On Mon, 3 Dec 2001, Josh Ronsen wrote:
> Pedro writes:
>
> >1. Ben Vautier said that John Cage was critical to the development of Fluxus.
> >
> >2. Dick Higgins was of the opinion that Ben exaggerated this influence too
> >much.
>
> I assume Higgins wanted to stress that the people attending the class had their own
>ideas and were not Cage-followers or Cage-wanna-bes.
>
> I think the most important thing Cage contributed to the class (and to me studying
>his work through books and recordings) was the notion (and encouragement) that people
>could develop their own personal ideas, methods, theories and practices, and not have
>to decide to follow limited choices ("Stravinsky or Schoenberg" as Cage has written
>about his early studies).
>
I wish I had the quote in front of me, I will dig it up when I get home.
Essentially he said something like,
It seems as if Vautier did not know any other names besides Cage and
Duchamp.
Implying, it seemed to me, that there were many other influences, the
Futurists, Situationists, etc.
Thanks for your reply, the principle of the notation is important.
Another principle was the Dada idea several unrelated actions taking place
simultaneously, like the simultaneous poems of Cabaret Voltaire.
Pedro
