Appreciated Sol's note in response to my post on "Fluxus as an obscure(d)
influence."
Satie, Musicality, etc.
Most of us knew Satie's work. I'm not sure there is a link between his
ideas and many of the issues we pursued, though -- of course -- the notion
of time and boredom can in part be traced to his work. Dick Higgins was a
talented performer of his music and (I believe) once made a recording of
Satie's piano works.
Satie's work had no special influence on the concept for which I coined the
term "musicality." The concept of musicality involves applying the idea of
a notational form to art that can then be rendered by any artist as the
performer or realizer of the work. That is the essence of music notation.
It isn't peculiar to Satie. All composers from Monteverdi and Mozart to
Bach and Berlioz used notation.
Acknolwedgement
Many influences do percolate. The distinction is that in the old era of
anonymous craft and artisan-based creation, visual products were a
transmission of well understood and widely common ideas. In the modern era,
the era of signed work and originality, one is somehow obliged to
acknolwedge one's sources as best possible. It's odd to borrow on the wide,
common culture while claiming the status of an originator and signatory.
The fact that one can never acknowledge all sources doesn't excuse the
failure to acknowlede those sources of which one is aware.
Artists don't merely borrow on advertisements and ideas gleaned from the
unsigned street. They read art magazines, art history books, visit
galleries and museums. Prior artists found in these places are sources of
influence who are known to the artists who draw on them, or at least they
should be known.
Something Else Press
The books of Something Else Press are far more accessible in the US. Press
runs were generally between 1,000 and 3,000 copies, and most exist in
several hundred libraries.
Even in the UK, however, there are enough copies that all SEP titles are
available via interlibrary loan.
Fluxshoe and More
The importance of Fluxshoe and the history of Fluxus in the UK is
increasingly known. Ever since Simon Anderson's doctoral dissertation at
the Royal College of Art, this body of work and activity has become better
known along with an underdtanding of its importance to a wider Fluxus
circle outside the UK.
As for In the Spirit of Fluxus, it missed a lot. There was much good
material, but it was curtailed and limited, and the exhibition and
catalogue failed to account for vital issues. But, then, what can one say
of a Fluxus exhibition in which such key artists as Dick Higgins were not
represented by a single work. Others were represented only by one or two
Maciunas-produced boxes, as I was, a slice of Fluxus that suggested we had
never done anything else of interest. If you question that view of Fluxus,
you're not the only one.
On the other hand, it's tough to represent something as big and ambiguous
as Fluxus with so many people working over such long periods of time. A lot
of people stick to a connect-the-dots version of Fluxus because it's an
easy way to narrate a complex series of occurances.
The Fluxus Reader, for example, was an attenpt to overcome narrow readings
of the past while providing a documentary data base for future work.
-- Ken Friedman
--
Ken Friedman, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Leadership and Strategic Design
Department of Knowledge Management
Norwegian School of Management
+47 22.98.51.07 Direct phone
+47 22.98.51.11 Fax
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Home office:
+46 (46) 53.245 Telephone
+46 (46) 53.345 Telefax
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
