The Fluxus artistic philosophy can be expressed as a synthesis of four key factors that define the majority of Fluxus work:
- Fluxus is an attitude. It is much more than an art history movement, or a style locked between a pair of dates.
- Fluxus is intermedia. Fluxus creators like to to see what happens when different media intersect.
They use found & everyday objects, sounds, images, and texts to create new combinations of objects, sounds, images, and texts. - Fluxus should be simple. The art is small, the texts are short, and the performances are brief.
- Fluxus should be fun. If it isn't fun, then it isn't Fluxus
In a previous posting on the Fluxus Blog, I reduced Fluxus to 5 factors, based on Ken Friedmans 12 factors, and on Owen Smith's idea of explaining/defining Fluxus in terms of its being an attitude towards art, life and artmaking, as opposed to being pigeonholed as yet another art movement. I think that the five points are actually more than what is needed to accurately describe the core philosophical elements of Fluxus, so have further refined it to the four factors listed here..
Friedmans 12 point list from Forty Years of Fluxus can be read here. The complete associated essay (Forty Years of Fluxus), can be found at http://www.artnotart.com/fluxus/kfriedman-fourtyyears.html
Owen Smith's book, Fluxus: The History of an Attitude (out of print) can still be found for sale on Amazon.com