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What is Fluxus?
This question has been asked before, and I have answered it in this, The Fluxus Blog, before. But that was a long time ago, and the question, “What is Fluxus” continues to be asked. For readers looking for a simple answer, contemporary Fluxus artist, Allan Revich has summarized Fluxus into just four characteristic ideas: Four Fluxus Characteristics Fluxus is an attitude. It is not a movement or a style. Fluxus is Intermedia. Fluxus creators like to see what happens when different media intersect. They use everyday found objects, sounds, images, and texts to create new combinations of objects, sounds, images, and texts. Fluxus works are simple. Art is small, texts…
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Fluxlist Fluxfest Toronto 2019
Tenth Annual Fluxlist Fluxfest: to be Held in Toronto in 2019 The first Fluxlist Fluxfest was held in New York City in conjunction with Matthew Rose‘s 2009 A Book About Death event at the Emily Harvey Foundation. Over the decade since then, the Fluxlist has presented at least one Fluxfest every year. First in NYC, and then in Chicago, with occasional other Fluxus festivals in other cities and states. For the first time ever, Toronto, Canada has been chosen as the site for the Fluxlist Fluxfest. Venues are being lined up. Dates are being firmed up. But mark your calendars today for the third weekend in June! Planned dates (2019):…
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Fluxus and Minimalism and Me
Roots of Fluxus vs. Roots of Minimalism Fluxus and Minimalism emerged at about the same time, and in reaction to the same tendencies in the art world. Both sensibilities evolved partly as a reaction against the post war (WWII) dogma of Abstract Expressionism. More importantly, they were both artistic revolutions against the art establishment. But there was an important difference that cannot be ignored. Whereas Fluxus had its roots in the anti-art aesthetic of Dada, Minimalism had its roots in the same milieu as the art world that it rebelled against. Inevitably, Minimalism became subsumed into that art world. Fluxus remains to this day as a small but important bastion,…
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Defeating the Demons of Decoration
This would look perfect above our sofa! It might be true that most of the visual art being purchased, is bought purely for its utility as wall decoration. It may also be true that a majority of visual artists are content creating an oeuvre of pretty pictures. But good art, real art, serious art, transcends decoration. The best art is analogous to the best literature—it makes us think. It causes us to question. It induces wonderment. Artists attempting to create work that is capable of defeating the demon of decor are faced with considerable challenges. Historically, even in non-Western, or ancient cultures, the most culturally important artists would have their…
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Instant Fluxfest Kit: The Fluxus Performance Workbook
550 Classic Fluxus Performance Scores Hey kids! Get your gang together and have your very own Instant Fluxfest! Just download the incredible Fluxus Performance Workbook and get busy performing the scores that have entertained and enlightened generations of Fluxus enthusiasts round the world. The Fluxus Performance Workbook. It’s Free! Get yours today! Download it now (PDF)
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The Fluxlist: Lists, Links, Social Media
The Fluxlist in 2018 is as busy as it ever has been since its founding in 1996 by Fluxus co-founder Dick Higgins and friends. Some of whom (like Allen Bukoff) remain active on the list to this day. Where will you find The Fluxlist today? Facebook Group (Most of the interactivity for which the intermedia group is famous happens here) Yahoo Mail Group (The email list continuation of the original 1996 listserv) Twitter @The_Fluxlist The Fluxlist Blog on Blogspot On the Web @ the-fluxlist.com
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FLUXFEST CHICAGO 2017
FLUXFEST CHICAGO 2017 Itinerary: Thursday, May 25. Opening reception, connections… Don E Boyd and art networking. 4 to 7 PM, Joan Flasch artist book library, school of the Art Institute of Chicago. Dinner to follow, at Italian Village. Friday, May 26th. Meet at 9 AM at Patisserie Toni for breakfast, followed by a visit to concrete happenings, the Wolf Vostell show at University of Chicago. Bring flyers, postcards, handouts … let them know we were there ! At 4:30 pm we regroup at the MCA plaza for Flux/Resist. A guerilla art parade with street performances which joins the larger public protests at trump tower. Bring signs, banners, handouts, ask others…
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Artist Vito Acconci Dead at 77
VIto Acconci, performance and video artist, who was hugely influential in the New York art world, and in the world at large, died on Thursday, April 28th in NYC. Like many in my generation, I first became aware of his work in the early 70s through his piece, “Seedbed“, in which he built a ramp in a Manhattan art gallery, and lay hidden underneath it – masturbating while visitors walked above him. I fell in love with the idea of pushing art to new limits, and the feeling of artistic freedom and liberation from the constraints of the canvas. Obituary
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George Maciuanas Documentary Film
George Maciunas (1931–1978) was a co-founder, and the self-appointed leader of Fluxus, an international community of artists, which was especially active in the United States, Japan, and Europe during the 1960s and 1970s. Today, the Fluxus network continues to thrive in the traditions established all those years ago by Maciuanas and his contemporaries. Manhattan-based artist and filmmaker Jeffrey Perkins, who met Maciunas several times and has long been associated with many of Fluxus’s key figures, has been gathering research material and shooting interviews with surviving Fluxus luminaries for George, a documentary film he is producing that will chronicle the life and achievements of the avant-garde group’s legendary leader. Full article about the…
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What is Fluxus: The Fluxlist List
What characteristics of an artwork serve to identify a piece as belonging to, or related to, Fluxus? Historically many artists working in different media have related their work to Fluxus. Some of these artists belonged to a group surrounding the Lithuanian-American artist, George Maciunas, and the American artist, Dick Higgins. After the death of Maciunas, Higgins continued to promote Fluxus, eventually attracting a new generation of artists to the (non) movement, through the co-founding of an Internet mailing list—the Fluxlist. This new group of artists has continued the artistic practice of the first generation, while working towards maintaining the relevance of all generations, into the 21st century. So what is Fluxus,…
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Fluxus in 2016: Is it Relevant?
Is Fluxus still relevant in 2016? Let me make it easy for you dear reader. The (short) answer to this question is an unequivocal, “YES!“ If you’re still reading, I’ll assume that you have some interest in knowing why Fluxus, a “movement” from the early 1960s remains relevant (and dare I say important?) in the early years of the twenty-first century. Let me answer this in three parts. What Fluxus was. What Fluxus is. Why Fluxus is still important. What Fluxus Was: This question has been answered many times, by many people, so I’ll provide an answer here, but won’t dwell upon it. Fluxus grew out of the art and…
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Defeating the Demons of Decoration
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Dear George… Love Charlotte: February 10, Block Museum of Art
Some Fluxus artists picketed the festival in 1964, others performed in it—a number did both. Lecture Demonstration: Dear George…Love, Charlotte: Fluxus in the Annual Avant Garde Festivals Wednesday, February 10, 6:00pm Block Museum “Dear George… Love Charlotte” will illuminate parts of a social and aesthetic network that connected Charlotte Moorman and the Annual Avant Garde Festivals to Fluxus, despite the protestations of Fluxus’ major-domo, George Maciunas. Originating Fluxus artists such as Alison Knowles, Dick Higgins and Jackson Mac Low were regular participants; Yoko Ono, Emmett Williams and George Brecht were represented in performance. Some Fluxus artists picketed the festival in 1964, others performed in it—a number did both. This international…
