// P E R F O R M A N C E   A R T  |  F L U X U S //

Fluxus is an international group of musicians, artists, designers, poets and creators who shaped themselves in the 1960s and 70s. Describer by art critic Harry Ruhé as “the most radical and experimental art movement of the sixties”, it is known for its experimental nature and ability to expand and evolve. Generating a variety of new art forms that were created by Fluxus artists such as intermedia, concept art and video art this movement gave way to a whole wave of new art forms. Three main continents were involved in this dramatic and historic movement; Asia, Europe and North America. “Performance events” were a large part of this artistic movement and lead on to a series of pieces created world wide which eventually became time-based design. The main notion is that one should embark on an artwork without a conception of its final form. There must always be a relationship between the audience and artist ad the finished product is only a snapshot of the entire process of creation. This process of creation was valued highly over the finished product itself. It was actually George Maciunas, a co-founder of this fluid movement, who eventually coined the name Fluxus in 1961 to title a proposed magazine. Meanwhile Marcel Duchamp, a french artist, was a large influence for this movement focusing mainly on the ‘readymades’ he created.

These ‘readymades’ created by Marcel Duchamp were ordinarily manufactured objects that were selected and then modified by the artist. He self-labeled the process “retinal art”. By choosing a object, or selection of such pieces, repositioning, titling and signing the piece; it became art.

Above: Ray Johnson setting up a moticos installation, autumn 1955 and Suzi Gablik surrounded by the same pieces.

Ray Johnson’s early performance art was created through interactive installations which could then be represented through photography. Above is one of these first performances which took place in the autumn of 1955 and featured a variety of his moticos pieces in a street installation.

Many experimental artists of the 60s took part in the Fluxus movement either through the creation of their own art or through their participation in other’s performance pieces. Examples of artists who joined into with these Fluxus activities inclue: Joseph Beuys, George Brecht, Robert Filliou, Al Hansen, Dick Higgins, Bengt af Klintberg, Alison Knowles, Addi Køpcke, Yoko Ono, Nam June Paik, Daniel Spoerri, and Wolf Vostell.

The varied nature of the Fluxus movement involved a community of friends who would work and create together and maintain the movement as an idea. There were many different ideas about art and its role within society however which caused some debate. One co-founder actually proposed a manifesto for the way Fluxus was defined but none of the other artists agreed with it leaving the part in a varied and undefined state. Many artists didn’t even consider Fluxus to be a movement at all so instead it became a loose but robust community which earned  a name for itself through experimentation.