Allan Kaprow’s Travelog at the haudenschildGarage - May 10th & 12th

True to the spirit and legacy of Kaprow, the haudenschildGarage reinterpreted the Happening, Travelog (1968) over the course of two days, May 10th and May 12th.

The original piece took place in Madison, New Jersey where Kaprow worked with a group of students from Fairleigh Dickinson University. About thirty-five people in ten or eleven cars participated. At each gas station a tire was changed; the process was recorded and photographed as it was repeated. The next day the whole process was repeated without cameras or tape recorders. Click here to read the full description of Travelog (1968).

Conceptualized by Steve Fagin, the haudenschildGarage will not be slavish or loyal, and hence represent the best legacy possible to the humble but irreverent Allan. Alfredo Brillembourg & Hubert Klumpner of The Urban Think Tank in Venezuela, artist Song Tao and journalist Lin Yu in China, and researcher & professor of psychology, Nicholas Christenfeld in the U.S. chose a service to engage with and spent a day repeating the task, documenting each of the service iterations. This documentation was sent to the haudenschildGarage in a package.

On May 10th, we opened the packages and discussed the day of service. The discussion were moderated by Jeff Kelley, critic, educator and editor of Allan Kaprow’s Essays on the Blurring of Art and Life and took place at the haudenschildGarage via Sykpe, not simultaneously but consecutively on the three continents.

The Urban Think Tank, consisting of directors, Alfredo Brillembourg and Hubert Klumpert, and their project team, Kwi-Hae Kim, Leonardo Lamedam, and Anna Wachtmeister, commented on what they called the “ubiquity and practicality of cell phone use created the habit of exchanging phone numbers between temporary acquaintances to long term friends.” They “acted as tourists guided by a local in the city of Caracas and collected cell phone numbers from the various people they interacted with.” To see their photos, a full project description, a link to the blog for the project and a list of the phone numbers collected from their project called +58 for the country code of Venezuela, click here.

Song Tao and Lin Yu chose to ride the ferries that cross the Huang Pu River in Shanghai in their project called FERRYTALE. Lin Yu writes, “Since both of us lived by the River (right side) during our childhood, and had rich experience, memories and deep emotions to ferries, FERRYTALE was also a tour back to our roots. Moreover, after the day, we believed that it was a tour back to the roots of the city Shanghai as well. It was in early 20th century, when the first ferries and ferry lines on Huang Pu River were designed and put into use, to connect both side of the river, especially for those who were living on the right side, crossing to the left side. Late in the same century, the first bridge on the River was built. By now, there are more than 5 bridges, 4 tunnels and several metro line - crossing the River is easy and quick now, most people are no longer depending on ferries as the only way crossing the River.” Click here to see their photos and a full project description.

Nickolas Christenfeld with two graduate students, Kadimah Elson and Britta Larson, engaged people in the cereal aisle of local San Diego supermarkets in their project Lux et Obscuritas. Christenfeld describes the project, consisting of Kadimah Elson as distinctly goth and Britta Larson distinctly not, “as asking patrons which cereal they would recommend as appropriate for her, and then, if the patron was willing, was photographed with the cereal and its recommender, and, regardless, purchased the cereal.” He then analyzed the data and created charts categorizing the information. To see the breakdown of cereals, photos and the charts click here.

Following the discussion, the participants divided themselves into three groups to further interpret Travelog in San Diego. Curators, Lucia Sanroman & Stephen Hepworth together with Diane Rothenberg, social anthropologist and author, & Jerome Rothenberg, poet and professor, led the groups. Group participants included Belinda Bijun Sun, George Bolster, Giacomo Castagnola Chaparro, Rishi Chadha, Coryl Crane-Kaprow, Mary Evangelista, Steve Fagin, Eloisa Haudenschild, Ariana Hernandez-Reguant, Monica Jovanovich, Laura Kwak, David Matlin, Sean Neil, Kyong Park, Alan Rosenblum, Gail Schneider, Carlos Trilnick, Christin Turner, Nina Waisman, & Sybil Wendler.

Lucia Sanroman’s group worked off of FERRYTALE and looked to the trolley lines in San Diego for their project titled, TROLLEYTALES. They engaged those taking the trolley through asking for change (a comment on the need for exact change for the ticket machines at trolley stations). Click here to read the full project description.

Stephen Hepworth’s group, Your Receipt is in the Bag, solicited opinions in a retail setting similar to Lux et Obscuritas. This group visited various shops in San Diego malls and pushed the sales associates to pick clothing for them based on only their physical appearance. Click here to read their full project description.

Finally, the Rothenbergs returned to the original Travelog as inspiration, taking a photograph of a Happening in Germany, Tires, and visited bookshops in the San Diego area. They prompted the sales clerk for a book recommendation based on the photograph - encountering a range of exchanges from helpful and friendly to dismissive and abrupt. Click here to see the full project description.

On May 12th, those involved reconvened and the participants brought their documentation and discussed, debated, and shared their experiences with Jeff Kelley moderating the event.

Dolissa Medina was the videographer and Marcos Llanos and Monica Jovanovich photographed the events.

For photo documentation of this Happening, visit moca.org/kaprow and haudenschildgarage.com. Happenings are coordinated by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and made possible by generous support from the Getty Foundation. Allan Kaprow – Art as Life is organized by the Haus der Kunst, Munich, and the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven. Concept of the exhibition by Stephanie Rosenthal and Eva Meyer-Hermann. The exhibition is on view at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA from March 23rd to June 30th 2008.