Al Hansen

Al Hansen - The artist who threw pianos from rooftops

Al Hansen was born Alfred Earl Hansen in New York on 5th October 1927. He went to Germany for the first time as a young man in 1945 as a soldier in the US Army, and was stationed in Frankfurt am Main and Berlin. It was during this time that he made his first artistic statement by dropping a piano from the roof of a bombed-out, five-storey building - a performance he enjoyed so much that he later repeated it several times and named it the Yoko Ono Piano Drop in honour of his good friend Yoko Ono. The event inspired many imitators, including Joseph Beuys, John Cage, Jimi Hendrix, Raphael Montañez Ortiz and Nam June Paik. As a result, Hansen became a pioneer of instrument destruction that was to become very popular. In 1949 he returned to New York and began his studies at the Art Students League, transferred to Brooklyn College in 1950, and in 1956 he finally became a student of the experimental composer John Cage, where George Brecht, Dick Higgins and Allan Kaprow were among his fellow students.

Collaboration with Andy Warhol and John Cage

Al Hansen maintained close contact with Andy Warhol in New York and was intensively involved in his Factory, and also worked frequently with his friend and teacher John Cage. Hansen's art was characterised by his Happenings and Performances, which made him one of the most important and influential figures in the Fluxus movement founded by George Maciunas, and his book A Primer of Happenings and Time Space Art, published in 1965, is regarded as the standard work on the Fluxus art movement. In addition to his action art, Hansen also created a large number of collages. His most important theme was that of Venus, and he used waste as his working material: he created several copies of a replica of the famous Venus of Willendorf from glued-together cigarette butts. In 1966, Hansen took part in the Destruction in Art Symposium organised by Gustav Metzger, and in October of that year, the controversial Viennese action artist Otto Muehl dedicated his action concert to Al Hansen.

Manager of punk bands and promoter of young artists

Al Hansen was also an enthusiastic lover of punk music and at times managed bands such as the Screamers in Hollywood. In the early 1980s, Hansen moved to Cologne, where he founded the Ultimate Academy together with German performance artist Lisa Cieslik, which still today offers many young artists their first platform. Al Hansen's grandson, the pop musician Beck Hansen, was also supported here by his grandfather. He drew inspiration from the British pop artist Genesis-P-Orridge and his Final Academy, among others.

Al Hansen died on 22 June 1995 in Cologne. At the artist's personal request, his funeral was staged as a Fluxus Happening with former artistic companions and his daughter Bibbe Hansen responsible for its realisation.