Happening
Term designating free-form performance events of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Intentionally multifarious, fleeting, and ambiguous, they remain difficult to characterize precisely. Happenings belonged to an extended lineage of artist-initiated performances, with a particular debt to dadaism. They emphasized improvisation, audience participation, and the mixing of visual art with practices and techniques associated with theatrical performance, including music, light effects, and sometimes film. Although freewheeling by nature, happenings generally were carefully planned and even to some degree, rehearsed. Their meanings and purposes were closely tied to their historical circumstances. Like ... ...
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