Laura Routledge

Om Laura Routledge

Project

My project looks at the Happenings produced by Allan Kaprow. What I find most interesting about the Happenings is that they existed in the 1960s simultaneously as specific works of art and as a much wider popular cultural phenomenon. My thesis suggests that this sprawling and spiralling reception history was intentionally shaped by Kaprow through his performances and publications, and investigates the relationship between the Happenings as pop-cultural "catch word" and the specific works of art produced by Kaprow. Important themes include Kaprow's development of the idea of Happenings as "mythology" and the way in which he empolys and reimagines the idea of the avant-garde in relation to his mid-twentieth century context.