The Smolin Gallery was an

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

art venue and gallery on 57th Street in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

, at its peak in the 1960s. It was known for its involvement with

installation art Installation art is an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often calle ...

performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

and experimental art, and was best known for the

Allan Kaprow Allan Kaprow (August 23, 1927 – April 5, 2006) was an American painter, assemblagist and a pioneer in establishing the concepts of performance art. He helped to develop the "Environment" and "Happening" in the late 1950s and 1960s, as well a ...

assemblage performance of September 11–12, 1962 entitled "Words", believed to be the first allowing the audience to participate in an art gallery context. Kaprow "used two continual rolls of cloth with words from poems, newspapers, comic and telephone books" during which the audience were asked to "tear off the words, staple them together, write notes, even attack and hack them". Verbal fragments were pasted on the walls from floor to ceiling. In April 1963,

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of the central coastal part of t ...

and

Tony Towle Tony Towle (born 1939) is an American poet. He began writing poetry in 1960. John Ashbery has referred to him as "one of the New York School's best-kept secrets." Personal life Towle currently lives in New York City with actress Diane Tyler. He ha ...

gave their first public recital at the gallery. In May 1963 the Smolin Gallery sponsored innovative

Wolf Vostell Wolf Vostell (14 October 1932 – 3 April 1998) was a German painter and sculptor, considered one of the early adopters of video art and installation art and pioneer of Happenings and Fluxus. Techniques such as blurring and Dé-coll/age are c ...

events on TV. ''Do it yourself Dé-coll/age'' featured visitors to the gallery who were encouraged to use their own DIY liquids to create poster art on the walls and Wolf Vostells installation ''Television Décollage'' (''6 TV Dé-coll/age'') was shown. The gallery sponsored the ''Yam Festival'' and served as an information center during the event. The ''Yam Festival'', held at

George Segal George Segal Jr. (February 13, 1934 – March 23, 2021) was an American actor. He became popular in the 1960s and 1970s for playing both dramatic and comedic roles. After first rising to prominence with roles in acclaimed films such as '' Ship ...

s farm, in

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic Canad ...

was venue on May 19, 1963 to actions and Happenings by artists including

Dick Higgins Dick Higgins (15 March 1938 – 25 October 1998) was an American artist, composer, art theorist, poet, publisher, printmaker, and a co-founder of the Fluxus international artistic movement (and community). Inspired by John Cage, Higgins was a ...

La Monte Young La Monte Thornton Young (born October 14, 1935) is an American composer, musician, and performance artist recognized as one of the first American minimalist composers and a central figure in Fluxus and post-war avant-garde music. He is best kn ...

and

who made the happening ''TV Burying''.Wolf Vostell, ''TV Burying'', 1963
/ref> In 1965, Doris Totten Chase gave her first solo New York exhibition at the Smolin Gallery, featuring paintings on wood. She exhibited a series of small painted sculptures inset with hinged sections which opened to reveal additional painted sections.

External links

Invitation to the Wolf Vostell exhibition at the Smolin Gallery, 1963Wolf Vostell, ''Television Décollage'' (''6 TV Dé-coll/age'') at the Smolin Gallery, 1963''Yam Festival'', 1963

References

{{coord missing, New York City Defunct art museums and galleries in Manhattan Demolished buildings and structures in Manhattan 1960s in New York City Avant-garde art Performance art venues Installation art Video art