FLUXLIST: Secret Fluxus

[secret fluxus]

Secret Fluxus is a cooperative group of three women and four men living in 
the UK. We came together in 2003 to perform the work of Fluxus artists in 
classic Fluxconcerts. Each concert is 50% or more Fluxus work by Fluxus 
artists.

The works we perform come from the electronic and on-line editions of the 
Fluxus Performance Workbook by Ken Friedman, Owen Smith, and Lauren Sawchyn, 
as well as scores from catalogues edited by Jon Hendricks, on-line works by 
Dick Higgins and Ken Friedman�s 52 Events. We recently expanded our 
repertoire to include works found in the publications of Something Else 
Press. Once we discovered that many Fluxconcerts include an occasional work 
by a non-Fluxus artist, we decided to expand the repertoire from time to 
time by including an appropriate Fluxus-like work from a non-Fluxus artist.

We first discovered Fluxus at the opening exhibition of the Tate Modern. We 
learned more in art history class, and we discovered the travelling Fluxshoe 
that travelling round England during the 1970s. We have modelled our project 
on what we imagine aspects of the Fluxshoe must have been like, on 
presentations by David Mayor and Brian Lane in England and Wales. Another 
model is Fluxus West in the United States during the 1960s. We are 
fascinated by stories of Ken Friedman�s Fluxmobile tours across the United 
States and Canada, and Fluxus West activities by Don Boyd and his students.

We perform anonymously and claim no credit for this work. We know that 
Fluxus artists had no rules about anonymity. This is a strategy on our part 
to focus the attention on the artists and their work and not on ourselves. 
We do not want anyone to know who we are. We will perform together as long 
as things work well, and then we will disband.

Our decision to perform anonymously came about in response to the way some 
of our fellow students fellow students and other young artists complained 
about the original Fluxus artists. We heard many complaints about the 
artists and their work by artists who claimed the heritage and sometimes 
even the name of Fluxus. We perform the work of the Fluxus artists and 
giving them full credit for their contribution to European culture today. 
The Fluxus artists and composers did exciting work. We remember it for what 
it was and perform for what it still is.

We usually announce the times and locations of concerts. Sometimes we 
announce in advance, with a notice in local newspapers or broadcast media. 
Sometimes we simply arrive to perform and announce our performance on the 
spot and afterwards. We also publish and distribute a program at every 
concert.

Most of our performances have been at universities or art schools. Sometimes 
we perform a full concert in one location. Other times, we move around, 
performing different works at different sites. We have also performed works 
in public libraries, and we have done some unofficial concert in and around 
museums.

We originally asked to join Fluxlist last year after a bit of correspondence 
with an artist who suggested we subscribe. He told us that Allen Bukoff 
would ask us to identify ourselves and explain what we do. We just got the 
note from Allen Bukoff inviting us to join.

Our plan was to send our concert programs to Fluxlist as well as to a list 
of people we are slowly gathering. While we have not been as active as we 
had hoped we would be, we have a backlog of concert programs we will post 
later, and we will keep up with new concerts by posting as we perform.

This week, we did two concerts in Leeds. We organized these concerts by 
performing a series of events in alphabetical order by artist names. On 
Monday, we performed at different locations at Leeds Metropolitan 
University. We started with works by Eric Andersen and finished with work by 
Milan Knizak. On Tuesday, we performed at locations at University of Leeds. 
We started with work by Alison Knowles and finished with work by Emmett 
Williams.

Thank you for inviting us to this group.

Secret Fluxus

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