Allan Kaprow's party 2 1957

Editor: So, here we have Robert Frank's "Allan Kaprow's party 2" from 1957. It's a contact sheet, so it's the actual film strip printed as a photograph – little windows into this…happening. It feels raw and spontaneous. What jumps out at you when you see it? Curator: You know, it makes me think of little butterflies pinned in a collection, moments from a fleeting event. There’s almost a beautiful tension between the gritty reality captured in each frame and the fact that these frames represent a performance, something intentionally constructed, then dissolved. And a “happening,” no less, from Kaprow, who was essentially trying to merge art and life. Editor: So the randomness is almost… staged? Is that fair to say? Curator: Precisely! That’s part of the magic, isn't it? Frank, shooting Kaprow capturing life in real time...I wonder what Frank made of this idea of a pre-determined spontaneous piece of art. You see all these kids doing all this work, carrying all these objects…Do you get the sense of genuine fun, or something else? Editor: I see both joy and a kind of anxious energy, kids often can give off that sort of raw vibe, a little frenetic maybe. They're all really invested, right in the action of creating...chaos? Curator: Haha, yes, “creating chaos" sounds so like action painting, I wonder what Kaprow saw for the future of it, or if the artist should have more influence than what surrounds it, rather. It begs us to wonder, were those parties fun to him or actually quite tragic? Editor: That's a lot to consider. I definitely feel like I see something new each time I look at this, like the film itself is still unspooling. Curator: Isn't that just like a party to be held forever in time?! Never a dull moment.