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I just attended a retrospective on the artist, Allen Kaprow, at the
Geffen Museum of Contemporary Art in L.A.. Kaprow is best-known for
the "Happenings" he organized in the 1960s, mixing performance art
with audience participation. His best work is goofy, non-sensical,
and irreverent on the surface, but has a Zen-like kernel hidden not-
too-deep inside. The exhibition features several recreations of old
pieces and opportunities for the audience to interact with art.
>>>>>> Very open-ended stuff. <<<<<<<<
Like the opportunity to rearrange about 400 square feet of ordinary
house furniture--ordinary except it had all been painted blue.
The Museum is recreating a 1968 piece called "Round Trip" with area
teens, in which they will roll a ball of string, paper and cardboard
down the streets of the downtown neighborhood, and, as per Kaprow's
original instructions, continue to add more material, until the ball
becomes too large to roll. They will then reverse the process until
there in no material left. Wild.
During my 80 minute visit, the gallery had visitors engaged on all
levels.
There were plenty of chin-strokers--cocked-heads, folded arms. But I
saw a lot of people drawn into activities.
A young fellow spent forty minutes pushing blue furniture into a
pile. I joined in, placing six azure dining chairs in provocative
positions, but didn't really feel a future in the activity, so I
passed on.
Frankly, a lot of Kaprow's stuff makes me wonder, "You call this
art?" But I was often enough amused and surprised to leave the
exhibition feeling pretty good.
If you can see the show, make sure to watch the little video in which
Kaprow tells the story of his "Trading Dirt" project. The results of
some of his open-ended activities is some incredible story-telling.
A well-implemented open-ended situation can generate fascinating
stories. But not everyone can be expected to participate. (Am I not
spatial-natural intelligenced enough?)
I would need more preparation to apply this experience to the current
topic, but offer this as a report and a reference point. I think it
is a viable case study in this discussion on multiple intelligences
by multiple intelligences.
--Jason Jay
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JasonJayStevens
JasonJayStevensStudio
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www.potterbelmar.org/jjss
536 Roosevelt Avenue
San Antonio, Texas 78210
210.818.0642
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