All items copyright 2012 Mary Cartledgehayes
Showing posts with label FLUXUS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FLUXUS. Show all posts
Friday, March 30, 2012
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Rule no. 0873
I was reading over at the Ontological Museum this morning in the 4,040 Rules of Art Conduct and happened upon the following. Pin it to your mirror and repeat it to yourself each morning.
RULE NO. 0873 - If it makes your mother nervous, you may be on to something. If it makes you nervous, you're there. (Fortunata56@aol.com)
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Fluxus with Tools, or Bon Appetit
I'm just in from the Speed Art Museum and a performance/lecture by Fluxus artist Alison Knowles and her daughter, historian Hanna Higgins. They presented this piece in Berlin; and Alison did a not-at-all-similar-but-it-sounds-as-though-it-is salad making at the Tate Modern earlier this year -- but this was the first North American presentation.
The evening began with Alison using a pair of scissors to cut in half the jacket Hannah was wearing. This was based on a 1965 Fashion Event by Milan Knizak:
Cut a coat along its entire length.
Wear each half separately.
In the context of a Fluxus event, food is often a tool, as in in a piece by Alison Knowles:
Proposition.
Make a salad.
1962.
So there she was, chopping lettuce while wearing the left half of a rust-colored jacket that from my vantage point looked to be corduroy. Throughout the performance, with a few interruptions, she continued to chop, cut, slice, shake, and otherwise manipulate the makings of a salad. Hannah was the primary reader, but she also took part in ...
Dick Higgins
Danger Music #15
Work with butter and eggs for a time
1962.
And that's what Hannah did. She worked with butter and eggs, mostly directly in front of a microphone. You could hear the crack of the egg, the slide into the bowl, the crinkle of paper being pulled back from butter. A counterpoint was the crack of the knife against the cutting board as Alison sliced tomatos.
They moved on to George Brecht.
Drip Music (2nd Version)
Drippings.
1959.
Hannah poured/dripped water from one container to another. Alison was grinding pepper to start but then began to shake the bottle of vinegar and oil. Shake shake shake. A taste. And then she poured a bit into the bottom of the bowl ("French style," she said).
And so it continued, and if you weren't there hearing the step-by-step probably gives you no more information than I've already written. Because, of course, the doing is the meaning, not the structure as written out on my laptop. But here's one story Alison told:
Diderot would get a frame with a glass front and fill it with the makings of fondue. Somebody bought one, took it home, and, some time later, got in touch with Diderot to say it had begun to smell. To which Diderot replied, "You've enjoyed the work. You paid for it. You have every right to throw it away."
Thus Fluxus.
The evening began with Alison using a pair of scissors to cut in half the jacket Hannah was wearing. This was based on a 1965 Fashion Event by Milan Knizak:
Cut a coat along its entire length.
Wear each half separately.
In the context of a Fluxus event, food is often a tool, as in in a piece by Alison Knowles:
Proposition.
Make a salad.
1962.
So there she was, chopping lettuce while wearing the left half of a rust-colored jacket that from my vantage point looked to be corduroy. Throughout the performance, with a few interruptions, she continued to chop, cut, slice, shake, and otherwise manipulate the makings of a salad. Hannah was the primary reader, but she also took part in ...
Dick Higgins
Danger Music #15
Work with butter and eggs for a time
1962.
And that's what Hannah did. She worked with butter and eggs, mostly directly in front of a microphone. You could hear the crack of the egg, the slide into the bowl, the crinkle of paper being pulled back from butter. A counterpoint was the crack of the knife against the cutting board as Alison sliced tomatos.
They moved on to George Brecht.
Drip Music (2nd Version)
Drippings.
1959.
Hannah poured/dripped water from one container to another. Alison was grinding pepper to start but then began to shake the bottle of vinegar and oil. Shake shake shake. A taste. And then she poured a bit into the bottom of the bowl ("French style," she said).
And so it continued, and if you weren't there hearing the step-by-step probably gives you no more information than I've already written. Because, of course, the doing is the meaning, not the structure as written out on my laptop. But here's one story Alison told:
Diderot would get a frame with a glass front and fill it with the makings of fondue. Somebody bought one, took it home, and, some time later, got in touch with Diderot to say it had begun to smell. To which Diderot replied, "You've enjoyed the work. You paid for it. You have every right to throw it away."
Thus Fluxus.
Here comes FLUXUS!
I'm having one of those moments when my interests are being fed without effort on my part. First was the chance to play a zombie onstage in Louisville's Stage One production of Night of the Living Dead. And now FLUXUS is coming to town.
Here are the details from the Speed Museum's website.
6:00 PM – University of Louisville Lecture "Fluxus with Tools, or Bon Appetit" Alison Knowles and Hannah Higgins will present a lecture-performance at the Speed Art Museum in their North American debut. Fluxus was a dynamic network of international visual artists, composers, and poets who formed a shared interest in creating individual and collective artworks that emphasized elements of chance, Cagean indeterminacy, economy (both material and conceptual), experimentalism, experiential engagement, humor, play, and a democratization of media that combined poetry, theater, music, and art. Sponsored by the Marcia Hite Lecture Endowment of the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Louisville. Admission is free. (Auditorium)
An article in the Louisville Courier-Journal by Diane Heilenman adds more details. Knowles, it turns out, was one of the original Fluxus artists; and Higgins, her daughter, is one of the foremost Fluxus scholars in the United States.
Fluxus Reader, at 300+ pages, may be able to fill any gaps in your knowledge. Or you could do what I'm doing and head for UofL this afternoon.
A second event, equally exciting, is scheduled for tomorrow night: The Art of Experience: FLUXUS works from the Collection of Michael Lowe. This exhibit is also at the University of Louisville. Call 502.852.0288 for the latest information.
The exhibits emerge from a seminar taught by Susan Jarosi at the University of Louisville. Here is her bio from UofL's website:
Susan Jarosi specializes in modern and contemporary art, critical theory, and trauma studies. Her current research projects include an edited anthology, entitled Working with Living Artists, that considers how the relationship between artists, art historians, and curators collectively shapes the discourse on contemporary art history; a book-length study that theorizes the representation of trauma in post-1945 art; and a critical monograph that examines the performance work of Austrian artist Hermann Nitsch. Dr. Jarosi was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to Austria in 2001-02 to support her research on Nitsch. She is published in The Fluxus Reader, ed. Ken Friedman (London: Academy Editions, 1998).
Just a reminder: FLUXUS is alive and well and living on the 'net (as well as in physical locations). Click on OpenFluxus on my links to find your way there.
Here are the details from the Speed Museum's website.
6:00 PM – University of Louisville Lecture "Fluxus with Tools, or Bon Appetit" Alison Knowles and Hannah Higgins will present a lecture-performance at the Speed Art Museum in their North American debut. Fluxus was a dynamic network of international visual artists, composers, and poets who formed a shared interest in creating individual and collective artworks that emphasized elements of chance, Cagean indeterminacy, economy (both material and conceptual), experimentalism, experiential engagement, humor, play, and a democratization of media that combined poetry, theater, music, and art. Sponsored by the Marcia Hite Lecture Endowment of the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Louisville. Admission is free. (Auditorium)
An article in the Louisville Courier-Journal by Diane Heilenman adds more details. Knowles, it turns out, was one of the original Fluxus artists; and Higgins, her daughter, is one of the foremost Fluxus scholars in the United States.
Fluxus Reader, at 300+ pages, may be able to fill any gaps in your knowledge. Or you could do what I'm doing and head for UofL this afternoon.
A second event, equally exciting, is scheduled for tomorrow night: The Art of Experience: FLUXUS works from the Collection of Michael Lowe. This exhibit is also at the University of Louisville. Call 502.852.0288 for the latest information.
The exhibits emerge from a seminar taught by Susan Jarosi at the University of Louisville. Here is her bio from UofL's website:
Susan Jarosi specializes in modern and contemporary art, critical theory, and trauma studies. Her current research projects include an edited anthology, entitled Working with Living Artists, that considers how the relationship between artists, art historians, and curators collectively shapes the discourse on contemporary art history; a book-length study that theorizes the representation of trauma in post-1945 art; and a critical monograph that examines the performance work of Austrian artist Hermann Nitsch. Dr. Jarosi was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to Austria in 2001-02 to support her research on Nitsch. She is published in The Fluxus Reader, ed. Ken Friedman (London: Academy Editions, 1998).
Just a reminder: FLUXUS is alive and well and living on the 'net (as well as in physical locations). Click on OpenFluxus on my links to find your way there.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Noise and the Nocturnal Emissions Crowbar
People whose cousins live in the same town don't have the kind of information gaps that I have regarding my cousins, one of whom lives in Italy, the other in Cornwall.
As it happens, I knew about Nigel and Danny's life as musicians (yes, it's true, I'm kin to the principals in Spanner through Ma Beatbox and Nocturnal Emissions) but I'd missed the involvement in mail arts until Nigel alerted me to his youtube videos about Vittore Baroni.
In this video, Nigel is the interviewer/cameraman and Danny is just visible in a couple of the shots.
As it happens, I knew about Nigel and Danny's life as musicians (yes, it's true, I'm kin to the principals in Spanner through Ma Beatbox and Nocturnal Emissions) but I'd missed the involvement in mail arts until Nigel alerted me to his youtube videos about Vittore Baroni.
In this video, Nigel is the interviewer/cameraman and Danny is just visible in a couple of the shots.
Vittore Baroni
In light of my posting about Ray Johnson, Cousin Nigel posted a comment saying I might be interested in a video he (Nigel) shot earlier this year in which he interviewed Italian artist Vittore Baroni.
After I read the comment, I found Vittore in all sorts of places. He was an early and remains an active mail artist; wrote a lucid and beautiful eulogy to Ray Johnson; engages others in conceptual conversations on Open Fluxus; and is generous and forthcoming in each of the videos Nigel taped. He also is the proud possessor of a crowbar once owned by Nocturnal Emissions.
You can purchase the photo on the right as part of a group of holiday/tarot postcards; and you might as well pop over to that site and do so while you're thinking about it. The holidays, after all, are nearly upon us.
For more information about Vittore, who has been one of the most active and respected participants in mail art since 1977, you can read this Mail Art Encyclopedia article for an overview about his life and work.
--Here, you can read a Rudd Jansen interview with Vittore
After I read the comment, I found Vittore in all sorts of places. He was an early and remains an active mail artist; wrote a lucid and beautiful eulogy to Ray Johnson; engages others in conceptual conversations on Open Fluxus; and is generous and forthcoming in each of the videos Nigel taped. He also is the proud possessor of a crowbar once owned by Nocturnal Emissions.
You can purchase the photo on the right as part of a group of holiday/tarot postcards; and you might as well pop over to that site and do so while you're thinking about it. The holidays, after all, are nearly upon us.
For more information about Vittore, who has been one of the most active and respected participants in mail art since 1977, you can read this Mail Art Encyclopedia article for an overview about his life and work.
--Here, you can read a Rudd Jansen interview with Vittore
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