Items23The creator’s order
  1. 1Saburo MurakamiSaburo MurakamiBorn Jun 27, 1925Passage, 2nd Gutai Art Exhibition, Tokyo, 1956 A painter running his body through stretched sheets of kraft paper sounds simple, but Murakami's paper-breaking turned the act of making into the artwork itself, years before New York had a word for it. The torn frames were the leftover; the burst was…0
  2. 2Allan KaprowAllan KaprowBorn Aug 23, 192718 Happenings in 6 Parts, Reuben Gallery, New York, 1959 Kaprow had coined "happening" in a 1958 essay, and this is the piece that put the word into circulation. He split a loft into three rooms with semi-transparent plastic walls and ran six parts with three events each, all at once, so nobody…0
  3. 3Yves KleinYves KleinBorn Apr 28, 1928Anthropometries, 1960 Klein staged painting as a public ceremony: nude models covered in his signature blue paint pressed and dragged their bodies across canvases, while an ensemble played his Monotone Symphony and an audience in formal evening wear looked on. He directed rather than touched the…0
  4. 4Yoko OnoYoko OnoBorn Feb 18, 1933Cut Piece, Kyoto, 1964 Ono sat still on a stage with a pair of scissors in front of her and invited the audience to come up, one at a time, and cut away pieces of her clothing to keep. She said nothing and did nothing; every choice belonged to the people holding the scissors, which is exactly what…0
  5. 5Carolee SchneemannCarolee SchneemannBorn Oct 12, 1939Meat Joy, Paris, 1964 Where Klein's models were directed from a distance, Schneemann's nine performers in Meat Joy acted for themselves, rolling together, painting one another's bodies and rubbing raw chicken, fish and sausage across each other. It was a deliberate argument for pleasure and the…0
  6. 6Valie ExportValie ExportBorn May 17, 1940Tapp und Tastkino (Tap and Touch Cinema), with Peter Weibel, 1968 EXPORT strapped a small box, a miniature movie theater with a curtain over the front, to her bare upper body and went out into the street, while Peter Weibel used a megaphone to invite passersby to reach in and touch. It flipped…0
  7. 7Gilbert & GeorgeGilbert & GeorgeThe Singing Sculpture, 1969 onward Still students when they made it, Gilbert & George covered their heads and hands in multicolored metallic powders, stood on a table and moved slowly to a recording of Flanagan and Allen's "Underneath the Arches," at times for a whole day. They called themselves…0
  8. 8Adrian PiperAdrian PiperCatalysis series, early 1970s Piper took performance out of the gallery and gave it an audience that never agreed to be one. She rode the bus, the subway and the Empire State Building elevator with a towel stuffed in her mouth, walked around in clothes soaked in vinegar, eggs, milk and cod liver…0
  9. 9Chris BurdenChris BurdenBorn Apr 11, 1946Shoot, F Space, Santa Ana, California, 1971 On November 19, 1971, a friend of Burden's stood about 15 feet away and fired a .22 rifle at him, intending a non-lethal wound; the bullet hit his left arm. That is the whole work, and its reputation far outstrips its few seconds. Shoot is the landmark…0
  10. 10Vito AcconciVito AcconciBorn Jan 24, 1940Seedbed, Sonnabend Gallery, New York, 1972 Visitors walked up a ramp built across the gallery and found nothing to look at, only Acconci's voice through a loudspeaker. He was hidden underneath, masturbating and describing his fantasies about the people walking above him. Seedbed is on this list…0