event-structure

Discipline: Art

(c.1945)

Theory proposed by the British artist JOHN LATHAM which stresses the importance of process over product: structures in events (through time) are more valid than structure in art objects (in space).

In 1967 Latham's ideas were adopted by THEO BOTSCHIVER, JEFFREY SHAW and SEAN WELLESLEY-MILLER who formed the Event-structure Research Group (ERG) in Amsterdam. They proposed an alternative to 'museum art' by staging public events, encouraging physical participation, 'operational art' and 'art of real consequences'.

Source:
J Latham 'Eventstructure', Studio international, vol. CLXXIV (September, 1967), 82