Activating Fluxus
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On cc V TRE: A Retrospective View Through the Looking Glass of a Multipurpose Newspaper (1964-1979) by Mattia Cavoli
Mattia Cavoli, PhD student in Literatures, Arts, Media at the Università degli Studi dell’Aquila (Italy), reviews the Fluxus cc V Tre newspapers from their conception in 1963 by George Brecht up until their most recent republication by Printed Matter. Sixty-two years after the foundation of the “non-movement”, it is easy to appreciate how the editorial work of Fluxus…
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New Publication! Instilling Liveliness: Archives of Neo-Avant-Garde Art as Sites of Activation, by Aga Wielocha
Congratulations to Aga Wielocha, our postdoctoral fellow, on her new article “Instilling Liveliness: Archives of Neo-Avant-Garde Art as Sites of Activation”, recently published by the Journal Institute of Conservation. In this article, she explores the concept of activation in relation to the archive, with a specific focus on Ecart, an artistic collective active in the
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Hannah B Higgins: “Now That You’re Ready for the Real Thing”- Research Wednesday, May 22, 5pm CEST- join us!
We are thrilled to announce Hannah B Higgins, Professor of Intermedia and Avant-Garde Art and Culture and Founding Director of IDEAS at the University of Illinois Chicago as our speaker at the Research Wednesday seminar series, on May 22, 2024, 5 pm – 6:30 pm CEST (online).
ABOUT OUR PROJECT, IN BRIEF
This research project, which has been funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation at Bern University of the Arts, investigates the objects, events, scores, and ephemera that emerged in the spirit of Fluxus in the 1960s–70s in Switzerland, Europe, the UK, and the USA. Inherently fluctuating by definition, Fluxus rejects any stable, material form. Considering the transitory aspects of Fluxus forms not destined for preservation, and looking through a multidisciplinary lens of conservation, art history, performance studies, heritage studies and museology, our project will advance novel strategies for activating Fluxus through the reconstruction, adaptation and artistic reinterpretation of Fluxus forms.
AIMS AND MEANS
The project has three principal aims : (I) Using examples of collections and individual artworks held in Switzerland and abroad, the project reviews, catalogues, evaluates and systematises the current strategies for exhibiting, conserving and documenting Fluxus. (II) By means of a theoretical investigation of the notions of authenticity, changeability and intentionality and the role they play in the continuing life of Fluxus intermedia, (III) the project advances new strategies for activating Fluxus works through (a) the reconstruction, (b) the adaptation and (c) the artistic reinterpretation of Fluxus forms.
IN DETAIL
Activating Fluxus centers on the lives and afterlives of Fluxus objects, events, and ephemera created in the 1960s–70s in Switzerland, Europe, the UK, and the US. Fluxus transformed creative practice for good, not least by questioning the dominant preconception of the artwork as something that endures unchanged. Inherently fluctuating by definition, the creative outputs of Fluxus reject any stable, material form. While many histories of the post-war avant-garde focus on the implications of nascent conceptualism and performativity for other artistic genres, the proposed project considers the fundamentally transitory aspects of Fluxus forms not destined for preservation. By seeking new ways to engage with the legacy of Fluxus through the lens of conservation, art history, performance studies, heritage studies and museology, this project examines the possibility of activating Fluxus, challenged as it is by its paradoxical coexistence of ephemerality and materiality, with implications for how we conceive of changeable artworks that emerged after the 1960s.
Activating Fluxus 