Fluxus

In the summer of 1958, John Cage (46) began teching a course in musical composition at the New School for Social Research, New York. His course brought together, as guest lecturers and pupils, a number of personalities who would be crucial to the development of what would later become known as Fluxus. Apart from Cage, those in attendance included George Brecht's first husband).

December 1960 - June 1961: La Monte Young organises a series of performances and concerts in Yoko Ono's New York studio.

March-June 1961: George Maciunas (30) helds three lecture/demonstrations, entitled "Musica Antiqua et Nova", at his own AG Gallery. On the invitation card appeared the message "a 3-dollar contribution will help to publish Fluxus magazine". This is the first recorded appearance of the name. (Source: Steward Home, 1988)

November 1961: Maciunas is sent to Germany as graphic designer for the US Air Force. In Europe, he makes contact with Nam June Paik (29) and Wolf Vostell (29).

September 1962: "The Fluxus International Festival of Very New Music" takes place in Wiesbaden, West Germany (fourteen concerts staged over four weekends). "Le mouvement naissant Fluxus donne quatorze concerts / happenings à Wiesbaden. Des musiciens professionnels, refusant de jouer la musique qu'on leur propose, sont remplacés par des artistes qui aussitôt composent trois heures de musique "antiviolon" (scène célèbre dans laquelle Dick Higgins, George Maciunas, Ben Patterson, Wolf Vostell, Emmett Williams détruisent un piano à queue)."

Maciunas was unable to attend the "Festival of Misfits" in London (Gallery One and Institute of Contemporary Arts, 23rd October - 8th November 1962) and critics are divided over wether it should count as an official fluxus event.

3-8 décembre 1962: Premier Festival Fluxus à l'American Student's & Artist's Center, à Paris : Poésie, musique et antimusique événementielle et concrète. Sont programmées des oeuvres musicales de George Maciunas (In Memoriam to Adriano, Solo for ukulele et Solo for mouth and microphone), de Nam June Paik (One for violin solo, Serenade for Alison), de Wolf Vostell (Décollage Musique "Kleenex"), de Robert Filliou (Poi Poi Symphony numéro 2 et Père Lachaise numéro 10), ainsi qu'une sélection de films de Nam June Paik. Parallèlement, Jean-Jacques Lebel crée le premier Atelier de la Libre Expression à l'American Student's & Artist's Center de Paris. Cette initiative contribuera à favoriser des échanges futurs entre artistes français et américains.

The "Festival of Misfits" was followed by concerts in Copenhagen, Paris, Düsseldorf, Amsterdam, the Hague and Nice.

February 1963: It was at the Düsseldorf event that Josef Beuys (43) first involved himself with the fluxus movement.

1969: "Fantastic Architeture" is edited by Wolf Vostell of a decade before.")

1976: "The Flux-labyrinth exhibited at the Berlin Akademie der Kunst (5 September - 17 October) is conceptually close to the aborted Situationist plan of 1959-60 for building a labyrinth in the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam" (Steward Home, p.58)

Sources:

HOME, Stewart (1988): "The Assault on Culture: Utopian Currents from Lettrisme to Class War", Stirling (UK):AK Press, 1991 (second edition, first published by Aporia Press and Unpopular Books, 1988) ISBN 1-873176-30-9 (paperback)

http://www.newmedia-art.org/francais/histoire.htm

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