New books

On the Webshop from TAM-Publications (see besides this text) you will notice that two new books bave been published this month:

1. The lecture I gave at the Stendhal Gallery in New York was based on two sources: The essay I wrote for the Gallery and a slideshow I used at the Willem de Kooning Art Academy. I combined these two sources. The lecture was recorded on video by 3 sources (Mark Bloch, USA - Larry Miller - USA, Cecil Touchon - Canada). To make the sources available I made a 110 pages book out of these. Download of the files is currently for free.



2. The IUOMA was 20 years old. The period 1988-2008 is documented with a book containing texts by Ruud Janssen, Vittore Baroni, Wilma Duguay, Tulio Restrepo, Geert de Decker and John held Jr. Lots of illustration from the rich history of the IUOMA. Also for this book the material the download will be free for the first time.

see: http://stores.lulu.com/iuoma

Digital Fluxus Performance - Something I can't Explain

The card that Nico van Hoorn (Netherlands) sent to me has inspired me to send him the results of a Digital Fluxus performance that I did for him. The digital recording is published before the mail actually is sent.

Interviews

A selection of 16 Mail-Interviews conducted by Ruud Janssen with International Mail-Artists and Fluxus-Artists in the years 1994 till 2007. Includes interviews with Dick Higgins, Ken Friedman, Michael Leigh, Carlo Pittore, Clive Phillpot, Edgar-Antonio Vigo, Al Ackermann, Anna Banana, Jonathan Stangroom, Ashley-Parker Owens, Julie Paquette, Robin Crozier, Guy Bleus, Alison Knowles, Norman Solomon and Ray Johnson.

New Blog

See the Blog: http://fluxusvideos.blogspot.com/ for an overview of the Fluxus Videos produced by Fluxus Heidelberg.

New Book FHC

Dear Fluxus Friends. The Fluxus Heidelberg Center proudly presents their first overview of performances done in the years 2003 till 2005. Besides the complete texts of the scores also a load of visuals are in the full colour book.

You are able to see how we use the digital cameras and Internet as part of these early performances.

Details:

Title: Performances Fluxus Heidelberg 2003-2005

ID: 3996203

Category: Arts & Photography

Description: An overview of the Fluxus Performances done for the Fluxus Heidelberg Center by Litsa Spathi and Ruud Janssen. This publication contains an overview of the first performances done from 2003 till 2005. The texts of the scores and many full colour photos are published in this book.

Copyright Year: © 2008
Language: English

Colour version available at: http://www.lulu.com/content/3996203

B&W version available at: http://www.lulu.com/content/4108181

Paperback book €49.99 (colour) €13.98 (B&W)

Printed: 273 pages , 6" x 9", perfect binding , white interior paper (80# weight) , white exterior paper (100# weight), full-colour exterior ink

With warm wishes,

Litsa Spathi & Ruud Janssen
Fluxus Heidelberg
http://www.fluxusheidelberg.org/

Interview with Livraison - Sweden

Interview that Litsa Spathi and Ruud Janssen gave for Livraison, A Swedish Publication.

Fluxus Camera in Breda

Roland Halbritter's Camera in Breda at IUOMA

Mail-Interviews in BOOK-FORM available

You can order at : http://stores.lulu.com/iuoma

Drink DaDaCol

Fluxing Letters

Where Are You

Having a Fluxus Ball

English Fluxus Dance

Fluxus Cat & Fish game

Fluxus Cat and Fish game.....

Fluxus People #10

Fluxus People #6

One more card - Fluxus People #6.

Documenting things.

RJ: I couldn't work without documentation. But there may be a danger in documentation if it forms its own truth. Reality -- things that happen in a specific moment -- can never be captured by objective documentation because reality is different for everybody who observes it. Everyone recognizes his own truth through the act of observation. Isn't there a danger in the possibility that those who create the documents dictate the shape of history? Is documentation that powerful?

KF: This is a danger. It's a basic problem that we face in all forms of documentation, no matter who makes them and no matter the purpose for which they're made. It seems to me that there is a strong argument to be made for a variety of clear, understandable sources of document from several views. In the recent past, most documentation on art has been compiled or presented by a handful of journalists, critics and finally by art historians. I suggest that there can be valid approaches to art documentation by scholars from several fields and by artists themselves.

The better, the broader, the more clear and conscious a body or documents is, the better we can understand what's happened. I believe that documentation has valid goals and purposes. These purposes can be realized or abused. How we handle documentation, how much and how well, makes the difference.

from an interview between Ken Friedman (Norway) and Ruud Janssen (Netherlands)

(Source: http://www.fluxusheidelberg.org/kenfriedman.html)

Fluxus Syndrome

I often refer to this "Fluxus syndrome." It is my term for a problem that I face. It goes like this. A gallerist, critic or exhibitor tells me "I like your work. I know you are a Fluxus artist." Then they see more of my work and they compare it to the work of George Maciunas, whom they take to be the leader of Fluxus instead of its namer and, in his own preferred term, "Chairman" of Fluxus. They note that there are differences and they say to me: "But that work is not Fluxus. Do you have any Fluxus work?" I say yes,-and I show work from the early sixties through late seventies. It still does not resemble the work of Maciunas.

It isn't usually even fun and games, which is what the public thinks of as Fluxus. So I am marginalized in Fluxus shows, or I am left out of other collections because "This is not a Fluxus gallery/museum show/collection." The problem is all but unavoidable, and in vain can one point out that if Fluxus is important, it is because of its focus on intermedia, that Maciunas recognized this repeatedly, that he knew perfectly well that there was room in Fluxus for work which did not resemble his at all. If one says anything like this in public, it is taken to be a disloyalty to George or some kind of in-fighting for prestige. I have sometimes been tempted to show my work under a false name in order to escape this syndrome altogether. But even that sounds as if I were ashamed of my Fluxus past, which I am not, even though it is not awfully relevant to my work since the late seventies.

Also I still feel affinities to some of my Fluxus colleagues, though the work of others has, in my opinion, become repetitious crap. Many of my Fluxfriends could do with a little more self-criticism, in my opinion. Fluxus also has its share of hangers-on, people who were utterly marginal to the group and who kept their distance during the years when Fluxus had not acquired its present and perhaps false public image, but who are now all too willing to con their way into the list and to enter their colors for the next tournament.

From an Interview with Dick Higgins (USA) by Ruud Janssen (Netherlands)

(source: www.fluxusheidelberg.org/dhint.html)

A DREAM