Allan Kaprow

On October 4, 1959, Allan Kaprow (1927-2006) premiered his seminal work 18 Happenings in 6 Parts at the Reuben Gallery in New York City. Kaprow combined new electronic music and music theory, the plastic arts, theater and dance within an innovative structure that demanded audience participation. This happening anticipated, and gave form to, the conceptual dialogue of contemporary art. In November 2006, 18 Happenings in 6 Parts was performed a second time at Munich's Haus der Kunst in conjunction with a major traveling retrospective of the artist's work and the tenth International Dance Biennial of Munich (DANCE). Andre Lepecki's faithful rendering of 18 Happenings in 6 Parts is a living work as relevant and groundbreaking today as it was for Allan Kaprow's audience of 75 invited guests in 1959. This book is a rich visual introduction to both Lepecki's presentation of Kaprow's happening and the 2006 Kaprow retrospective.