.... ,.. I __} Fluxus and the Essential Questions ofLife 114 , ~~~~~c- ~- ~:#.. -­ ~:::: ___ ­ W _ JOHNSON --cO' _ _ _- • .---- uxus and the Essential Questions ofLife Edited by Jacquelynn Baas With Contributions by Jacquelynn Baas Ken Friedman Hannah Higgins Jacob Proctor Hood Museum ofArt, D artmouth College • H anover, N ew Hampshire in Association with The University of Chicago Press • C hicago and London J ~cq u e l y nn B~~ s is director emeritus of The c~ t ~ l og u e ~ nd ex hibition titled Fluxus Printed in the United S t ~ t es of America the Unive rsity ofC~ liforni~ Berkeley aud th e Esseutinl Q uestious of Life were Art Museum ~nd P~cific Film Archive. o r g ~nized by th e Hood Muse um of Art 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 1 2 3 4 5 Prev iously she se rve d ~ s director of th e ~ nd ge nerously supported by C onst~n ce Hood Museum ofArt. She is the ~u th or, ~nd Wa lter Burke, C l~ ss of 1944, the ISBN-13: 978-0-226-03359-4 (paper) co~ uth or, or editor of m ~ny publi c~ tion s, R~ y Winfield Smith 19 18 Fund, ~nd the ISBN-10: 0-226-03359-7 (paper) in cl uding S 111ile of th e Buddha : East em Marie-Louise and s~ mu e l R.. R.o se nrh ~ l Philosophy aud Hles tem A rt.fimll J\1Io 11 et Fund. Libr~ry of Congress Cataloging-in­ to Today (C~ li forn i~ . 2005), Buddlw Publication Data Mi11d iu Coute111pomry Art (C~ liforn i ~. Exhibition schedule 2004), Leamiug i\1/iud: Expericuce iuto Flu x us ~nd the esse nri ~ l questions of Hood Muse um of Art, A rt (C~ liforni ~. 2010) , Meas ure o(Ti111e life I edited by J ~c qu e l y nn Baas; with D~rtmouth College (C~ l ifo rni ~ . 2007), Darrell Waterstou: contributions by Jacquelyn n Ba~ s . Apri l 16-August 7, 20 11 Rcprcscutiug th e liwisible (C h ~rt~. 2007), (et ~ I.] . ~ nd T he ludcpeudcut C roup : Postll'ar Britaiu Grey Art Ga llery, p. Cnl. nud th e Aesth etics of Pleuty (MIT, 19 90). New York Universit y Includes bibliographica l references. September 9-December 3, 2011 Exhibition schedul e: Hood Museum of Published by Art, Dartmouth College: April 16-August University of Michiga n 7, 201 1; Grey Art G~ ll e r y , New Yo rk Hood Museum of Art, Museum of Art University: September 9-December 3, D~rtmouth Coll ege February 25-May 20, 2012 20 1"1 ; Universit y ofM i c hi g~ n Museum of 1-l ~ n over, New 1-l ~ mp s hire 03755 Art: Febru ary 25-May 20, 2012. ww\v. hood n1u se u n1.da rtmou th .edu ISBN-13: 978-0-226-03359-4 (pbk. : alk . Ed ited by Nils Nadeau and paper) Designed by Glenn Suokko ISBN-10: 0-226-03359-7 (pbk. : alk. The Unive rsit y ofC hi c~go Press, Printed by Capit~ l O ffset Co mp~n y p~p e r ) l. Flu xus (Group of ~rtis t s)­ C hi c~go 60637 T he following images are photographed .Ex hibitions. 2. Art, Modern-20th The Unive rsity ofChi c~go Press, Ltd. , by Jeffrey Nintzel: cover, fro ntispiece, century-Exhibitions. I. Baa s, Jacquelynn , London ca talogue numbers 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 1948- II. Hood Muse um of Art. 13, 15, 17, 22, 26, 30, 31, 32, 34, 35, 36, N6494. F55F57 2011 © 20.11 by T he Trustees of 37, 42 , 46, 52, 55 , 56, 59, 63,64, 65, 70, 709.04'60747423-dc22 Dartmouth Coll ege 72, 73, 74, 78, 79, 80, 85, 90, 93, 96, 102, All rights reserved. Published 2011. 106, 107, 11 0, Ill , 11 2, 1"13, 116 2010051 925 Every effort h ~s been m~d e to identify Cover and b~ c k cover: Flux Year Box 2, This paper meets the requirements of ~ nd l oc~ t e th e ri ghtful copyri ght holder 1966, fi ve-compartment wooden box ANSI/ NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of of a llm~t e ri ~ l not s p ec ifi c~ ll y containing work by various artists . Hood Paper). commissio ned for use in this p ubli c~ ti o n Museum of Art, Dartmouth Coll ege, and to secure pennission , w here George Maciunas Memori~ l Collection: applica ble, for rem e of ~ II such materi al: Purchased through the Wi lliam S. Rubin Any error, 01ni ss ion, or £1 ilure to obtain Fund; GM.987.44.2 (ca t. 6) authori za tion with res pect to 1nateri al copyrighted by other sources has been Frontispiece: George M~ c iuna s, Btuglnry either un~void~bl e or unint e nti o n~l. Fl uxkit , 1971 , seven-compartment The editors ~nd publishers welcome ~ n y pl ast ic box containing seven keys. info rm ~ tion th~t would ~ ll ow them to Hood Muse um of Art, D~rt m ou th correct future reprints. College, George Maciunas Memori al Coll ec tion: Gift of the Friedman Family; GM.986.80 .1 64 (c~t. 22) © Courtesy of Billie Maciun ~s Contents Lenders to the Exhibition vii Preface ix Juliette Bianco Acknowled gments x iii Jacquelynn Baas I. Introducti on 1 Jacquelynn Baas 2. Food: The R aw and the Fluxed 13 H annah Higgins 3. George M aciunas's Politics o f Aesthetics 23 J acob Proctor 4. Flu xus: A Laboratory of Ideas 35 Ken Friedman CATALOGUE OF THE EXHIBIT ION 45 5. Flux us and the Essential Questi o ns of Life 4 7 Jacquelynn Baas Art (What's It Good Fo r)? 47 C hange? 49 D anger? 52 D eath? 55 Freedom ? 56 God? 59 H appiness? 60 H ealth? 64 Love? 66 N o thingness? 70 Sex? 71 Staying Alive? 74 Time? 76 What A m I? 79 Illustrated List ofW orks 85 Selected Bibliography 131 • • • • • f • • • • • f • • f 4 Fluxus: A Laboratory of Ideas Ken Friedman In 1979, H arry Rube labeled Fluxus " the most into contac t w ith one another. The peripatetic radical and experimental art movement of the George Maciunas managed to meet many of sixties ." 1 In those days, few believed him. Three those w ho would cohere into Fluxus in the ea rl y decades later, more people might feei this to be 1960s. H e had been trying to create an avant­ o, but few could say why. We might answer that ga rd e art gallery named AG that was already question ftrst by noting that experimentati on is nearl y bankrupt on the day it opened. N ext, ultimately marked by qualities that emerge in a he wanted to publish a magazine-really an laboratory, sc ientific or otherwise. In this essay I encyclopedia of sorts-documenting the most will exa mine Fluxus as an international labora­ adva nced art, m usic, literature, film, and design tory of ideas- a meeting ground and workplace work being done anywhere in the world. George for artists, composers, designers, and architects, as had an ambitious plan for va rious interlocking well as economists, mathemati cians, ballet danc­ editorial boards and publishing committees, but ers, chefs, and even a wou ld-be theologian. W e it never ca me to fruition. (H e was better at plan­ ca me from three continents-Asia, Europe, and ning than he was at fundraising or lea dership.) N orth America. At first, many critics and artists By 1962, George was in Germany, developing a labeled us charl atans; the general public ignored series of festivals for the· public presentation of us. Later they ca ll ed us artists; ftn ally they saw us work that he pl anned to publish in the magazine as pioneers of one kind or another. The concep­ he still had on the back burner. The magazine tual challenge of this essay by a Flux us insider, was to have been called Flu x us, so the festiva l was then, lies in trying to identify just what kind of ca ll ed Flu x us. piOn. eers we were..­ Nine artists and composers ca me together Emerging from a community that bega n in in Wiesbaden to perform: Dick Higgins, Ali­ the 1950s,3 Fluxus had gained its name and its son Knowles, Addi K0pcke, George Maciunas, identity by 1962. In different pl aces on different N am June Paik, Benj amin Patterson , Wolf continents, meetings, friendships, and relation­ Vo stell , Karl Erik Welin, and Emmett Williams. ships brought va rious constell ations of people The German press liked the name of the fe ti­ val and bega n referring to the Wiesbaden nine Opposite: as die Flu x us leute-"the Flux us people"- and Ken Friedman, A Fl11x Corsage, 1966-76, clea r plastic box wi th the name stuck.4 Other artists became associated paper label on lid containing seeds. Hood Museum of Art, Dan­ mouth College, George Ma ciunas Memori al Coll ection: Gift of with Flux us through contac t w ith members of the Friedman Fami ly; GM.986.80.40 9 (ca t. 17). this burgeoning international ava nt-garde com­ books. The resulting chart offers an overview of munity, including such varied prac titioners as the "who was who (and where)" ofFluxus over a Joseph Beuys, H enning Christiansen, Robert thirty-year period.10 Filliou, Bengt af Klintberg, Willem de Ridder, The study suggested a consensus of opin­ and Ben Vautier.