Owen & Sol,
Sol. Just installed the bouncing Maciunas head screen saver. It works and
I'm a proud owner. I think this is the only screen saver I have ever
voluntarily installed. Also note your use of the European pronunciation of
"Fluxus"--"flook-soos" vs. the American "flucks-us" (even the pronunciation
of "Fluxus" has been in flux all these years).
Owen, I probably don't have the time or the wherewithal to play with your
display, but I was thinking it would be nice to add 1. other Fluxus-player
heads to the display, and to 2. have these heads move and interact
according to different rules...sort of an artificial-life project. Besides
just basic visual amusement it might be fun to see what rules could be used
to simulate known Fluxus social behavior among the original
Fluxus-players. For example: George Maciunas' head would attempt to
collect and guide the other heads. Ben Vautier's head would energetically
bounce around showing off...occasionally deflating another head; Ken
Friedman's head would bounce around, explore new territory, and
occasionally go off to the side to make lists of all the other
participants; Eric Anderson's head would follow Ken Friedman's head around
barking at him "that is not true!"; Geoff Hendricks head would do
headstands; Jon Hendricks and Gil Silverman would arrive and attempt to
retrace Maciunas' steps using a broom and dustpan. etc. etc. Okay,
enough of my jaundiced views. But it might be interesting to see the
various displays (and the various surprises!) that occur with different
sets of rules. Maybe we could even go back and figure out how to fix it
and actually figure out what it would have taken for the original Fluxus to
actually reach critical mass (or at least what it would have taken to
acheive escape velocity from the art world). Simulating the social
behavior of fluxus. Probably more than a weekend project.
Allen B
P.S. I saw a charming little book once that Ben Vautier had made where he
took photographs of various kids' action figures posed in various settings
and activities to represent his his views about various other players in
Fluxus.
>Inspired by Owen's animation I give you a fetching bouncing maciunas head
>with multimedia enhancements, a ready screensaver (but for PC only, sorry
>Mac people). Runs on win 3.1,95,98 etc. Download it from
>
>http://www.artden.freeserve.co.uk/maciunas/
