>Is there or was there alot of ppl that are/were part of fluxus in Canada?
There were some connections. I looked into this a while back (2 years ago?).
There may be some trace of it on the web archive.
In the early 70s there were a number of connections through some of the
alternative galleries, I believe, like Western Front, one in Calgary and to
some groups like General Idea in Toronto... These connections, as I
understand it, were generally a long the lines of younger artists admiring
the Fluxus artists...
Robert Filliou came to Canada a number of times. And there's a book about
him by a Torontonian who's name I could look up for you. (I should remember,
but my mind's blank at the moment.... =Clive R..?)
Emmett Williams taught at the Nova Scotia school of art.. In one of his
books, he criticizes his student's nationalistic streak, as I recall.
Ken Friedman also spent time in Canada, I believe, so could probably answer
this question very well.
I'm not sure if any of the Canadians "got it", but that's always a
subjective judgement needless to say (and probably arrogant on my part as
well). ...my own view, (please no flames), is that the artistic break
throughs of the 60s and early 70s were side-swiped by artists who wanted to
be more directly "political" and in Canada that frequently meant
nationalistic... but I'm not sure how well I can defend that. Perhaps others
have more insight...
I'm generally of the view that everything culturally has gone down hill
since 1974, but I'm odd that way....
George
