this is adapted from this thread written in July 2022
A few nights ago I threw an experimental art party loosely based around themes of creativity, flourishing, abundance, and celebration.
I imagined a more alive version of a museum, a more interactive open studio, a more intentional and wholesome party, a more embodied form of conversation.
The party began from a few different sources coming together— near my birthday, I wanted to make art but also be with friends. My initial idea for an “art day” expanded into an “art happening”…
My artwork has historically included a lot of flowers. They spontaneously emerge when I loosen grip on my mind and allow my hands to wander. They line the threshold between my conscious and subconscious, the point of surrender where my grip on reality falters and lapses into tenderness.
Around this time my roommate had introduced me to the 1950s happenings movement that predated performance art and manifested as a series of bizarre art parties.
Inspired by this, I had a strong desire to fill my apartment with flowers & steep in a blue subconscious world. I wanted to create an art film or some kind of performance art involving the audience, a la Marina Abramovic’s Rhythm 0 (in which she invites the audience, equipped with objects ranging from a rose to a gun, to do whatever they want to her).
All these desires came together in an experimental art party where I roped a few close friends into helping me plan decor & gauge how far to take the strangeness.
I brainstormed 30+ happening ideas and ran them by different friends to get their feedback. Based on the audience, I realized that I had to temper my expectations for “art” against having a good fun party.
Some ideas that got crossed out included a human explosion of movement based on prompts like throw oranges in the air, writhe in the floor etc, inspired by the surrealist photograph of Dali and three flying cats.
I realized I had to ensure a high degree of trust and safety— many partygoers might not know each other nor have enough trust to do strange activities. I had gotten caught up in the performance and lost sight of the participant experience.
This led to a difficult trade off— in retrospect I could have told people to come ready to participate in an art happening, instead of trying to brand it as a fun social gathering.
I put out different “on-ramps” to get people out of their normal scripts and into the mindset of being creative— we had a group mural, poetry readings, music jamming, art installations, etc.
We filled the apartment with flowers, glass vases, fruit, honey, cake, and other symbols of abundance. Some sources of inspiration include the beehive from My Dinner with Andre (1981) and the food fight scene from Daises (1966)
For the ritual at the heart of the happening, I decided to try out a contemplative piece where I led the people (they had to sign up) one by one into a dark room with heavy incense and rhythmic ambient music.
They were allowed to bring a special object to carry them into the “next phase”. People brought items like a book of poetry, an effigy, or a vial of the scent of fearlessness.
I invited them to lay down and close their eyes. I dabbed water on their forehead and eyelids, and laid strands of flowers across their bodies. I covered their bodies with a white sheet. It felt like treating their bodies for burial— the visual and reported experiential effect were both quite compelling.
I then read a poem about forgiveness and yielding, followed by this thought experiment:
Imagine being at a dinner party in the afterlife attended by various versions of yourself. Look around the table. Observe which versions of yourself your admire, and which you are repulsed by. Who do you want to avoid? Who would you want to talk to? Who would you want to be, given a second chance?
I left them alone for a long ambiguous three minutes to allow for reflection. When I come back, I bring a piece of sweet fruit, invite them to rise and eat the fruit, then whenever they’re ready, rejoin a lively party with friends.
This was a body+thought experiment on mortality and rebirth, and I was hoping to make something memorable that both felt like an expression of my inner world and allowed for an enjoyable experience for the participant.
Overall there a largely positive feedback after the ritual— I believe I successfully created an atmosphere of safety and guidance through the entire experience. Some people were high and reported very trippy experiences, whereas others said it sent them back to their childhood. This event also served to bond partygoers as they chatted and shared reflections on what they had just experienced.
Finally, one last mini event was to invite everyone to eat cake with their bare hands. Everyone was pretty excited to break this social norm, and we devoured the cake with childlike joy.
At one point late in the night I emerged from conducting the death/rebirth ritual to find my roommate drunkenly reciting her poetry into a baguette to a room of rapt listeners, some friends singing and playing piano together, more people draped tumbling across the sofa, and I was seized by how beautiful and ethereal the entire scene was. It felt like we had managed to escape the plane of reality where we typically exist.
In the end the I managed to ritualize everyone who wanted a turn, the group mural turned out beautifully, and people felt like they experienced something thought provoking and emotionally compelling.
That’s it for my reflection. Would love to run a whole series of parties/happenings like this. If you made it this far, hope you enjoyed!