Art Is in the Air. The Public Dimension in Allan Kaprow’s Utopian Un-Artistic Theory

Abstract

In the present essay, I want to suggest that the public dimension is a crucial issue in Kaprow’s un-artistic art theory, and that this shift from art to “nonart” literally occurs as a transition from private to public: from private contemplation of “complete” paintings to artistic experience publicly performed and shared. Primarily, I will focus on his troubled relationship with painting. Then, I will concentrate on his ground-breaking reflections on framing and unframing. After that, I will analyse his most relevant theoretical achievements, environment and happening, emphasizing the active role of publicity in his personal idea of performance art. Finally, I will discuss his distinctive interpretation of “nonart”, by comparing it with other substantial variations on the “post-art” theme, offered by different authors, either modernist or post-modernist. In the end, the Kaprowian un-artistic theory will emerge re-configured as a singular, and someway “aerial”, utopian proposal for public art.