Complex sentence: The happenings, in German "Aktionen", were an effort to lift all kinds of taboos in art. Many artists proceeded to compliment the revolution in art with a revolution in life itself: life as the ultimate work of art, so to speak.
Split into simpler sentences: The happenings, in German "Aktionen", were an effort to lift all kinds of taboo in art. Many an artist proceeded to compliment the revolution in art with a revolution in life itself. Life as the ultimate work of art, so to speak.