Thanks to zap for giving the information about Al Hansen. It was more or less
the same stuff I had planned to pass on.
I am sorry Bertrand, but to put it politely you are not fully informed about the
matter. Compared to other places in the US, Europe and Japan George Maciunas did
very little, which could be called next to Fluxus before he left New York. And
the term Fluxus itself was planned as the title of a political magazine for
immigrants from Lithuania. It was never realized. In 1960 and 1961 George had
very little insight into the experimental art scene and intermedia anywhere. You
should try to discuss the matter with La Monte Young and Jackson Mac Low. They
did their best during these years to teach him. But really nothing seemed to
work. George was a very, very innocent man when he arrived in Europe in 1962.
His early writings in Europe on Neo-Dada show that very clearly. Not one of us
could find such simplifications interesting.
The Fluxus International Avant Garde Troops as George saw them (the rest of us
disagreed entirely) certainly grew out of his head in Europe when he met
everybody at the festivals.
The statements you refer to in the Larry Miller interview are much more wishful
thinking on George's part than based on facts.
Yes, Heiko, some of the artists who later joined the Flux network took part in
Cage classes. Al Hansen was one of them. It is my impression that the most
important thing for Al was not the meeting with Cage, but the friendships that
was build with Dick Higgins, George Brecht and others from the class.
It is amazing how especially German art history has manipulated lots of people
to believe that Joseph Beuys was a central figure in the Flux network. In fact,
there was not much contact. And Beuys' Selbstdarstellung, Shamanism and
metaphysics are really quite opposite worlds to intermedia.
Eric Andersen
