Fluxus
Fluxus (from "to flow") is an art movement noted for the blending of different artistic disciplines, primarily visual art but also music and literature. Fluxus was founded in 1962 by George Maciunas (1931-78), an American artist who had moved to Germany to escape his creditors. Besides America and Europe, Fluxus also took root in Japan.Among its members were Joseph Beuys, John Cage, and Yves Klein, who explored media ranging from performance art to poetry to experimental music. They took the stance of opposition to the ideas of tradition and professionalism in the arts of their time, the Fluxus group shifted the emphasis from what an artist makes to the artist's personality, actions, and opinions. Throughout the 1960s and '70s (their most active period) they staged "action" events, engaged in politics and public speaking, and produced sculptural works featuring unconventional materials. Their radically untraditional works included, for example, the video art of Nam June Paik and the performance art of Beuys. The often playful style of Fluxus artists led to them being considered by some little more than a group of pranksters in their early years. Fluxus has also been compared to Dada and is seen as the starting point of mail art.
Most notorious are the Fluxus performance pieces or "happenings". These pieces were meant to blur the lines between performer and audience, performance and reality.
Many artists have associated themselves with Fluxus over the years, including:
- Joseph Beuys
- George Brecht
- Henry Flynt
- Ken Friedmann
- Al Hansen
- Geoffrey Hendricks
- Robert Filliou
- Dick Higgins
- Alison Knowles
- George Maciunas
- Gustav Metzger
- Larry Miller
- Yoko Ono
- Litsa Spathi
- Ruud Janssen
- Ray Johnson
- Nam June Paik
- Ben Patterson
- Yasunao Tone
- Ben Vautier
- Emmett Williams
- Wolf Vostell
- La Monte Young
