the poetry of raining...

raining

black highway painted black
rain washes away

paper men made in bare orchard branches
rain washes away

sheets of writing spread over a field
rain washes away

little gray boats painted along a gutter
rain washes away

naked bodies painted gray
rain washes away

bare trees painted red
rain washes away

allan kaprow, raining, from some recent happenings, something else press, 1966

for the last day of poetry month, as kaprow is evaporating from my head just before i step into a project in philadelphia next week; it seemed fitting to end it all with kaprow's beautiful score for raining. the piece involves a number of activities where personal experiences and intimate artifacts are slowly washed away. while i'm clearly a gatherer of objects (as well as a maker of them), kaprow always manages to re-enforce the idea that it is not the objects themselves that have value, but our experiences with them, and the emotional residue, inspiration, and echoes they leave behind.

the great bear pamphlet series, published by dick higgins something else press, is one of my favorite little series of books, particularly as they are printed in different colors on cheap construction type paper. the titles run from scores by alison knowles, to russolo's art of noise, to some early happening scores of claes oldenburg. the entire set has recently been re-printed in facsimile form, which is nice, but doesn't come close to the feel of the originals - one approaches printing differently when a book sells for 60 - 80 cents, and $150...

kaprow's raining suggests that the content doesn't simply exist, as much as it is made through the activity one goes through to engage with or create it. the experience of buying (and reading) a new copy of an old book is generally to seek information. the experience of discovering a copy of a book printed in its time is an expanded experience that allows touch and smell to have an impact on how one reads the words. as national poetry month ends, please continue to seek needles in haystacks.

p.s. if you want to read the entire series, you can click here

the poetry of liquid architecture...

neatly tucked at the back of the 1967 pasadena museum catalog of allan kaprow's first museum survey is the flyer for fluids. a happening that entails the building of a large judd-like structure with blocks of ice. over three days the structure will be built and melt. today it will begin in several places around los angeles, and at 11 am, it will happen very close to the original site here in pasadena.

the poetry of the blurring of art and life (or, what's happening...)

some quick snaps from last nights performance of 18/6 in all its blurriness.

the poetry of a three ring circus (or, one more kaprow post)...

"my next public happening was at the rueben gallery, which was called 18 happenings in six parts. i simply had there the basic image or structure of a three-ring circus. i remember cage was also enthralled with this, because he mentioned some of our traditions of overlapping and signal confusing as traditions like three-ring circuses. three-ring circuses are set up in such a way that people who are at one end of the tent can't see what's going on at the other end. they give you a whole show at both ends, and one in the middle as well - all of them discordant except in terms of the relative starts and stops. you can't really put them together in any kind of meaningful way. they aren't organized that way. so, i set up a three-ring circus space, which there were three rooms... where, of course, you could hear what was going on in all rooms, no matter where you were, but you could only blurrily see what was going on in the room adjacent to you. events would pass from one room to another, as well as overlap in some kind of random way. sounds in the three spaces overlapped to.

cage went to this. a week or so later we discussed it. i saw him on the street, and as my teacher, he said something like "maybe you'd be interested to hear what i thought." i said, "yes." he said, "well, i thought it was a little romantic."

allan kaprow, interview, 1995

the poetry of DIY...

sunday evening, after a day of production and rehearsal at LACE, i spent about 3 hours and covering a 20 foot by 30 foot plastic tarp with kaprow's text as prop for our performance of 18 happenings in 6 parts. i'd spent a ton of time in the space with others, but sunday night i was working alone, in total silence. as night arrived, it began to feel a bit like the numerous photos i'd seen in the getty's archives of kaprow working on 18/6 - images of him alone, painting, building, writing, etc.

i am constantly complaining to my students about the lack of DIY spirit, particularly in the artworld and this overwhelmingly fabricated moment.

so much of doing a kaprow work, is getting inside of his words as well as the spirit of the piece; and this piece literally had his hands all over it. i think that a strength we didn't see during the doing, is that we have done so much ourselves. this whole project has had much of the spirit of collaboration, and perhaps the handmade quality of things will help it resonate.

after months of research, weeks of production, and days of rehearsal, tonight is our first performance.(i should note the top picture is of a shirtless kaprow, not me... and the bottom two were taken with my phone.)

the poetry of arrivals...

unused airstrip
tarring cracks in airstrip
painting guidelines on airstrip
cutting grass at airstrip's edge
placing mirrors on airstrip
watching the reflections of planes.

allan kaprow, score for arrivals, 1968

kaprow has been on my mind a lot over the past few months as i have been working on a recreation of his seminal performance 18 happenings in 6 parts in conjunction with the current moca retrospective. i've spent the last few months going through his notes for 18/6 in the getty's archives towards trying to put together a complete score. once in a while - to get outside of the specifics of the piece and more towards his overall intentions, i'll wander into other files, searching for inspirational nuggets.

the score for arrivals, comes from a small poster for the event. when talking about kaprow's work, people seldom mention the poetry that is always present. i'll probably post a bit more of my findings over time...

for anyone in the LA area, the performances of 18/6 are happening at LACE at 8 pm april 22 - 26. reservations are required.

image: random airstrip web search result...

shadow...

"for years i've been trying to pick up my shadow on a sunny day, to put it in my pocket for a rainy day. i remember to do this now and then. it's been difficult. and to tell the truth, i've never succeeded. the shadow changes as i bend over, and i can't quite compress it to fit into my jeans."

allan kaprow, 1997

how to see...

"the astronaut john glenn may have caught a glimpse of heavenly blue from the porthole of his spaceship, but i have watched the lights of a computer in operation. and they looked like the stars."

allan kaprow, the artist as a man of the world, 1964