“Friedman’s events” are instructional texts that can be compared to references to sculptures, absurd actions and concrete poetry. They are deliberately playful – or absurd – and describe a series of actions that defy the traditional notion of art by leaving the execution up to the viewer. The events span six decades. Friedman joined the Fluxus group as the youngest member in 1966. Already in his teens, the first events began to take shape as ideas for Friedman - long before he considered them as art, or himself as an artist. During a visit to New York, he met Higgins and Fluxus co-founder George Maciunas, who took a liking to Friedman’s ideas and invited him to be part of Fluxus. In an interview with the Torrance Art Museum, Friedman says:

A short while later, George asked me what kind of artist I was. Until that moment, I had never thought of myself as an artist. George thought about this for a minute, and said, “You’re a concept artist.”