Cross Cultural Intermediation of Fluxus.

Essay by fcinfinityUniversity, Bachelor'sA+, November 2003

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Cross Cultural Intermediation of Fluxus

Fluxus was a fascinating interdisciplinary and international arts movement that began in the 1960s. George Maciunas, a graphic artist, gallery director and small time entrepreneur, coined the name "Fluxus". He used the actual dictionary definition of "flux" to define the group. Flux is defined in the dictionary as the act of a flowing; a continuous moving on or passing by, as of a flowing stream; a continuous succession of changes. The definition suited the group so perfectly that Maciunas adopted it. Fluxus was once called 'the most radical and experimental art movement of the sixties' (39, Reader) said Saper. Flux Art "strive for nonstructural, non-theatrical, nonbaroque, impersonal qualities of a simple, natural event, an object, a game, a puzzle, or a gag," (40, Reader) said Saper. The movement began in the fifties with a group of New York art students experimenting with chance techniques and resurrecting the past traditions of such experiments.

Many of these students were involved with John Cage's Experimental Music Class held at the New School for Social Research in Greenwich Village between 1958 and 1960.

Movements away from traditional forms of art making were international, and even as early as the 1950s artists started collaborating and even forming groups. "Most important to mention in this respect is Gutai from Japan, New Realism in France, and Fluxus, which, significantly, did not have a specific location," said Chen (www.tribes.org/reviews/psitconcerns.html). Communication technologies had already started to spread the influence of artists on each other across borders. Two influential members of the Fluxus group were Nam June Paik and Yoko Ono. The ladder made the transition from music to the visual arts through John Cage whom he met in 1958 while attending a course on music. Paik moved to the United States in 1964 and...