March 29th, 2008 - London, England
In case there is any doubt on the matter, in the foreground of this picture is a work of art : Fluids, a Happening by American artist Allen Kaprow. Originally commissioned by the Pasadena Art Museum as part of Kaprow’s midcareer retrospective in October 1967, Fluids involved the stacking of blocks of ice by volunteer participants into a rectangular enclosure on Tate Modern’s river landscape. Its walls were then left to melt over the ensuing days.
It was in fact Kaprow who coined the term "Happening" in the 1950s as a way of describing an art form that involves the coincidence - some would say the collision - of people, objects and events. In Kaprow's own words :
“To the extent that a Happening is not a commodity but a brief event, from the standpoint of any publicity it may receive, it may become a state of mind. Who will have been there at that event? It may become like the sea monsters of the past or the flying saucers of yesterday.” Allan Kaprow (1961)
gva_jb, minions & myrmidons, Kip Carroll, Zorislav Stojanović, and 5 other people added this photo to their favorites.
an untrained eye 63 months ago | reply
Presumably, the woman in this picture agreed with you. She sat with her back to the exhibit facing the brick wall for at least fifteen minutes.
gva_jb 63 months ago | reply
cheese !
ça attendra lundi :)
Pneumococcus 63 months ago | reply
Cracking shots! Museums are such a great place to take pictures. Looks like someone got a photo of you as well here ;-)
St_Tr_Verkhovensky 63 months ago | reply
great
minions & myrmidons 63 months ago | reply
i'm picturing the entrance of evil clown stranger, and i'm loving the story, but that's just my sordid perspective. wonderful shot and thanks for explaining "happening", it's a wonderful flashback for me.
ArTeTeTrA 63 months ago | reply
Beautiful! The first one is my favourite :)
an untrained eye 62 months ago | reply
Ludo, Julien, vous êtes cinglés, tous les deux... A ce soir !!
Peter, thanks ! I love taking pictures in and around museums... in fact, I'm thinking I might have to group them together in a set. Have you seen Elliot Erwitt's book of pictures taken in museums and galleries ?
Yannis, thanks, my friend.
Pinky, you have such a wonderfully warped mind. I think the "evil clown stranger" is the little lad's mum, but I like your version a lot...
Artetetratetrarteateretatretatita (sp?) - grazie mille !!
Jim Blob Blann 62 months ago | reply
this is so well composed and so subtle that it's taken me a few viewings to fave it. That's a good thing though, it kept me coming back :) Your photographs have a knack of staying in my head and I love what you're doing with bricks in your shots!
an untrained eye 62 months ago | reply
Jim, one of the things I particularly appreciate about you is that you take the time to come back to shots. Thanks for all your generous comments.