We’re excited to share that Activating Fluxus, Expanding Conservation, edited by Hanna B. Hölling, Aga Wielocha, and Josephine Ellis, is now published open access and freely available to read online.
The book is a major outcome of our multi-year research project, and the first to focus specifically on the care and preservation of Fluxus works. Bringing together new perspectives on how Fluxus continues to live, change, and circulate, it rethinks conservation as a practice that is not only technical but also interpretive and generative, with contributions from an international group of scholars, conservators, curators and artists.
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About the Book
Fluxus radically transformed artistic practice by challenging the entrenched preconception that artworks endure, unchanged and confined to a singular physical manifestation. Moving beyond conventional, object-based approaches, this interdisciplinary volume brings together artists, scholars, conservators and curators from diverse cultural and theoretical perspectives to explore how the ephemeral, participatory and intermedial forms of Fluxus demand an expanded vision of conservation—one grounded in activation. By reframing conservation as a critical, decolonial and creative inquiry, Activating Fluxus, Expanding Conservation redefines Fluxus as a living force continually remade through acts of care, interpretation and participation. It ultimately calls for a fundamental shift in how we preserve, interpret and transmit the experimental art practices of the recent past.
Offering fresh ways to engage with the legacy of Fluxus through the intersecting lenses of conservation, art history, performance studies and museology, this book will appeal to academics and students across these fields, as well as to curators and practitioners invested in the futures of contemporary art.
Contributing Authors
The book features contributions from Eric Andersen, Bengt af Klintberg, Kit Brooks, Philip Corner, Josephine Ellis, Ken Friedman, Marcus Gossolt, Hanna B. Hölling, Maggie Hire, Hannah B Higgins, Rasmus Holmboe, Danielle Johnson, Magnus Kaslov, Sally Kawamura, Kate Lewis, Ann Noël, Emilie Parendeau, Patrizio Peterlini, Peter Oleksik, Mieko Shiomi, Inbal Strauss, Ben Vautier and Aga Wielocha
Want a print copy?
Hardback copies are available to purchase here (shipping from January 22).
Fluxus Fête (February 26-28)
The book will be presented during our project’s grand finale, Fluxus Fête, taking place in Bern and Zürich. Join us! More details about the Fête are available here.
Activating Fluxus 