Initially a painter and an assemblage artist, Kaprow is credited with coining the term “Happening” in 1958–59 to describe this new art form. 18 Happenings in 6 Parts was a time-based, scripted, and directed piece, using structure, theater elements, installation, simultaneity, audience participation, painting, and sound. It was first performed at New York’s Reuben Gallery on October 4, 1959. Kaprow had attended Cage’s Experimental Music Composition classes at the New School for Social Research in 1958; while he was inspired by Cage, he moved away from time-based sound works into Happenings that soon evolved into the more conceptual art form associated with Fluxus. Kaprow later disassociated himself from Fluxus and rejected the word “Happenings,” choosing to call his works “Activities”: "It was not intended to stand for an art form, originally. It was merely a neutral word that was part of a title of one of my projected ideas in 1958–59. It was the word which I thought would get me out of the trouble of calling it a 'theater piece,' a 'performance,' a 'game,' a 'total art,' or whatever, that would evoke associations with known sports, theater, and so on."