A happening was the name given to spontaneous (or somewhat spontaneous) art events that were non-linear and multi-disciplinary as well as audience participatory in nature.
A happening was the name given to spontaneous (or somewhat spontaneous) art events that were non-linear and multi-disciplinary as well as audience participatory in nature. The Happening was born out of modernist experimentation, beat and eventually hippie culture of the 60’s. It evolved into what we more commonly know as performance art.
This month if you were one of those lucky New Yorkers, you might have wandered into the MoMa to see no particular show, only to happen upon Tilda Swinton sleeping in a box! Or perhaps you were one of the 1000’s of commuters who pass through Grand Central Station, only to have your morning commute delayed by a cadre of dancing horses.
Now, there’s been enough criticism of “Tilda in a box”, being MoMa’s obsession of celebrity over art to make bank at its box office, but its still pretty surprising and compelling to come upon this when you didn’t expect it. Her appearances are un-scheduled of course. So unlike the block-buster Marina pulled off back in ’10, Tilda’s appearances are as mysterious as Tilda is. She even made James Franco jealous he didn’t the idea to do this first.
To set the record straight, Tilda in a box is not a new work but a work by artist Cornilea Parker that goes back eighteen years, and is actually titled The Maybe.
The dancing horses are a work by the wardrobe/fashion/performance Chicago-based artist Nick Cave. For this performance he enlisted the help of the Alvin Alley dance company who preformed in Cave’s soundsuits. Soundsuits because his creations make a lot of noise when the wearer moves around in them. His inspirations come from world music and traditional dance, and are meant to take place in public spaces.
