Claes Oldenburg's announcement for the Ray Gun Spex, a series of happenings at the Judson Gallery, February 29, March 1 and 2, 1960.

2 pages, mimeograph, 4.2 x 21.5 cm.

Ellen Hulda Johnson Papers.
Bequest of Ellen Hulda Johnson, 1994.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village was the epicenter of the New York avant-garde, a place where artists from overlapping social networks came together for experimental, participatory art programs. Bud Scott, the assistant pastor, invited Oldenburg to organize the 1959-1960 season at the Judson Gallery. His Ray Gun Spex included his happening Snapshots from the City, as well as presentations by Jim Dine, Dick Higgins, Al Hansen, Allan Kaprow, Red Grooms (canceled), and Robert Whitman.

Oldenburg, who was born in Stockholm, gave happenings a Swedish twist with the word "spex," which is Swedish for a comic skit, and perhaps a play on the words spectacles and specifications.

http://artarchives.si.edu/exhibits/treasures/0047.htm