Claes Oldenburg "Happenings": Ray Gun Theater 1962 poster

Claes Oldenburg "Happenings": Ray Gun Theater 1962

1962 · 128 min

not streaming

Early in 1962 Claes Oldenburg offered a remarkable series of ten 'Happenings' in a store on East Second Street in New York City. The audiences were kept small to heighten the intimacy of the experience. What is a 'Happening'? It would seem impossible to describe afterwards. Yet Raymond Saroff compressed the rich and sprawling imagery of each evening-length work to the essential matter in hand, reassembling a visual realization of what was seemingly consigned to the memories of its audience. All the characterizations, the unprepared transitions, the very personal rhythms with something of Saroff's own: the 'Happenings' impact on a sensitive eye, its reduction to a single and coherent point of view. Features "Store Days I & II", "Nekropolis I & II", "Injun I & II", "Voyages I & II", and "World's Fair I & II."

Crew

  • Director Raymond Saroff

Crew

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🔥 Hot takes

warming up the wall…

Intermission

GO DEEPER

Turn the obscurity dial up. There's a lot further down to go.

Deal me more

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