In the late 1960s, Allan Kaprow standardized his agreements to stage happenings with universities and other commissioning institutions. In this example, he goes so far as to request “the full-time services of a competent assistant.” Professor Viggiani politely declines and directs Kaprow back to the artist’s usual ragtag workforce of college students. It is also striking how Kaprow here seeks to gain control over the photographic documentation of his work by mandating that no one can photograph the happening without his permission and direction.
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| Title | Contract to prepare and present a “happening,” signed by Carl A. Viggiani, chairman of the Department of Romance Languages, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut |
| Maker | Allan Kaprow (American, 1927–2006) |
| Date | 20 December 1967 |
| Type | archival materials |
| Location | Getty Research Institute, Allan Kaprow Papers, 980063, box 14, folder 1 |
Cite
Kaprow, Allan. Contract to prepare and present a
“happening,” signed by Carl A. Viggiani, chairman of
the Department of Romance Languages, Wesleyan
University, Middletown, Connecticut, 20 December 1967.
Getty Research Institute, Allan Kaprow Papers, 980063,
box 14, folder 1. In
The Scores Project: Experimental Notation in Music,
Art, Poetry, and Dance, 1950–1975, ed. Michael Gallope, Natilee Harren, and John
Hicks. Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute, 2025.
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