[2] pp.; 27.5 x 43.2 cm.; black-and-white; edition size unknown; unsigned and unnumbered; offset-printed; Poster / flyer published in conjunction with happening held March 22 - 27, 1961. Recto features drawing by Kaprow with verso contains text announcing the work. "In one of the more sinister examples [of Kaprow''''''''''''''''s Happenings], A Spring Happening (1961), the small audience was packed into a narrow crate with slits cut at eye level through which could be seen, among other things, a nude and nervous young woman being chased by a spotlight. Unexpected events, at best partially visible from inside the dark crate, were triggered by flashing lights or sudden noises. Heavy objects were dropped on the low roof of the crate a giant industrial fan blocked the exit. The audience was trapped until the finale, when, just in time, the walls came crashing down. This piece is often discussed in relation to the notion of ''''''''''''''''rebirth''''''''''''''''--a mythic, even epiphanic reading of a piece in which the audience, cued by lights, bells, bangs, giant fans, and so on, is shunted through a sequence of alogical, non-matrixed, and compartmental events--an experiential maze. Attendees recall the smell of fear--Kaprow himself admits he was interested in this as an element. The imagery-- no, the actuality--of confinement, as well as the assaultive violence of the audience''''s "liberation" by a roaring lawnmower, has as much to do with behaviorist experiments or with the imagery of the Holocaust as it does with any notion of ''''''''''''''''rebirth.'''''''''''''''' -- Judith Rodenbeck, "Madness and Method: Before Theatricality," published in Grey Room, no. 13 (Fall 2003), pp. 59. References : "Happenings : An Illustrated Anthology" by Michael Kirby, Jim Dine, Red Grooms, Allan Kaprow, Claes Oldenburg, Robert Whitman. New York, NY : E.P Dutton & Co., Inc., 1966, pp. 92 - 104. "Essays on the Blurring of Art and Life" by Allan Kaprow, Jeff Kelley. Berkeley / Los Angeles / London, CA / United Kingdom : University of California Press, pp. 17. "Childsplay : The Art of Allan Kaprow" by Jeff Kelley. Berkeley, CA : University of California Press, 2004, pp. 55 - 59, 57, 58, 64, 220. "Allan Kaprow : Art As Life" by Eva Meyer-Hermann, Andrew Perchuk, Stephanie Rosenthal, Paul Schimmel, Alex Potts, Glenn Phillips, Annette Leddy. Los Angeles, CA / NY : Getty Research Institute, 2008, pp. 141. No. 8a / 8b in "Allan Kaprow : Posters" by Oscar Tuazon, Christophe Daviet-Thery, Alice Dusapin, Steve Roden. Paris / London, France / United Kingdom : &: Christophe Daviet-Thery / Koenig Books, 2014, pp. 11, 44, 82. Fair / Good. Hand addressed mailed copy with mailing marks and mailing wear. Moderate overall aging to newsprint. Multiple areas of tearing and loss to poster edges. Losses measure 1.2 cm., 2.1 cm., 6 mm., 3.5 cm., 1.1 cm. 2 mm. and 4 mm. Tears measure 3 mm., 3 mm., 5 mm., 6.2 cm., 1.3 cm., 1 cm. with additional small tears. Folded in sixths.

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Bibliographic Details

Title: A Spring Happening
Publisher: Reuben Gallery New York, NY
Publication Date: 1961

Store Description

Specific Object is a gallery, bookstore, and think-tank dedicated to art post 1958 - specifically pop, Fluxus, minimal and conceptual - with an interest in the art that informed the 1960s and 1970s, as well as artists whose works organically followed from the era. Specific Object is always interested in purchasing artwork as well as used books, ephemera and other objects of interest. Specific Object works to isolate distinct works of value - historically, monetarily and / or intellectually valuable - and show them in isolated contexts, allowing these works, or objects, their own place, space and time. The material Specific Object presented ranged from artists' publications, ephemera, prints, multiples and other editions to literature, music / audio works and unique artworks of the contemporary world. In November 2004 Specific Object acquired the inventory of Barbara Moore's bookstore Bound & Unbound. Through her bookshops Bound & Unbound and its predecessor Backworks, founded in 1976, Moore has been a seminal and innovative champion of artists working in alternative mediums. From 1998 through 2004 David Platzker was the Executive Director of the non-profit institution Printed Matter, Inc. He is also the co-author, and co-curator - with Elizabeth Wyckoff - of "Hard Pressed: 600 Years of Prints and Process" (International Print Center New York & Hudson Hills Press, 2000); and - with Richard H. Axsom - the book and exhibition entitled "Printed Stuff: Prints, Posters, and Ephemera by Claes Oldenburg : A Catalogue Raisonn� 1958-1996" (Madison Art Center & Hudson Hills Press, 1997), which was awarded the George Wittenborn Award for Best Art Publication of 1997 by the Art Libraries Society of North America. He has curated exhibitions of the works of Art & Project, John Baldessari, Marcel Broodthaers, Documenta 5, Conceptual Art, Marcel Duchamp, Donald Judd, John McLaughlin, Bruce Nauman, Oldenburg, Raymond Pettibon, Dieter Roth, and Edward Ruscha in addition to commissioning or curating exhibitions at Printed Matter of Angelblood, Larry Clark, Erin Cosgrove, Meg Cranston, General Idea, Jenny Holzer, Reverend Jen, Allan Kaprow, Yoko Ono, Ryan McGinness, Sonic Youth, Tom Sachs, David Tremlett, Richard Tuttle and the Guerrilla Girls. Platzker was also the host of WPS1.org's Recorded Matter online radio program. Archived programs can be found at www.artonair.org. His writings have been included in Claude Closky: Hello And Welcome, I Love John Giorno, Jonathan Monk: In Relief (My Collection of Sol LeWitt Books - Exact Size, Shape and Occasionally Colour), 2015. From 2013 through 2018 Platzker was Curator of Drawings and Prints at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, where he curated the exhibitions "There Will Never Be Silence: Scoring John Cage's 4'33"" with Jon Hendricks; "Sites of Reason: A Selection of Recent Acquisitions" with Erica Papernik; "Gilbert & George: The Early Years; and Adrian Piper: A Synthesis of Intuitions, 1965 - 2016" with Connie Butler and Christophe Cherix. He authored essays for the catalogues "Yoko Ono: One Woman Show, 1960-1971," "Louise Lawler : Receptions," "Being Modern: Building the Collection of The Museum of Modern Art," and the critical theory volume "Art and Theory of Post-1989 Central and Eastern Europe: A Critical Anthology" (MoMA Primary Documents). His additional MoMA publications include the vinyl LPs "There Will Never Be Silence," "The Thoughts of Gilbert & George," and "Antonio Dias: The Space Between" as well as the artists' books "Yoko Ono: Grapefruit" and "The Conquest of Space: Atlas for the Use of Artists and the Military" by Marcel Broodthaers. Recent writings also include "A Love Supreme: Charles Gaines and Trees," in "Charles Gaines : Palm Trees and Other Works" (Hauser & Wirth) and "John Baldessari Gets Booked" in "John Baldessari Catalogue Raisonn�, Volume Six: 2011 - 2019" (Marian Goodman / Yale Univ. Press). Visit www.specificobject.com for our complete inventory.

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