News Release | CSULA, Art Department, Fluids, Allan Kaprow, Art Happening, Richard Wearn, LACMA, MOCA - Apr. 16, 2008

April 16, 2008

Note to editors and reporters: To request for a media parking permit, please contact the Cal State L.A. Public Affairs Office in advance at (323) 343-3050. 

A ‘Fluids’ situation: wall of ice to be built, left to melt

Cal State L.A. students to re-enact Allan Kaprow’s 1967 Happening  

PHOTO OPPORTUNITY:

What: Cal State L.A. students to re-enact American artist and

teacher Allan Kaprow’s 1967 Happening “Fluids”

When: 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Friday, April 25

Where: Cal State L.A. Parking Lot 5 (Public permit dispenser parking available at $.50/hour)

Info: Contact Professor Richard Wearn, Department of Art, at

[email protected] or (323) 343-4048

Los Angeles, CA -- The Department of Art at California State University, Los Angeles—in collaboration with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA)—will present a re-enactment of Allan Kaprow’s 1967 HappeningFluids,” a 30- by 10-foot rectangular enclosure sealed off by a wall of ice blocks. 

In conjunction with MOCA’s major retrospective exhibition Allan Kaprow—Art As Life, Cal State L.A. will participate in the re-creation of Kaprow’s “Fluids” as part of LACMA’s reinvention of his artistic Happenings at a wide range of sites across Los Angeles, including some of Kaprow’s original locations.

On Friday, April 25, teams of Cal State L.A. students, volunteers, and others will build the ephemeral ice sculpture at Parking Lot 5 on campus, which takes up to a day to complete and, depending on the weather, will last for approximately three days. 

MOCA’s exhibition, Allan Kaprow—Art as Life, traces the development of the artists work over five decades. A renowned American artist and teacher, Kaprow (1927–2006) is remembered for the invention of the Happenings in the 1950s—a new art form then in which an action was derived from the environment, replacing the traditional art object. 

“The Reinvention of Fluids” on the Cal State L.A. campus will allow the University and surrounding community to view and participate in this important contemporary art collaboration.

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The recreation of Fluids is coordinated by Los Angeles County Museum of Art and supported in part by an in-kind donation from the Union Ice Company. Happenings are coordinated by The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and made possible by generous support from the Getty Foundation. The exhibition Allan Kaprow–Art as Life is organized by the Haus der Kunst, Munich, and the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, and is on view at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA from March 23 to June 30, 2008.

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