ‘dead’, but this book reveals how an international network of artists continued to develop their premises into the late 1960s and 1970s, transforming the form into an interdisciplinary vehicle for studying interpersonal relations. Beyond the Happening uncovers the heterogeneous, uniquely interdisciplinary performance-based works that emerged in the aftermath of the early Happenings. Although by the mid-1960s Happenings were widely declared outmoded or even ‘dead’, this book shows how multiple practitioners continued to work with the form during the late 1960s and 1970s, pushing it into complex studies of interpersonal communication which simultaneously drew on and contested contemporary sociology and psychology.Focussing on the artists Allan Kaprow, Marta Minujín, Carolee Schneemann, and Lea Lublin, the book charts how they revised and retooled the premises of the Happening. The resulting performances directly contributed to the wider discourse of communication studies, as it intersected with the politics of countercultural dropout, alternative pedagogies, soft diplomacy, cybernetics, anti-psychiatry sociological art, and feminist consciousness raising. The network of activity generated through these interactions was inherently international, as artists analysed the power dynamics involved in creating collaborative works in an increasingly globalised world. Beyond the Happening combines in-depth analysis of overlooked projects by Kaprow and Schneemann with significant works by the lesser-known Minujín and Lublin, re-centring the contribution made by Argentine artists to the redevelopment of the Happening as the 1960s progressed. It will be of interest to historians engaged with performance art after 1960 and with the cross-fertilisation between Happenings, media art, body art, feminist art conceptualism, photography, and film and video. Beyond the Happening uncovers the heterogeneous, uniquely interdisciplinary performance-based works that emerged in the aftermath of the early Happenings. By the mid-1960s Happenings were widely declared outmoded or even ‘dead’, but this book reveals how many practitioners continued to work with the form during the late 1960s and 1970s, developing it into a vehicle for studying interpersonal communication that simultaneously deployed and questioned contemporary sociology and psychology. Focussing on the artists Allan Kaprow, Marta Minujín, Carolee Schneemann and Lea Lublin, it charts how they revised and retooled the premises of the Happening within a wider network of dynamic international activity. The resulting performances directly intervened in the wider discourse of communication studies, as it manifested in the politics of countercultural dropout, soft power and cultural diplomacy, alternative pedagogies, sociological art and feminist consciousness-raising.