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# 5 Artists Who Anticipated Festivus
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/5-artists-who-anticipated-festivus/
- Published: 2011-12-23T21:34:15.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T15:37:26.000Z
- Description: Happy Festivus everyone! What is Festivus? It is a secular holiday celebrated on December 23 as a way to celebrate the holiday season without participating in its pressures and commercialism. It was popularized by Seinfeld.
- Author: Hrag Vartanian
- Tags: Opinion, #image-position-hidden, Barnett Newman, Dan Flavin, Hans Haacke, pole dancing, Richard Serra, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2025-11-17 09:23 (2009-2011)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2011/12/festivus_pole-600.jpg "Festivus_Pole-600")

## Happy Festivus everyone!

**Festivus** is a secular holiday celebrated on December 23 as a way to celebrate the holiday season without participating in its pressures and commercialism. It was created by writer Dan O’Keefe and introduced into popular culture by his son Daniel, a screenwriter for the TV show *Seinfeld*, as part of a comical storyline on the show. \[via [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festivus?ref=hyperallergic.com)\]

Clockwise from top left: Wikipedia’s example of a [Festivus pole](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Festivus%5FPole.jpg?ref=hyperallergic.com), Barnett Newman’s “[Here III](http://www.nashersculpturecenter.org/object-Detail.aspx?ObjectID=93&ref=hyperallergic.com)” (1965-66), (1969), Hans Haacke, “[Ice Stick](http://www.dennis-young.ca/Vanguard.html?ref=hyperallergic.com)” (1966), Dan Flavin “[Untitled](http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/aipe/dan%5Fflavin.htm?ref=hyperallergic.com)” (1976), pole dancers — like Elizabeth Berkley in [*Showgirls*](http://www.sodahead.com/fun/best-on-screen-strippervote-here/question-1865799/?link=ibaf&q=&imgurl=http://deceiver.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/elizabeth%5Fberkley%5Fshowgirls.jpg&ref=hyperallergic.com)(1995) or Jennifer Beals in [*Flashdance*](http://www.sodahead.com/fun/best-on-screen-strippervote-here/question-1865799/?link=ibaf&q=&imgurl=http://www.filmbuffonline.com/FBOLNewsreel/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/rosemcgowan.jpg&ref=hyperallergic.com) (1983) — and Richard Serra’s “[Floor Pole Prop](http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/aipe/richard%5Fserra.htm?ref=hyperallergic.com)” (1969).

I know that New York state [doesn’t recognize pole dancers as artists](https://hyperallergic.com/lady-gaga-jennifer-rubell-pole-dancers/) but I do. They’re proto-performance artists IMHO.