For the past two years, I’ve been working on a catalog of 150-200 networks that preceded or that exist outside of the internet. One of the many challenges of the project has been the abundance of fantastic material that can’t all go into the book; occasionally I have written entries and then had to take them out of the manuscript because they are, for example, one-off artist-created networks that are so ephemeral and so hybrid that they don’t fit neatly in any category. Below, is an example of just such a network: “A 3 Country Happening” from 1966 and created by Allan Kaprow, Marta Minujín, and Wolf Vostell. Enjoy the first of hopefully not too many Other Networks outtakes!

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A 3 Country Happening

Country of Origin: U.S.A., Argentina, Germany

Creator(s): Allan Kaprow, Marta Minujín, Wolf Vostell

Years active: 1966

Infrastructure/Materials: radio, satellite, television, telephone, telegraph, camera, film, videotape

Related: Wired Networks > Telephone, Wire Networks > Telegraph, Wireless Networks > Radio, Wireless Networks > Radio > Satellite, Wireless Networks > Television

Description: “A 3 Country Happening” was a planned happening (a performance or event as art) involving artists Allan Kaprow in New York City, Marta Minujín in Buenos Aires, and Wolf Vostell in Berlin. Each artist was to create a happening that the others were to repeat at the same time in their own country, videos of which were to be communicated through the Telstar satellite. In the end only Minujín realized a happening in Buenos Aires called “Simultaneidad en Simultaneidad.” On October 13, 1966 Minujín invited sixty well known individuals to a local auditorium at which point each was given a radio and photographed/filmed as they entered. They then listened to a particular radio station while viewing footage of them along with a pre-recorded videotape of Minujín herself on television sets. At the same time, an additional 500 people had been invited to hear and view the performance at home on their televisions and radios. All 500 received a telephone call during the performance while 100 received a telegram; at the same time, on their televisions they were shown three participants in the auditorium receiving telephone calls and telegrams. On October 24th the individuals were asked to return wearing the same clothes and sitting in the same seats while they were once again shown photographs/films of themselves–a process which in turn was documented and transmitted via TV, newspaper, telegram, and radio. 

Sources: Michael Kirby, “Marta Minujín’s ‘Simultaneity in Simultaneity'”. The Drama Review 12:3 (Spring 1968)