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| Definition | The happening is an evolving action carried out within a defined environment. Notwithstanding a general direction established in advance, there remains a large margin for improvisation while it is in progress, and the reactions of the spectators may in turn influence the action under way. The origins of the happening cannot to be traced to the theater, because of the difference in the choice of sites and participants, as well as the postulate of indetermination. Rather, the happening must be linked with the visual arts. In the course of the twentieth century, painting and sculpture gradually went beyond their respective two- and three-dimensional limits to gradually take the form of assemblages. These in turn were to evolve into environments and then, with the introduction of live participants, into happenings. Indeed, these events grew out of the search for more direct relations between artist and public, or between art and life, and the rejection of the power of the market over art. http://www.newmedia-art.org/english/glossaire.htm |
| Broader Term ↑ | Art Practices |
| Related Terms ↔ | Performed Relational aesthetics |