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Review: Fluxus Revised and RevisitedAuthor(s): Elizabeth Beckman and Jonathan ApplefieldSource: Art Journal, Vol. 58, No. 3 (Autumn, 1999), pp. 100-102Published by: College Art AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/777864

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Fluxus Revised and

Revisited

Elizabeth Beckman and

jonathan Applefield

Joan Marter, ed. Off Limits:Rutgers

University and the Avant-Garde,

1957-1963. Exh. cat. Newark: The Newark

Museum and New Brunswick:Rutgers

University Press, i999. Essays by Simon

Anderson,Joseph Jacobs, JacksonLears,

Marter, Kristine Stiles. 199 pp., 31 color

ills., 80 b/w. $60, $30 paper.

Emmett Williams and Ann Noel, eds.

MR. FLUXUS:A Collective Portrait of

George Maciunas, 1931-1978. London:

Thames and Hudson, 1997. 352 pp., b/w

ills. $34.95.

Ken Friedman, ed. The Fluxus Reader.

Chichester,England: Academy Editions,

1998. Essays by Friedman,Owen Smith,

Simon Anderson, HannahHiggins, Ina

Blom, David T. Doris, CraigSaper,Estera

Milman, Stephen C. Foster, Nicholas

Zurbrugg,LarryMiller, SusanL.Jarosi,

Dick Higgins. 309 pp.

The "RutgersCircle"-George Brecht,

RobertWatts, Robert Whitman, Roy

Lichtenstein,Allan Kaprow, LucasSamaras,

George Segal, and Geoffrey Hendricks--was the subject of OffLimits:Rutgers niversityand heAvantGarde, 957-1963,an exhibition

organized by the Newark Museum this

spring. Curatedby Joseph Jacobs, this was

one of the most challenging exhibitions in

years-for the curator and visitors alike. At

a time when museums seek to prioritizeentertainment over education, the exhibi-

tion entertained and educated simultane-

ously. It became a funhouse of Fluxus,

Pop, Happenings, and whatever category

in which one places Samaras'swork. At

moments it effectively reanimated the origi-nal concept of the art on display, while at

others, the work remained "off limits"--

preserved as documents of the past.

Brecht's Solitaire 1959), a game consist-

ing of twenty-seven playing cards with

instructions, was displayed in a vitrine. A

facsimile of the original deck sat on a table

for anyone to play. For fifty cents one

could buy a book of Watts's stamps from

his StampMachine1962). Whitman's Shower

(1962), an assemblage of running water,

transparent hower curtain, and projectedfilm footage of a woman bathing, created

a new sense of voyeurism for viewers. An

index finger pointed visitors from one sec-tion or "event" of the exhibition to the

next. A trademarkof Fluxus typography,the finger made reference to the sign

painter's detail in MarcelDuchamp's Tu m'

(1918). This sign has been interpretedas

representingthe declarative,performative

act of seeing, naming, and redefining the

found object.' This is precisely what manyof the works in the exhibition did as these

artistsrealized Duchamp's concepts to their

fullest extent.

Some of the work was "off limits."

While one would not think of touchinga canvas such as LookMickey1961),

Lichtenstein'sfirst comic strip painting,

everyone loves to play with games. Watts's

FrogGame(i96o), a mechanized assemblagethat resembled a pinball game with wind-

up toys and blinking lights, was embalmed

in a museum case. The game's coiled-upelectricalcord laid dead just inches from

the wall outlet that could give the toy-artlife. One could read the instructionsbut

no longer play the game. Another inactiveinteractivepiece was Brecht'sRepository

(1961). Although the artistoriginally in-

tended for viewers to replace the shelved

objects with substitutes of their own

choice, it too was installed in a museum

case. On the occasion of an exhibition of a

similarwork, Medicine hest(i96o), Brecht

wrote to the curator, "It is within the spiritof the work that (as in life in general)

parts may be lost, broken, spilled, stolen,

replaced, contributed, soiled, cleaned, con-

structed, destroyed."2'But in both FrogGame

and Repository,nly the visual pleasure of

the work remained, and the original con-

cept of play was short-circuited.Kaprow side-stepped this problem by

"reinventing"one of his early Environ-

ments. BeautyParlor V (i958/99), originally

made in 1958 for the Hansa Gallery,was

reinvented before, in 1991at the Fonda-

zione Mudima, Milan.3 In its Newark rein-

vention, the Environmentgave viewers the

feeling of being in an arcadewith clear

plastic walls, mirrors, and colored lights.For two dollars, one could step into one

of four photobooths for a snapshot while

wearing one of the funhouse

masks borrowed from a nearbyrack. Visitors could then hangtheir self-portraitson the wall.

Most of the Happeningsand Eventswere presented

through documentation con-

sisting of photographs, hand-

written sketches, notebooks,

score cards, and film. There

was a large section dedicatedto

the Yam Festival, the year-longseries of Events, Happenings,

exhibitions, and mailings orga-

nized by Watts and Brecht in1962-63; a new documentary on Whitman's

American oon(i96o); and audio recordingsfrom John Cage's famous classes at the

New School (1957-59). This solid and visu-

ally attractivehistorical presentationwas

not as much fun or as edifying as experi-

encing Brecht'sMotorVehicleundownEvent)

(I96o), which the New Jersey Symphony

Orchestraperformed at the closing of the

exhibition across the street in WashingtonPark.LarryMiller, the Fluxus artist and

former student of Watts, conducted.

RobertWatts. Table orSuicideEvent(detail),1961. Painted wood table,ink drawing collage,various objects. 34%x

30Yx 27X (88 x 78. x

69.9). Courtesy RobertWatts Estate. Photo

LarryMiller.

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Not since Blam:TheExplosionf Pop,

Minimalism Performance958-i964, the ex-

hibition and catalogue prepared by the

Whitney Museum of AmericanArt in 1984,

has such an extensive, well illustrated cata-

logue charted this aestheticallydiverse

period. It contains interviews with six of

the artistsin the exhibition and one withLettyLou Eisenhauer,in which the work

of Watts and Brecht is discussed. The inter-

views primarilyfocus on the artists' con-

nection with Rutgersand their relation-

ships with one another. Jacobsprovidesan essay that relates Cage's classes and his

1958 lecture at Rutgersto the art in the

exhibition. The catalogue also includes

a serviceablebibliography, an extensive

chronology, and a number of previously

unpublished black-and-white and color

photographs. An important coda to the

publication is "Project n Multiple Dimen-sions" (i957), a previously unpublished

proposal by Watts, Brecht, and Kaprow

outlining a program for art education that

foregrounds multimedia, new technology,and scientific methods in studio practice.

However, one flaw in the presentation

(especially evident in the catalogue) is the

role with which Rutgersis credited in

the formation of the artists' experimental

approachesto art. In fact, the progressive

teaching at the school was less the productof a philosophy endorsed by the adminis-

tration than the fortuitous arrival of newfaculty consisting of Kaprow, Hendricks,

Watts, and Lichtenstein. It sometimes

sounds as if an act of nostalgic romanti-

cization or institutional boosterism takes

place here. One reason for this is to

strengthen the exhibition's raison d'etre--that is, to unify the eight players featured.

The catalogue's editor, Joan Marter,re-

prints a lengthy excerpt from Kaprowto

add some local color to the "stimulatingambiance on the New Brunswickcampus"

(2). But this excerpt is more interesting

for what she omits: "The university wassunken in poetic indifference, in a blank

sleep preserved by campus dons and ladies'

clubs .... Ironically, Rutgers was the cata-

lyst in all this, in spite of itself. For the

record, it never encouraged, and often

opposed, what we were doing in that for-

lorn place."* Thus, it was ironic that Book,

originally a part of Samaras'sM.A. thesis,

was included in the exhibition. The admin-

istrationwished to censor it, since it con-

tained language they found unacceptable,

but Kaprowardently interceded on his stu-

dent's behalf. Samaraseventually received

his degree, but Kaprow, passed over for

tenure shortly afterwards,left Rutgers.Thisis all paradoxical considering the cataloguemakes repeated comparisons between

Rutgersand Black Mountain College.Mr.Fluxus: CollectiveortraitfGeorge

Maciunas,ompiled and edited by three

Fluxus insiders, EmmettWilliams, Ann

No6l, and Ay-O, gathers in kaleidoscopic

fashion reflections and primarydocuments

from seventy different voices that bringto life the idiosyncratic, amazingly prolific

characterwho was the prime engine of

Fluxus. From Yoko Ono to the Deputy

AssistantAttorney General of New York,from KateMillet to the artist'sown mother,

a truly collective portraitunfolds as easilyand amusingly as if one were listening in

on a party line. This is not only due to the

content of the contributions, but also the

way they are arranged.The reader'stactile

senses are aroused as one shuttles back

and forth to the index to find the author

of each entry. LikeTristanTzaraor Andre

Breton, Maciunas'spersona has become the

subject of caricature,but this polyphonic

approach grounds the better known images

and anecdotes in a meaningful context,illuminated by first-handimpressions byintimate friends, colleagues, and occasional

foes.

The three hundred entries (usually no

more than a few paragraphseach), are

arrangedin thematic and chronological

chapters. They take the reader from "The

Old Country" (Maciunaswas Lithuanian)and "TheEuropeanFestivals" to "SeeingRed" (on Maciunas'spolitics), "Don

Quixote in SoHo" (his pioneering role in

establishing artistsco-operatives in SoHo)

and "Leaky Dreamboats" (his plans to "setup a Fluxus island, a colony, you know,

like a real country, with a United Nations

delegation and all that" [221]). These

last two chapters show the breadth of

Maciunas's idealism. "His achievement was

not only Fluxus, but also Soho," writes

Nam June Paik (194). This development

R e v i e w s

of "Hell's ioo Acres" (the fire depart-

ment's term for pre-artist colonized Soho)

is thoroughly documented with Maciunas

as primogenitor. It is he we may thank for

"illegally"planting the first trees in front

of 8o Wooster Street.

There are

humorous,touching, and

even tragicmoments in the

story as well,

which help to

explain the look and attitude of Fluxus in

general, as well as the personalrelation-

ships that defined the group. For instance,

one gains a sense of Maciunas's aesthetic

predilections in the midst of his legal

imbroglio over taxes with the Attorney

General's Office. His reply to bureaucracy:

a "Flux-fortress(for keeping away the mar-shals & police: various unbreakable doors

with giant cutting blades facing out ...trick doors and ceiling hatches, filled or

backed with white powder, liquids, smellyextracts" [i85]). Such gags are in keepingwith many of the humorous boxes he pro-duced under the Fluxus imprimatur. (Years

later, he would construct a similar Flux

Labyrinthat the Akademieder Kiinstein

Berlin). Another example of the relation

of his personal life to Fluxus history is the

way his friends joined Maciunas in his last

months of fighting cancer, assemblingmore Fluxus boxes to raise much needed

money for his medical bills.

The most valuable aspect of this liter-

ary portraitcomes not from anecdotes or

historical facts, but from the more intangi-ble aspects of his art that one gleans from

Maciunas'stemperament, mannerisms, per-sonal habits, tastes, and obsessions. His

penchant for cleanliness, drive for system-atic organization, compulsive thriftiness,

and love of practical jokes extended far

beyond the confines of his life to infuse

every aspect of Fluxus. All boundariesbetween personal biography and Fluxus

seem to collapse, making Mr.Fluxus n illu-

minating account not only of Maciunas the

man, but a window into the larger concep-tual and aesthetic field he dominated.

Fluxus is further explored in TheFluxus

Reader,dited by longtime Fluxus chronicler

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Ken Friedman. It is a collection of twelve

essays and two interviews by art historians

and other scholars (including one

"Fluxkid"-Hannah Higgins) and three

Fluxus artists,LarryMiller, the late Dick

Higgins, and Friedman himself. Most of

the selections focus on the frequentlyasked

question, What is Fluxus? While it mustbe admitted that the literature dedicated

to this difficult subject is dominated byexhaustive inventories of people, places,and events, ratherthan any criticalanalysesof the actual works of the artists, few

essays here offer original interpretations.The anthology begins with "Three

Histories" that rely heavily on primarysources. The essays explore whether Fluxus

was a movement, its similarities and differ-

ences from Dada, and other academic con-

cerns. Although useful as a chronology

of performancesand publicationswith a

description of group polemics, this section

presents an evisceratedhistory, with noth-

ing more than a list of events describingthe circumstancessurroundingvarious

Fluxuspieces. Predictablebows to Maciunas

and Cage complete a compendium of

superficialinformation.

Thankfully,Ina Blom's "Boredom and

Oblivion" picks up the pace. She exploresmore than the usual erasureof boundaries

between life and art that writers so often

talk about without saying anything sub-

stantial. Instead of dropping Cage's namewith the typical historical information that

he was key to the avant-garde n the late

i95os, Blom discusses the central difficul-

ties Cage's theories presented to the Fluxus

artist. For instance, she illustrateshow

Paik and Dick Higgins probed into change,

chance, and variation strategiesthat became

foundations for many Fluxus artists. She

also examines why an artistwould pur-

posely explore a concept as apparentlydull

as a melting ice cube. This discussion is

in relation to Brecht'sinterpretationof the

law of thermodynamics "as just a summa-tion of a very large number of individual

chance events" (71). She examines the

meaning of boredom in a Fluxus work,

explaining how it is a catalyst to fade the

work into the environment-destroying

boundaries.

Two other essays worth mentioning

are Dick Higgins's "Fluxus:Theory and

Reception" and Friedman's "Fluxus and

Company." Higgins demonstrates what

Fluxus borrowed and rejected from three

avant-gardemovements: Futurism,Dada (a

comparison he finds "extremely annoying"

[218]), and Surrealism.Significantly,he

analyzes how a Fluxuspiece affects a par-

ticipant. He concludes that the more an

audience interactsin or with a Fluxus

work, the more enjoyment it will experi-ence. According to Higgins, an essential

part of being Fluxus is not catering to col-

lectors, gallerists,and museum curators.

The most interesting part of the essay man-

ifests itself when Higgins asks who can be

a Fluxus artist;he even mentions criteria

for new Fluxus artists to follow, suggestingthat Fluxus is not dead. Friedman also

addressesthis endlessly argued polemic.

Some historians end Fluxus with the deathof Maciunas.They ignore the "twelve core

issues that can be termed the basic ideas

of Fluxus" (244), which Friedman defines

meticulously. He insinuates that Fluxus

is an evolving entity: "it has undergonea continuous process of co-creation and

renewal for four decades," and he contin-

ues to say, "We are still here" (253).

If after all this, you remain at a loss as

to the question of "What is Fluxus?"read

Miller's "MaybeFluxus (A Para-

InterrogativeGuide for the Neoteric

Transmuter,Tinder, Tinkerand Totalist),"arrangedas a series of twenty-three scenar-

ios. Miller takes on important philosophical

quagmires that puzzle us all, such as,

"Maybe you wonder if there is a certain

attire for Fluxperformance-should you

get any common worker's uniform, get

nude, get a tuxedo and gown, cross-dress

or simply come-as-you-are?" (212). Or

more imperatively: "Maybeyou think

Fluxus, dead-or-alive, is just neo-Dada-

should we therefore anticipateeither a

post-appropriationism or a post-plagiarism

with the appearance of neo-Fluxus?"Not surprisingly, The FluxusReader

concludes with a hefty thirty-eight page

chronology of events. While useful for

checking a date or location, such invento-

ries, an unfortunate commonplace in

Fluxus literature, tend to deaden the sub-

ject and dampen reader interest. The book

does come alive, however, when put

alongside the two other publications under

review. Takentogether, catalogue (admit-

tedly with its broader focus), biography,and anthology offer a well-rounded historyof Fluxus.

I. BenjaminH. D.

Buchloh, "ReadyMade, ObjetTrouv6, Idle ReCue,"n Dissent: TheIssueofModernArt nBoston(Boston: Institute of

Contemporary Art, 1985), 107-22.

2. George Brecht, "Notes on Shippingand

ExhibitingMedicine Cabinet,"November 16,1961, artist's file, The Museumof Modern Art,New York.

3. AllanKaprow,"Introduction o a Theory," in

G. DiMaggio,ed., bullshit01 (Milan:MulthiplaEdizioni, 1991).4. AllanKaprow,in 10 FromRutgers, xh. cat

(New York: BianchiniGallery, 1965), 3.

ElizabethBeckman is an artist and art historian

who teaches at the National Museum of the

American Indian,Smithsonian Institution,New

York.JonathanApplefield (Columbia University,M.A., 1991: M.Phil.,1993) is a Research and

WritingAssociate at the Whitney Museum of

American Art, New York.

102 FALL 1999