Thanks, Reed...
"...One of these demonstrations in particular led to the first
major rift within Fluxus, and with what should be expected
with such events, the account differs from participant to
participant, from historian to historian. The chronology in
Fluxus presents the date as August 30, 1964; Henry Flynt
in Ubi Fluxus ibi Motus: 1990-1962 recalls the date as
September 8, 1964. The demonstration was against a
performance of Karlheinz Stockhausen�s Originale, the
structure of which is actually quite atypical compared to
his other pieces. Basically, the piece adapted elements of
performance events and was quite �circus-like� in its
execution. Obviously, this sort of composition deviates
from the formal structures prevalent in the majority of
Stockhausen�s work, and was probably directly influenced
by Cage�s pieces around the same time (which were, in
turn, more than likely influenced by his slight association
with Fluxus). The majority of performers in Originale were
generally associated one way or another with Fluxus, and
some (such as Dick Higgins, Jackson MacLow, and Nam
June Paik) were major participants. This was the problem:
Maciunas, who considered himself the �leader� of Fluxus
(although Fluxus certainly had a dedication to collective
events and products which denied leadership and
authorship), was whole-heartedly in favor of picketing
Stockhausen (who, at that time, was still considered
�revolutionary�) to the extent that he threatened to
�banish� those who didn�t agree with him. As it turns out,
there were two demonstrations that evening: one for
Stockhausen, and one against. The demonstrators for
Stockhausen (consisting primarily of the concert�s
performers) were by far in the majority: only the Fluxus
artists Ay-O, Ben Vautier, Maciunas, Saito, Marc
Schleiffer (a.k.a. Sulayman Abdullah), Conrad and Flynt
demonstrated against Stockhausen (although Allen
Ginsberg, the famous �beat� poet, was allowed in both
pickets).
The end result of the demonstration was not an effective
show of force against Stockhausen, but rather the
dissolution of the original Fluxus group. Higgins left, and
formed the Something Else Press because of his
dissatisfaction with the slowness of Maciunas� publishing.
MacLow left as well. By that time, however, La Monte
Young had already dissociated himself from Fluxus. The
circle of people which developed around Young, although
active in Fluxus-esque word events (such as Tony Conrad�s
Concept Art from the Summer of 1961 and John Cale�s
infamous piece in which a piano is thrown down a coalmine
shaft), would also continue to distance themselves from
Fluxus...
- hstencil
NP: Sidney Portier Reads Plato (den)
Perez Prado (w/Johnny Hartman): Wild (living room)
Alan Watts: Eastern Religion & Western Therapy (office)
Rod Stasick: Bird:Bath (bedroom)
Rod (44% here)
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