Collections and Archives

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Andersch Collection, Abteiberg Museum, Mönchengladbach, Germany. In 2017, Museum Abteiberg acquired one of the world’s most comprehensive collections of Fluxus work and related material: the art collection, archive, and library of Erik Andersch (1940–2021). Artists featured in the collection include members of the Fluxus inner circle, those in the broader milieu of the international Fluxus network, and others.

Alternative Traditions in the Contemporary Arts (ATCA), University of Iowa; Iowa City, US. Serving as an interface among University of Iowa facilities (the Museum of Art, the University Libraries, and a number of academic units) Alternative Traditions in the Contemporary Arts (ATCA) Project is committed to the collection and preservation of works and papers of contemporary artists and to the facilitation and dissemination of research related to the post-World War II avant-garde. ATCA hosts various individual collections related to Fluxus artists and practices: The Fluxus West Collection, The Ken Friedman ATCA Collection, The Alice Hutchins Papers, Jonas Mekas Collection of Fluxus Films and Artifacts of the Eternal Network Papers. See also: Fluxus Digital Collection at Digital Studio for Public Arts & Humanities, featuring works from the UI Special Collections donated by artist and benefactor Ken Friedman.

Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution; Washington DC, US. Archives host various collections with material related to Fluxus artists and Fluxus history. Most important are: Ted and Joan Wilentz collection of Fluxus-related materials (1963-1983), Dick Higgins papers (1958-1997) and Ken Friedman papers (1969-1978). The oral history collection includes interviews with Fluxus artists, including Alison Knowles, Geoffrey Hendricks, Benjamin Patterson and Al Hansen.

Artists’ Book Collection, California Institute of the Arts; Santa Clarita, CA, US. The collection hosts various multiples by Fluxus artists.

Artists’ Multiples Collection, Chelsea Collections and Archives; London, UK. Established in the 1980s, some of the items had been acquired during the previous two decades. This unique collection for a library is particularly strong on Fluxus and contemporary British artists.

Archiv Sohm, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart; Stuttgart, Germany. Archive of Hanns Sohm (1921-1999), a dentist and a collector of intermedia art and counter-culture from the 1960s and 1970s including the Beat scene, the Happening, Fluxus, Viennese Actionism, Concrete Poetry, the multi-media works of Dieter Roth and Zero. 

Archiv Daniel Spoerri, Swiss National Library; Bern, Switzerland. It includes artistic works by Daniel Spoerri, in particular prints, editions and artists’ books, documentation of exhibition and teaching activities, correspondence with leading artists and cultural institutions, an art collection comprising stand-alone works from artist friends, extensive photographic documentation of his works, a poster collection and event documentation.

Barbara and Peter Moore Fluxus Collection, Harvard Art Museums; Cambridge, US. The collection features a range of Fluxus editions and multiples dating from the early 1960s through the late 1970s. It includes pieces by Yoko Ono, Ken Friedman, Shigeko Kubota, Nam June Paik, George Brecht, George Maciunas among many others, as well as examples of many key multiples, a number of unique and rare works, and prototypes or models for editions. Acquired in 2005.

David Tudor Papers, Getty Research Institute; Los Angeles, US. The collection documents David Tudor’s participation in the post-war experimental and avant-garde music scene and aspects of his personal life until his death in 1996. Includes contributions by Fluxus artists such as Yoko Ono, Philip Corner and George Brecht.

Dick Higgins Collection, Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery, University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Catonsville, Maryland, US. Donated from Dick Higgins’s studio in Barrytown, New York by Alison Knowles, the collection focuses on Higgins, Something Else Press, and the wider Fluxus movement. It includes works by over 70 individual Fluxus and other artists, exhibition materials, publications from Something Else Press, and publications from members of the greater Fluxus movement.

Donación Fluxus Gino di Maggio, Museo Vostell Malpartida; Malpartida de Cáceres, Spain. The collection was donated to the museum by the Italian collector, editor and curator Gino di Maggio, director of the Mudima Foundation in Milan and a friend of many of the Fluxus artists. The collection consists of 250 works by 31 artists and includes pieces by George Maciunas, Eric Andersen, Ayo-O, Philip Corner, Willhelm de Ridder, Robert Fillou, Dick Higgins, Alison Knowles, Yoko Ono, Ben Patterson, Mieko Shiomi, Robert Watts, Ben Vautier and others.

Fluxus Materials at The New York Public Library; New York, US. Material related to Fluxus is available in various collections including Ellsworth Snyder collection of Fluxus multiples and ephemera (1958-1987), The Artists Files and The Pamphlet Files within the Art & Architecture Collection. The Print Collection also houses the Spencer Collection which owns original works by Fluxus artists such as Flux Year Box 2 (1967).

Fluxus-related archives and publications, Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections, Northwestern University; Evanston, Illinois, US. Library collection hosts multiples by Fluxus artists including Fluxus 1 (1964), George Brecht’s Water Yam (1963) and Games & Puzzles (1965), Flux timekit (1966) by Robert Watts as well as ephemera and publications about the movement.

George Maciunas Memorial Collection, The Hood Museum of Art; Hanover, NH, US. The Collection was established by then museum director Jan van der Marck in 1978 to pay tribute to Maciunas who had died that year. The Hood’s holdings, which now reach beyond that original collection, include works by various Fluxus artists such as Nam June Paik, Alison Knowles, Ben Vautier, Milan Knížák, Mieko (Chieko) Shiomi, Ken Friedman, Philip Corner and Maciunas himself.

Heinrich Liman Fluxus Collections, Museum FLUXUS+; Potsdam, Germany. Conceived by Berlin entrepreneur and art collector Heinrich Liman, the museum opened in 2008. The collection hosts historical and contemporary works by various key Fluxus artists.

Jean Brown Papers, Getty Research Institute; Los Angeles, US. A study collection of avant-garde materials accumulated by librarian and art collector Jean Brown. The collection documents the Dada and Surrealist art movements, Fluxus, mail art, and concrete poetry. Materials include letters, printed matter and ephemera, clippings, art objects, sound recordings, motion pictures, and video recordings. Brown maintained close friendships with many artists whose work she collected, including George Maciunas, Dick Higgins and Ken Friedman. She was a part of the international mail art network. The Getty Center acquired the collection from Jean Brown in 1988. Additional correspondence and notes were obtained from the family of Jean Brown in 2016. Publications received with the archive have been separated to the Getty Research Library.

John Cage Collection, Northwestern University Music Library; Evanston, Il, US. In 1965, Cage sent letters to hundreds of composers, visual artists, and writers soliciting manuscripts for inclusion in a book to benefit the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts. Cage published selections as Notations (New York: Something Else Press, 1969). In addition to the music manuscripts, the Notations collection includes much of the correspondence generated around this project. On occasion, correspondence from figures such as Nam June Paik and George Brecht includes music that was not intended to be part of the project and was not included in the book.

Mayor/Fluxshoe/Beau Geste Press (BGP) Archive, Tate; London, UK. The archive consists of material relating to three areas of life of artist and art historian David Mayor: the ‘Fluxshoe’ touring exhibition (1972-73); the records of the independent publishing house Beau Geste Press (1971-76); and Mayor’s own papers (1968-82).

Nam June Paik Art Center Collection and Archive, Nam June Paik Art Center; Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do, Korea. Collection of artworks by Nam June Paik and other Fluxus artists including various multiples such as Name Kit (1965) by George Brecht, Events by Robert Watts (1964), Instruction No. 2 (1967) by Benjamin Patterson, Flux Rain Machine by Ay-O (1965) and photographic documentation of Festum Fluxorum Fluxus: Musik und Antimusik – Das Instrumentale Theater held at Staatliche Kunstakademie, Dusseldorf in 1963 by Manfred Leve. Nam June Paik Archives Collection includes various subcollections hosting material related to Fluxus artists such as Erik Andersch Collection, Mieko Shiomi Collection, Philip Corner Collection and Mary Bauermeister Collection.

The Collection Hahn, MUMOK / Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien; Wienna, AT. The Collection of Wolfgang Hahn, an art conservator from Cologne and head of the Museum Ludwig Cologne restoration workshops, focuses on nouveau réalisme, Fluxus, performance art, and works that take a critical look at institutions. The collection includes the Hahn Library, which was donated to the museum in 2005 by Hildegard Hahn, so that together collection and library present the entire complexity of art in the 1960s including the artists associated with Fluxus, such as George Brecht and Nam June Paik. The museum hosts also the Wolfgang Hahn Archive that consists of documentary materials like invitations, flyers, and cards, all associated with the artists in the Hahn Collection (e.g. Daniel Spoerri, Nam June Paik, Marcel Broodthaers).

The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection, The Museum of Modern Art; New York, US. The Silverman Collection was built and organized by scholar Jon Hendricks starting c. 1977, working with collectors Gilbert and Lila Silverman. It is the world’s largest collection of artwork, documentation, and published materials related to Fluxus and particularly to its founder, George Maciunas. It was donated to MoMA in 2008 by the collectors. MoMA decided to split the Collection into three parts: works of art to the Department of Prints and Illustrated Books (currently Drawings and Prints), for their facility at handling editions; documentation to the Museum Archives, and publications to the Library.

The Museum Ostwall Collection, Dortmunder U – Center for Art and Creativity, Dortmund, Germany. The Museum Ostwall hosts three important collections related to Fluxus. The collectio of Wolfgang Feelisch, a collector from the city of Remscheid includes works by Joseph Beuys, Allan Kaprow and Robert Filliou. In 2010 the museum obtained works and documents on permanent loan from the estate of collector Hermann Braun (represented, since his death in 2009, by his heir Holger Lieff and since then mentioned in the literature as Sammlung Braun/Lieff) that includes works by Robert Watts, George Brecht and Dick Higgins. Since the early 90s the museum is a home to a part of the collection of Siegfried Cremer, a conservator, collector, artist and professor for painting techniques at the Düsseldorf Art Academy (1977-94). See: Grothe, Nicole. Fluxus – Kunst für alle! = Fluxus – art for everyone! Heidelberg: Kehrer, 2013. Print.

Walker Fluxus Collection, The Walker Art Center; Minneapolis, US. Walker’s Fluxus collection includes multiples and publications central to the history of the movement such as Fluxus 1 (1964), Flux Year Box 2 (1967), as well as multiples by Ben Vautier, George Brecht, Shigeko Kubota and others.

Whitney Fluxus Collection, Whitney Museum of American Art; New York, US. Whitney’s collection of Fluxus works comprises of iconic multiples from the 1960s such as George Brecht’s Water Yam (1963/69) and Games & PuzzLes (1965/69), Ben Vautier’s Holes (1963/69) and Shigeko Kubota’s FLUX NAPKINS (1967).

PRIVATE COLLECTIONS

Archivio Conz; Berlin, Germany. The Italian collector, publisher, and photographer Francesco Conz (1935–2010) left behind an extensive art collection of works by artists associated with Lettrism, Viennese Actionism, Concrete Poetry, and Fluxus. Parts of the collection were sold in 2014 in Austria and in 2016 in Germany, excluding the holdings of works of Viennese Actionism. Based in Berlin since 2016, Archivio Conz’s task is to research, restore, photograph, and catalog the collection of over 4,000 works and make this accessible to the public in the form of publications, exhibitions, and events.

Emily Harvey Foundation; New York, US. The Foundation has a collection of over two thousand works of art acquired by Emily Kreis Harvey (1941-2004) during the operation of her gallery in New York from 1983 to 2004 or donated in her memory by the artists she represented. The collection holds works by Ayo-O, George Brecht, Robert Filliou, Al Hansen, Alison Knowles, La Monte Young, Nam June Paik, Carolee Schneemann, Daniel Spoerri and many others. It is an active collection: works are available for loan to museums and institutions around the world.

Fondation du Doute (Foundation of Doubt); Blois, France. Founded in 2013 by Ben (Vautier) and Gino Di Maggio in collaboration with the Milan-based Mudima foundation, Caterina Gualco and numerous artists. Works by Fluxus artists (many on loan from the collection of Gino di Maggio) are on permanent display.

Gino Di Maggio Collection, Fondazione Mudima; Milan, Italy. Gino Di Maggio (born in 1940), was an Italian collector, publisher and promotor of artists. In 1989 Di Maggio founded the non-profit Mudima Foundation in Milan, involved in the organization of Ubi Fluxus ibi motus exhibition at the Venice Biennale in 1990.

Hermann Braun Fluxus Collection; Remscheid, Germany. Hermann Brown started collecting Fluxus art in 1972. Over the years, he developed and maintained close friendships with George Brecht. Since his death in 2009 the collection is represented by his heir Holger Lieff and since then mentioned in the literature as Sammlung Braun/Lieff. Since 2010 part of the collection is on a permanent loan to Museum Ostwall in Dortmunder U. The collection includes among others unique objects by Fluxus artists, such as Alison Knowles’s early paintings (see: Mari. 2017. Corporate Imaginations: Fluxus Strategies for Living. Oakland, CA: University of California Press).

Luigi Bonotto Collection, Fondazione Bonotto; Colceresa, Italy. Founded by Luigi Bonotto, an Italian textile factory owner and an art collector, it focuses on Fluxus, Concrete, Visual, Sound, Performative and Electronic Poetry. It hosts works by most artists associated with Fluxus among them many iconic multiples such as Flux Year Box 1 (1964). Thanks to Bonotto’s friendships with almost all the artists he collected, his collection became a repository of much of the material coming directly from the personal archives of the artists: drafts for published and unpublished books and catalogs, exhibition brochures, invitations, posters and correspondence. The digitized collection is available online.

René Block Collection and Archive; Berlin, Germany. René Block is a gallery owner, art publisher collector and curator. His collection is considered to be one of the most important collections of works by Fluxus artists. Parts of the collection are on loan to the Neues Museum in Nürnberg (see: Ruttimann, Sylvia, and Karin Seinsoth. 2014. René Block interviewed by Sylvia Ruttimann and Karin Seinsoth. Oncurating.org: 73–78.)

The Henie Onstad Fluxus Collection, Henie Onstad Kunstsenter. Høvikodden, Norway. Established at the end of the 1980’s in collaboration with Ken Friedman. Important parts of the Henie Onstad Fluxus Collection were donated in 2007 to the Art Center by Fluxus artist and professor Ken Friedman. The collection has been given the name Ken Friedman Fluxus Collection. Artists such as Geoffrey Hendricks, Nam June Paik and Al Hansen have also donated Fluxus works in relation to exhibitions at the Art Center (these are part of the main collection of Henie Onstad Kunstsenter). Henie Onstad Kunstsenter is also the owner of part of the Jean Brown Personal Papers collection, including the filing cabinet designed especially for Brown’s archive and the house in Tyringham in 1975 by Maciunas. The cabinet is on permanent display in the Avantgarde gallery at Henie Onstad Kunstsenter.