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by Jonathan Vanasco and Valerie Garral
The urban art phenomenon known as "Happenings" has had a long and varied life since coming to vogue in the 1950s and 60s. The spontaneous form of en-masse performance art, its name coined by pioneering artist Allan Kaprow, was a vibrant part of New York's art scene in those decades as the city was reaffirming itself as the nexus of creativity. Then, as the events petered out, the term became co-opted by other subcultures, acquiring other meanings.
This summer, the New York art world is looking back on those early events with fond eyes, with the Whitney Museum staging a major exhibition of work by Claes Oldenburg, one of the more iconic figures associated with the era's art events culture. (Another artist with an upcoming show at the museum, Dan Graham, can arguably be viewed as arising from the same tradition.)
Artists and curators are also reviving the culture and concepts. Jeff Starks' "Nonsense NYC" newsletter is increasingly full of emerging art performances, and a group has recently begun organizing a new series aptly called "Happenings" to, in their words "mix art, music, and space into the social fabric of the moment."
ArtWeLove recently spoke with Happening curator and artist Seth Carnes (also known as [sic]) and artist Ditte Gantriis, to learn more about the series.
AWL: Tell us a bit about Happenings What is the overall concept ?
SC: Happening looks to weave a temporary and unique social art experience, where the definition between artist and audience is blurred. So far, each happening features one artist with one musician, dj or band, but that may change. We're putting together each Happening as it comes, with no planned continuance of venue or schedule. When the time is right, they happen... not the most organized method but it's fun and keeps things light.
AWL: What is your hope in terms of this specific one-time event? And, for the future, how do you see this evolving as a concept or series of ongoing events?
SC: There is a sense today that experience can be digitized, copied, cloned, or bought, sometimes to the point where presence and participation, that special ecstatic moment of being there, is lost. This is apparent in New York City, where one can have so many amazing friends yet rarely see them because of the electric hustle.
These happenings are not created to be a one-off so grand and unique as to hold everyone in rapture, rather it is conceived for one time and one place, fulfilled by that one group of people that attend and complete its circle. Here's another way to put it: an art gallery is often an art store dressed up in white, "The Happening" is an experience dressed up in art.
AWL: So what is the idea behind bringing back the happening? How did it start?
SC: Someone at the 1967 Monterey Pop festival said, "Soul is a matter of revealing as opposed to concealing." Today, living beyond the postmodern, maybe we're a bit too ironic and cynical for our own creative good. "The Happening" looks to bring sincerity and soul back into the contemporary fold, and while we can never go back in time or forget the deconstruction, there are certainly threads we can pick up again. "The Happening" is one of them.
So how did it start? Ditte and I had coffee one day and she suggested we make an art show. I told her about the happenings and voila, "The Happening" was born. It took awhile to make it happen, though--we both have busy schedules plus travel. Now we are finally pulling together this first one two days before her return to Denmark. My friend Nicolette Ramirez jumped on board to help produce it and away we go.
AWL: Will this only be in Soho, or will it move around?
SC: They'll be moving. It's a bit of TAZ scenario. They are not even tied to New York, though certainly the first ones will be going down here since it's so concentrated in Manhattan. It's open...
AWL: Can you give us some background on the artist lineup?
SC: Ditte's show is the only announced show. There are several artists on board for future events, but its too soon for us to release details.
AWL: How did you and Ditte start working together?
SC: I met Ditte through a common friend here in New York and we hit if off right away, hanging out the past few times she's been through New York from Copenhagen. This is the first time Ditte and I are working together on a specific arts project and event. So far it's been a great experience.
AWL: Ditte, how did you get involved with "The Happening" events?
DG: Through my friend [sic]. We met and discussed ideas and work and then it just started happening.
AWL: What's it like creating art in New York versus Copenhagen?
DG: In Denmark everything goes so slow! Danes don't like changes [laughs]. They want everything to stay the way it has always been. They like to complain about a lot of things, especially the weather, and to hang out with their friends, to eat good food, drink a lot of beer. In Denmark we're very privileged.
I don't think we're quite aware of that actually, Danes tend to complain a lot! We have a very high level of education and social security. Schools and hospitals don't cost you any money. Being poor and broke and unemployed has a whole different meaning over here than in Denmark. Work-wise, I don't know. I mean you definitely have more time to think and analyze what you're doing, what you want to do, what direction you want to take, et cetera. I miss that sometimes over here. But it can also make you lazy. It's easier to procrastinate in Denmark [laughs].
What I appreciate about New York is the fact that everything can happen. I mean not that it does or has to, but the possibility is there. You never know what's waiting around the next corner. There is a high level of energy here. The diversity. People are always interested in something new. In terms of of producing art, you have less time here and things are more cut throat. You have to rely on your instinct and be productive. To always keep working. To keep moving. To put your self out there.
AWL: Do you consider yourself a graphic artist, fine artist, or some combination?
DG: I consider myself a fine artist more of a graphic artist even though they sometimes overlap.
AWL: What do you feel is the conceptual difference between graphic and fine arts?
DG: As an fine artist you don't work for a client. Even though there is a receiver, or your work is used in a commercial context, your art is still your art. As a graphic designer you are expressing what someone else wants to say with your creative tools.
AWL: Are these "sketches" really sketches or the final work?
DG: I work with collages both in image story or both. These works for "The Happening 001" [the first edition] are final, but in my work you will see fragments used before but in new combinations. Fragments, repetitions, layers. AWL: What does the final format of the work look like- a book? prints? individual works on paper? environmental?
DG: The final format are individual works on paper. I do think they could definitely work as prints or book art too.
AWL: Are the geometric forms part of some code? Do they appear in other work series?
DG: The geometric shapes do appear in other series and they add a level to the actual drawing. I mean there is a reason why they are or maybe its more like. They give the illusion of a reason. In that way the are a part of a code, even though the code is hidden or nonexistent.
AWL: How does this work fit in to your earlier work?
DG: I think my earlier work circled around the same themes, identity, gender, narrative, fragments, and concepts as now. But today it's more developed and defined. I think that my work is a symptom of this post-modern era we live in, where history and time are jumbled together.
AWL: Where do you see this work going?
DG: Keep developing my work and working processes, also I find collaboration very interesting. I'd love to collaborate more with other artist in specific project, i.e. this happening event. Next, I'm going to spend the summer in Copenhagen and I'll be working in a studio in the old Carlsberg brewery! I look so much forward to that. I have a show coming up this fall, so summer in my Carlsberg studio working on a new series of work is what's next. I have new ideas on three-dimensional pieces too. I'm very eager to start working on these.
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