18 Happenings in Six Parts

Press Release:

LACE is proud to present a re-invention of Allan Kaprow’s seminal Happening –18 Happenings in 6 Parts – originally presented in 1959 at the Reuben Gallery in New York. The original work featured a cast of performers including Allan Kaprow, with Rosalyn Montague, Shirley Prendergast, Lucas Samaras, Janet Weinberger, Robert Whitman, Sam Francis, Red Grooms, Dick Higgins, George Segal, and others.

To re-invent this work in 2008, LACE invited artist Steve Roden to assemble a creative team, which includes Rae Shao-Lan Blum, Michael Ned Holte and Stephanie Smith. The team is joined by performers Simone Forti, Steve Irvin, Flora Wiegmann with Elonda Billera and Skylar Haskard creating key props and installations. Special guests will join the performance each night including Roy Dowell, Renee Petropoulos, Justin Lowman, Elizabeth Leister, Fran Siegel, Brad Eberhard, Mark Dutcher, Doug Harvey, Steve DeGroodt, David McDonald, and Martin Kersels.

This new vision of the work is grounded in the team’s intensive research and dialogue, based on Kaprow’s original notes and writings. “I’d like to be sure that Kaprow’s intentions and ideas surrounding the work are not lost in attempts to replicate a historical moment.” (Steve Roden)

Allan Kaprow’s 18 Happenings in 6 Parts was timed to coincide with the exhibition Allan Kaprow—Art as Life, on view at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA through June 30, 2008, and organized by the Haus der Kunst Munich, and the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven. The curatorial concept for this exhibition was developed in close collaboration with the recently deceased artist, and curators Stephanie Rosenthal (Munich) and Eva Meyer-Hermann (Eindhoven).

One aspect of this large-scale retrospective is the re-invention of many of Kaprow’s Happenings, which will take place at 29 local institutions throughout Southern California. Thanks to a generous grant from the Getty Foundation, MOCA has invited Los Angeles-area art schools, academic institutions, arts organizations, museums, and artist-run spaces to reinvent a diverse selection of Kaprow’s Happenings.

Happenings are coordinated by The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and made possible by generous support from the Getty Foundation. Allan Kaprow—Art as Life is organized by the Haus der Kunst, Munich, and the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven. Concept of the exhibition by Stephanie Rosenthal and Eva Meyer-Hermann. For a complete listing of all Happenings, visit MOCA

Special thanks to the Allan Kaprow Estate, Hauser & Wirth Zürich London, Research Library, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, California.