Fluxus Heidelberg Center BLOG

This BLOG is maintained by the FLUXUS HEIDELBERG CENTER. See: WWW.FLUXUSHEIDELBERG.ORG.

This FHC BLOG will contain an overview of all news we find and get in connection to Fluxus. Articles, publications, events, celebrations, Biographies, you name it. Every month the collection of the blog will be published on the FHC website as a digital archive

Friday, April 24, 2009

Random bits from Steve Random - USA : Dick Higgins and Alison Knowles.

Dick Higgings reading

Alison Knowles conducting



Alison Knowles and Dick Higgins - October 1987 - Photo from the Random Bits collection by Steve Random - USA


The programm.

Steve Random sent the Fluxus Heidelberg Center a CD with lots of photos and pamphlets of fluxus events, performants and scores that he documented over the years. It inclused lots of historic and interesting stuff. Copyrights of the images lies with Steve random. he gave us the kind permission to reprint some of the images on Fluxus Heidelberg Center Blog.


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Thursday, April 23, 2009

FLUXUS with Larry Miller @ thisisnotashop

FLUXUS.

thisisnotashop is proud to announce a unique exhibition of work by Fluxus artist Larry Miller in tandem with a series of Fluxus inspired events & performances orchestrated with the artist.

Since 1969, Miller has been closely associated with the International Fluxus group of artists, having had many of his original compositions assimilated into the extensive Fluxus catalogue of works. He is reknowned as an active interpreter of “classic” Fluxus scores, bringing the ethos & vitality of Fluxus works to a wider Public throughout the world.

Miller’s own work, whether live performance, site specific installation or gallery exhibition, shares an artistic attitude that breaks with fixed boundaries between objects, events, time & space, and between rigid definitions imposed by society of science, art & religion. Miller’s work, characterized by his provocative approach to subject matter & telling humour, and by an unconventional approach to materials & subject matter, has explored the invisible biology of the mind through working with professional hypnotists, ‘psychic’ mediums, healers & ritual magic, in an effort to address ambiguities of inner experience and its outward manifestation. His work draws on music, theatre, and the visual arts, merging diverse media & participatory elements, cutting across disciplines to blend ironic humour & poetic contemplation.

Larry Miller: Figures In The Ground

Thisisnotashop Gallery,
26 Benburb Street,
Dublin 7

Opening Thursday April 30th, 7pm-9pm

Exhibition continues to May 16th
Opening Hours: Wed-Sun, 2-7pm

The exhibition opens on April 30th 2009 at 7pm with a live performance by the artist. The exhibition is comprised of works by the artist , supported by a Fluxus reading room incorporating audio-visual resources & text based paraphernalia, curated by Michael Kynaston. The Fluxus Reading Room provides a space for the Public to relax & take time to engage with the works by Larry Miller and to delve a little deeper into the world of Fluxus.

For more information on Larry Miller’s work visit www.onlyonelarrymiller.com

Fluxus Concert Dublin
Conducted by Larry Miller

Friday May 1st, 8pm

The Banquet Hall above Cultivate (former SS Michael&John)
15-19 Essex Street West, Temple Bar, Dublin 8

Arranged & conducted by Larry Miller, a 15 strong team of Dublin based performers will present a series of original Fluxus Scores, including event scores by George Maciunas, Yoko Ono, Nam Jun Paik, Robert Watts, George Brecht and others. This performance promises unexpected melodies from such instruments as water, balloons, paper, bubbles, combs…

Tickets are priced at €10 and will be available through www.tickets.ie from April 17th. It is advised that tickets are booked in advance to avoid dissappointment.

Sponsored by Temple Bar Cultural Trust

Artist Talk By Larry Miller
Friday May 1st, 12:30 pm
The National College of Art and Design (NCAD)

100 Thomas Street, Dublin 8

Flux Clinic @ The Market Studios
Saturday May 9th, daytime (times to be confirmed)
!The Flux Clinic originates with a group of Asian artists known as Hi Red Center, and was first presented at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York in 1966. Since then it has been reproduced in many other ways & places, including mobile Flux Clinic, hosted in the back of a truck.

Flux Clinic Dublin is a one day event that is an evolution rather than a reenactment of that original Flux Clinic. Catalysed by & derived from notes by Larry Miller on the original Flux Clinic, this event will incorporate ‘experiments in measurement‘ developed by members of The Market Studios, with contributing experiments & visual research donated by the 1st Class students of Balbriggan Educate Together National School under the guidance of teacher Elaine Gleeson. In the same vein (so-to-speak) as Larry Miller’s philosophy of ‘art-as-experiment’, the public are invited to come and be sized up at the Flux Clinic, and to engage with these experiments in measurement.

The Flux Clinic will take place at The Market Studios, Corner of Mary’s Lane & Halstrom St, Dublin 7, Saturday May 9th (times to be confirmed). Curated by Jessica Foley with The Market Studios.

ADDITIONAL LIVE LARRY MILLER PERFORMANCE:

Figure/Ground – Sunday April 26th, 4-5pm @ The Pheonix Park
Join us at a scenic location in the Phoenix Park for a Sunday afternoon performance- the first in our series of Fluxus events. Larry Miller will physically enact the Figure/Ground relationship in painting using chance, nature and intention to create a live work that will be exhibited as part of the Figures in the Ground exhibition at thisisnotashop.

DIRECTIONS: Figure/Ground will be held next to the Old Magazine Fort in Phoenix Park . Enter through the main gate to Phoenix Park from Parkgate Street. At the FIRST roundabout go to the LEFT. At the bottom of the hill take a RIGHT which will lead you into the car park at the bottom of the hill at The Old Magazine Fort. Performance area will be visible from there.

source: http://thisisnotashop.wordpress.com/fluxus/

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Saturday, April 18, 2009

Montreal Museum Celebrates Peace Ballad Of John, Yoko

In 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s famous Bed-in, held from May 26 to June 2 in Suite 1742 of Montreal’s Queen Elizabeth Hotel, made headlines around the world. Forty years later, through June 21, 2009, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts will celebrate this legendary event with Imagine: The Peace Ballad of John & Yoko, organized in collaboration with Yoko Ono.

This multidisciplinary exhibition, designed and mounted by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts under the direction of Nathalie Bondil, will be presented exclusively in Montreal. Rekindling the philosophy behind John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s commitment for today’s world, this comprehensive exhibition will provide a picture of the historical and political context in 1969 that formed the backdrop to the Bed-in, as well as explore the wide-ranging artistic and musical dialogue in the name of peace conducted by the pop icon and the conceptual artist with ties to the Fluxus group.

In order to enable the widest possible public to understand, be moved by and perpetuate this still-topical peace message, admission to the exhibition will be free at all times.

"The work of Yoko Ono has revolutionized the language of art and will remain a source of inspiration for generations to come." AFP

Peace activist Yoko Ono is being awarded a prestigious Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement on June 6, 2009, at this year's Venice Biennale.

Just as in the exhibition Warhol Live, sound, at once an emotional and educational conduit, will occupy a privileged position within this exhibition. This soundscape will closely reflect the entire thrust of the exhibition. From one gallery to another, John and Yoko whisper, murmur, speak, sing, shout, call each other and, most of all, remind us that they often acted as one. For the first time ever, it will be possible to hear excerpts of conversations between the two artists during the recording of songs like “Give Peace a Chance”(three different versions were recorded), as well as media interviews, video excerpts from the 1960s for such anthems as “Power to the People”and “I Dont Wanna Be a Soldier.” The soundscape will also correspond to the record covers, which are at once artistic and autobiographical statements.

Some 140 works, drawings, unpublished photographs, videos, films, artworks and interactive materials will convey the famous couple’s message of universal peace. Furthermore, visitors will be able to play “Imagine” on a white piano with a Disklavier sound system, write down their wishes and tie them to Yoko Ono’s Wish Tree, stamp “Imagine Peace” on maps of the world, and read the works of certain Nobel Peace Prize winners.

“The Museum is offering a spring of peace,” explains Nathalie Bondil. “Thanks to the participation of Yoko Ono, this exhibition, while commemorating the1969 Bed-in, which took place in Montreal, will renews their pacifist action in the present, an action made all the more relevant given the current state of the world. In solidarity, an incredible number of businesses, suppliers and partners have decided to support this project by offering their services for free, so as to spread this universal message, which, it goes without saying, extends beyond the walls of this institution. I am very touched to report that this inclusive and collaborative approach is gathering great momentum, transforming this event into a collective Montreal work and a socially engaged action, with all of us rallying around the same philosophy.”

Made possible through Yoko Ono’s loan of many exceptional works, the exhibition will retrace the story of these two major figures, from their meeting in 1966 to their first creations promoting peace, which culminated in the May 1969 Bed-in during which “Give Peace a Chance” was recorded. it will examine the legacy of such anthemic songs as 1971’s “Imagine” and “Power to the People,” as well as the politically engaged 1972 album Some Time in New York City.

Organization of the exhibition

The exhibition will comprise nine sections organized on a thematic and chronological basis. The Introduction will present the life of John Lennon and Yoko Ono. The 1966 Meeting will reveal the circumstances in which John and Yoko met, and John’s discovery through Yoko of the American counterculture and conceptual art. In Four-Handed Works 1969-1971, we follow the rich artistic dialogue that developed between John and Yoko. In 1968, they presented their first happening and John had his first solo exhibition; the Plastic Ono Band was born. The 1969 Bed-In follows John Lennon’s engagement in protests against the Vietnam War, in the tradition of Martin Luther King, Jr., and of Ghandi: the Bed-in as political forum, the stage for experimental art and even a recording studio.

War Is Over if You Want It! 1969 traces the international advertising campaign championing peace in twelve cities worldwide. Imagine 1971: John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s political message comes through on the album Imagine, the second of John Lennon’s solo albums offering a new dream of a peaceful world. Some Time in New York City – 1971-1972: John and Yoko settled in New York, where they hung out with Bob Dylan, Jerry Rubbin and Abbie Hoffman, as well as the leftist leaders of the Youth International party and the Black Panther Party. They played active roles in many political protests and recorded Some Time in New York City, an echo of their political activism. This was also the year they were expelled from the United States. John Lennon had to wait four years to receive his green card, which affected his relationship with Yoko as well as his political activism. The Peace Library invites visitors to explore the many works by a great number of authors who have written on the theme of peace. Contemporary Works by Yoko Ono will conclude the exhibition will the Wish Tree, a series of works she began in 1990, which offers visitors the opportunity to experience a moment of meditation, and the chess game Play by Trust.

A bit of background

Following their wedding at the British Consulate in Gibraltar on March 20, 1969 – itself a performance/statement in a youth culture rejecting the traditional institution of marriage – John Lennon and Yoko Ono flew to Amsterdam to devote their honeymoon to the first Bed-in for peace, from March 25 to 31, at that city’s Hilton Hotel. Their second Bed-in, which could not be held in the United States since John Lennon was denied entry, was staged in Montreal from May 26 to June 2, involving LSD guru Timothy Leary, singer Petula Clark, Rabbi Abraham Feinberg and hundreds of reporters. Knowing that their honeymoon would be a magnet for paparazzi, the couple decided to turn it into a public event to advance the cause of peace. The normally private, personal bed became a public stage, a podium, a forum where, dressed in pyjamas, they explained their perspective on the Vietnam War to the world’s press.

On December 15, 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono launched an international advertising campaign for peace in twelve of the world’s major cities: Athens, Berlin, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Port of Spain (Trinidad and Tobago), Rome, Tokyo, Toronto and, once again, Montreal. Huge billboards in each national language went up in strategic locations, proclaiming “WAR IS OVER! If you want it. Happy Christmas from John and Yoko.” The format varied with the available space, ranging from immense billboards in New York’s Times Square to posters and handout flyers, all bearing the same message. The campaign kicked off with the “Peace for Christmas” benefit for UNICEF at London’s Lyceum Theatre on that same December 15, with the Plastic Ono Band assembling George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann and Keith Moon of the Who for the occasion. The following day, John and Yoko took the peace campaign to Toronto, and met with Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada. On December 21, an ad with their “War is over” message appeared in the New York Times.

The Bed-in was the high point of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s actions for peace, which owed their efficacy to both communications strategies and contemporary performance art issues. Like their performances, these uncategorizable actions were generally rejected as gags or self-promoting theatrics by publicity-hungry stars. In the same vein as Andy Warhol founding Interview magazine or Joseph Beuys and the German Green Party, the couple demonstrated a keen awareness of how to use and channel popularity and manipulate the media.

Yoko Ono

Today, Yoko Ono is still actively pursuing the career in art she began close to fifty years ago. The latest retrospective of her work, Between the Sky and My Head, was recently presented in Germany and is currently on show in England. In 2004, she mounted a controversial exhibition of photographs depicting parts of women’s bodies. Born in Japan, this avant-garde artist associated with the Fluxus movement has never ceased to promote peace in her works, from those in the 1966 Indica Gallery exhibition where she first met John Lennon, to those shown throughout the world today.

A “conscientious objector” during a time of societal and political crisis throughout the world, John Lennon, along with his muse and alter ego, Yoko Ono, sang a message of hope and tolerance that sought the transformation of violence into peace, and hate and racism into love. Forty years after the iconic Montreal Bed-in, this four-handed work composed by John Lennon and Yoko Ono still speaks to us today. The tremendous explosion of media and public attention that surrounded “Beatlemania” often overshadowed the innermost voice of John Lennon, who, even as a child, believed he would be an artist and poet who would use a gift for words and humour and the power of a somewhat surrealistic imagination to build a world of magic again. Imagine, far from consigning the artist to the past, will endeavour to make his creative process come alive and let the voice of this extraordinary witness to his times be heard.

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Sunday, April 05, 2009

No Correspondance



No Correspondance with Cinnamon Crackers. On April 4th 2009 a package from Rain Rien Nevermind in USA arrived in Breda, Netherlands. Litsa Spathi dedicates this video from Fluxus Heidelberg Center to Rain Rien and thanks him for the Cinnamon Crackers.

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