Claes Oldenburg's 1962 Happening Voyages I at the Ray Gun Manufacturing Company

Claes Oldenburg staged the performance Voyages I in 1962 at the Ray Gun Manufacturing Company, a key venue for his early happenings. The event featured Pat Oldenburg and Lucas Samaras as participants, captured in a photograph by Robert R. McElroy. This image was licensed by VAGA, an organization based in New York, New York. The documentation was posted on artcritical on February 22, 2012, highlighting a moment from Oldenburg's influential series of happenings that blurred art and everyday life. These performances were central to the development of Pop Art and performance art in the 1960s, often involving spontaneous, interactive elements in unconventional spaces. Oldenburg's work at the Ray Gun Manufacturing Company, a storefront he operated, became a hub for avant-garde artistic experiments in New York City. The involvement of figures like Samaras, known for his own multidisciplinary art, underscores the collaborative nature of the downtown art scene. The photograph serves as a historical record of this ephemeral event, preserved through licensing and digital archiving.