LA Review of Books J. Hoberman's "Everything is Now: Primal Happenings, Radical Music, Underground Movies, and the 1960s New York Avant-Garde"
Oct 3, 2025
Join veteran film critic J. Hoberman as he delves into the vibrant 1960s New York avant-garde. He shares insights on the dynamic interplay of art and politics, revealing how underground films and controversial happenings intersected with civil rights movements. Hoberman highlights the transformative roles of female artists and contrasts the era's organic creative communities with today's digital networks. He also discusses censorship's paradoxical impact on visibility and how the counterculture's legacy still resonates today.
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Frenetic Simultaneity Of 1960s New York
- Hoberman structures Everything Is Now to recreate the simultaneity and overwhelm of 1960s New York cultural life.
- He uses contemporary sources like The Village Voice to let events speak as they happened.
Physical Venues Drove Cross-Pollination
- The era supported countless small physical venues that sustained avant-garde practices and cross-pollination.
- Hoberman argues today's corporatized channels change but don't eliminate spaces for experimental art.
Film As Catalyst For Mixed-Media Avant-Garde
- Hoberman centers underground film as both medium and catalyst within a broader multimedia avant-garde.
- He ties filmmakers to painters, poets and musicians through shared practices like happenings and performance.
