Fluxus East

Fluxus is well-known as an (anti-)artistic, international network with centres in the USA, Western Europe and Japan. But what about this “intermedia” art – art encompassing music, actions, poetry, objects and events – beyond the “Iron Curtain”? What echo did Fluxus find in the states of the former Eastern Bloc, and what parallel developments existed there?

A different Fluxus East developed through creative exchange between Fluxus artists and artists/musicians of the former Eastern Bloc, leading to events including concerts with Fluxus compositions broadcast by Polish Radio (1964), Fluxus concerts in Lithuania (1966), Prague (1966) and Budapest (1969), and later a Fluxus Festival in Poznan (1977).

Fluxus East represents a first stocktaking of the diverse Fluxus activities in the former Eastern Bloc; the exhibition shows parallel developments and artistic practices inspired by Fluxus, which are still adopted by some young artists today.

Besides the “classic” Fluxus objects, the display will include photographs, films, correspondence, secret police files, interviews and recordings of music that document the presence of Fluxus in the former Eastern Bloc. As an interactive exhibition, Fluxus East aims to facilitate a profound encounter with ideas, works and texts – some presented as facsimiles to permit intense study. It is possible to play at Flux Ping Pong, and visitors are also invited to explore the Poïpoïdrome by Robert Filliou.

Actions at the opening night
17 April 2008, 6 pm–10 pm

Endre Tót: Flyer Action (projection)
Eric Andersen: Opus 1068
Gábor Altorjay: General Pop
Geoffrey Hendricks: Grid 1983-2008, for Charlotte Moorman, nam June Paik and Emmett Williams
George Maciunas: Fluxus News-Policy 6/B/c/3 – Variation: Breakdown – andante (Homage to George Maciunas)
Led by the Intermedia Crčche Branch: Kati Bessenyei, Gergely Eörtzen Nagy, Zsolt Hajdu, Orsolya Lukács, Bence Rohánszky, Klára Simon, Tamás St.Auby, Dániel Tésy

Fluxus Symposium
18 April 2008

11.00 am – 2.00 pm
Introduction by Barnabás Bencsik, Director, Ludwig Museum – Museum of Contemporary Art
Petra Stegmann: Fluxus East
Jaroslaw Kozlowski: Knitting the NET
Eric Andersen: The Legendary East European Tour of 1964
Maria Anna Potocka: Questions and Comments Hanging over Fluxus
Gábor Altorjay: Five tables

3.00 pm – 6.00 pm
László Beke: Hungarian Art and the Fluxus
Annamária Szőke: Miklós Erdély and the Fluxus
Ekaterina Obermair: 4′ 33″ Generation Generali. Led by Ekaterina Obermair, St.Auby Tamás, Conducted by Wolfgang Obermair
Pavlína Morganová: Czech Action Art in the 1960s and the 1970s
Andrea Bátorová: Parallels to Fluxus in Slovak Alternative Art in the 1960s and 1970s
Gábor Tóth: Secret Music

6.30 pm – 8.00 pm
Discussion with the participation of the artists, scholars and the audience
Geoffrey Hendricks: A Tone for Roskilde