Happening

In this thesis I inquire into the nature and possibilities of happenings as they were practiced in the years 2010–2014 especially by political activists, who regard them as an attractive means of drawing attention to various issues. I designate these types of happenings as political happenings, analysing and interpreting their nature with the help of examples taken from my own experience. What I see as most important is the attitude to happenings, which should be based in intention and play, as opposed to being solely guided by purpose. I consider purpose as a rational con-struct, a firm point outside the happening as such, which takes one’s mind off the event itself and tends to turn it into propaganda. For this reason I recommend to take purposes only as reference points, focusing instead on the event itself. This can be greatly facilitated by play, which frees us from the pursuit of external aims, allowing us to abide in the situation here and now. In this way both the activist and the spectator are given the opportunity to step back, gain ease, and to liberate themselves from the all too binding feeling of responsibility for the result. Of course, one cannot stay content with play, for to do so would be to turn the happening into an aimless practical joke with no proper form, and thus with little appeal. Instead, the happen-ing needs to be guided by the activist’s intention which mediates between purpose and play. Intention is a process which take purpose as its point of reference, but unlike it is grounded in the present moment and is ready to change as the situation itself develops. Next I analyse the symbolic level of happenings, which thanks to its openness belongs to the world of play. The fact that symbols cannot be reduced to a single meaning limits their poten-tial for communication and makes them unsuitable for expressing a clear purpose, but this very fact incites the spectators to more active types of communication. A symbol does not exist in itself, it is always a part of a wider network of symbolic associations. By acting within it, the participants themselves also become parts of this network. In this way symbols come alive in human body, gestures and movements, evoking feelings and attitudes. This type of communi-cation is psychosomatic, influencing our embodied stance which forms the matrix of our con-scious attitudes. Thanks to this, symbolic action can influence both actors and spectators on a level that would be hard to reach solely by verbal explanations. I also examine the satirical structure of happenings, which I describe as being constituted by the relation of the dominant and the subversive pattern. In addition to this I show that good satire does not just deride but is self-reflexive as well. For an organizer of happenings it is useful to be one’s own spectator. It does not matter if the spectators do not notice all the details. What matters is whether the actors pay sufficient atten-tion to them. If they do, the effect of every single detail does not get lost even if it is not actual-ly “seen” by anyone. A happening requires the confidence that a well performed event is mean-ingful even this meaning is not easy to point out. Only with this kind of attitude will it be well grounded in its actors, and there will be a chance that it gets caught on in the spectators and will contribute to a change in their personal attitude