Happenings

In class the professor decided to do an activity with us by having everyone pick a word. This word could be anything as long as the person next to you didn't have a word that started with that same letter. Then the class was told to go one-by-one and say our word aloud. The class was really confused but followed directions. Then the directions were to say the words louder and faster and even louder and even faster. It was fun to watch the expressions and reactions of the students in the class because it was easy to see that they were uncomfortable and confused but continued to take part in the activity. It wasn't until after that the professor told us that what we had taken part in was considered a happening. A happening is a type of art form that is socially and theoretically associated. The activity was fun because it was a different way to teach the class what a happening is. In the lecture following the students were told about the art form. The most interesting thing that I found in the lecture that directly was demonstrated in our activity was the idea of mastery. The idea that people are afraid to share their art in case they were rejected. This was demonstrated when students in the class were nervous to say their word aloud. Some students felt that they hadn't chosen a good word. It is funny because there weren't any words that were better than others, all the students were told was to pick any word. I really liked this lesson because I think that it was explained well and the activity helped to further the student's understand of a happening.

I found an example of Happening art on the internet.