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03-26-10

FLUXUSFRIDAY: Flux Film No. 14 “One” (1966)

Flux Film No. 14 “One” (1966) by Yoko Ono

03-22-10

Michigan – Land of Riches

On Saturday, Riva and I went to Grand Rapids to check out the old Grand Rapids Public Museum in order to prepare for the upcoming show there. I wasn’t even intending to be in the show until I saw the space and then I couldn’t help myself. I will be posting more information here about the project I will have in the show once it is underway. Hope to see you at the opening!

03-19-10

FLUXUSFRIDAY: “#2 Proposition” (1962)

#2 Proposition (1962) by Alison Knowles

Make a salad.

Premired October 21st, 1962 at Institute for Contemporary Arts in London.

03-19-10

Fluxus with Tools

Last night Riva and I made our way into Detroit to see FLUXUS founding member, Alison Knowles, and her scholar daughter, Hannah Higgins, give a lecture/performance entitled “Fluxus with Tools.” I didn’t know quite what to expect, but hoped there would be food involved and I was not disappointed.

Knowles’ classic FLUXUS score “#2 Proposition (1962)” acted as the structure for the piece, which she performed while Higgins interrupted with interjections alternating between reflexive commentary and FLUXUS score interpretation. As a viewer/participant I felt my position alternating between engrossed and removed, challenged to look closer at the mundane actions performed on stage and challenged yet again to analyze them . I was in between surrendering my ego and enjoying the performance and pondering. As Higgins and Knowles cycled through various “hits” from the FLUXUS back catalog I couldn’t help but think that this event was both the perfect primer to FLUXUS and a refreshing reminder to any who many regard the FLUXUS artists as their kinfolk.

My seminar professor, Danielle Abrams, was invited on stage to help distribute bowls of salad and I was later treated to a spaghetti sandwich by Higgins. Riva and I were also able to salvage the chewed up piece of paper ejected from Knowles’ mouth following a particular performance. The event last night was a wonderful experience and it has inspired the idea for a new weekly series I will be posting to my blog. Each week I will be pulling some score, video, or other digital ephemera from the FLUXUS archives and posting it here. I hope that those reading will treat it as a message to carry along with them, like a feather in their cap.

More pictures after the jump…

03-17-10

Open Engagement 2010

Open Engagement is a conference for artists with a socially-based practice.

Yesterday, Riva and I booked train tickets aboard the Amtrack Empire Builder from Chicago to Portland, Oregon to get us to the Open Engagement Conference. I am so ridiculously excited to attend the conference and meet other artists with a socially-based practice that you can’t even imagine it.

I can remember when I first started doing socially-based works as an undergrad, but felt really confused at the same time. I wasn’t sure if what I was doing and what I wanted to do was even considered art. All I knew for sure was that it felt more real than anything else creative I had ever done. I began to look for other examples in the past of artists creating social artworks and came across FLUXUS. It was an awakening. I realized not only was I not alone as a social artist, but there were actually tons of people who thought the way I did, and some of them are really amazing!

On a related note, I will be heading to the Detroit Institute of Art tomorrow night to see Alison Knowles and Hannah Higgins give a lecture/performance. I am super psyched about that as well. I’ll report back on Friday with my thoughts on their presentation.