Reinventing ephemeral forms: An investigation of the reinvention of Allan Kaprow's work in 'Allan Kaprow---Art as Life' (2008)

The late Allan Kaprow's notion of reinvention functions as a model that carefully systematizes future instantiations of the artist's work. Deftly articulated through his writings, reinventions are not the same as reconstructions, re-presentations, or re-creations because the term denotes that such reinvented versions "differ markedly from their originals." What is reinvention to Kaprow, and what are its limits as an approach when it is transferred to curators, scholars and other artists making his work? Looking at the example of the traveling retrospective Allan Kaprow---Art as Life, realized just after Kaprow's death in 2006, this thesis centers on the production of the artist's ephemeral works in the 2008 presentation at the Geffen Contemporary at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles. By defining and conceiving of reinvention as an artists' methodology, this thesis argues that reinvention can be theorized, despite hierarchies between artists' writing and critical discourse. This study reveals how this artists' methodology changes when it is transferred from the original artist to curators, scholars and other artists. It looks at such changes by focusing on aspects such as authorship, artist's intention, and authority. This thesis demonstrates that reinvention can be used to analyze works in the MOCA show, including Push and Pull: A Furniture Comedy for Hans Hofmann (1963/2008), Words (1962/2008), and Fluids (1967/2008)--- pieces that were also realized in Kaprow's first retrospective at the Pasadena Art Museum in 1967---as well as other instances of reinvention. Additionally, given Kaprow's interest in reinvention, process, and changeability, this thesis explores the very idea of theorizing from artists' writing and own self-theorization.