On December 19, 2022, SAIC’s experimental art group //sense put together a happening that asked for participation in what can only be described as an art experience. 

//sense is an experimental group of artists who focus on film and video art, performance, and cross-disciplinary experimentation with new media. In addition to putting on happenings, the group also organizes screenings of student submissions. 

At last year’s happening, participants were also performers, and the art was created with spontaneous creative impulses. These participant performers were given Fluxus instructions along the walls that they could choose to follow or ignore completely. As well as this, they were given props such as brooms, chairs, a shopping cart, paper, pencils, and a TV screen attached to a camera that records the screen upon which it is projecting itself. Participants incorporated these props into the spontaneous performances that blurred the distinction between art and mundane reality.

Happenings historically stem from the Fluxus movement. They are typically participatory performances meant to blur the lines between performer and audience, and art and reality. Fluxus emerged in the 1960s, pioneered by George Maciunas and popularized by artists like Yoko Ono, Joseph Beuys, and Alison Knowles.

//sense will be doing an open call for experimental film, video, and animation as part of a future screening, as well as a large-scale experimental theatrical piece. Both will be taking place in April. 

Music:

Submerged by EarShockMusic

Refrigerators In Elevators by EarShockMusic