Let's talk about Fluxus. Our Great Friend Ben Patterson, whose 70th birthday is to happen on May 29th, has decided to celebrate it on the summit of the mount Fuji. As he likes to do things well (doesn't he? Owen, Alan, Ken, you can join in here ;-), As he hates planes, As he still embodies, among others, the very pure flux of fluxus (which means an incredible mixed-up of heteroclit stuff that-has-something-in-common-somewhere-and-represent-the-Grace-in-itself-but -nobody-knows-what-or-how, one-can-just-feel-one-is-at-the-perfect-place-to-be-at-the-very-moment-one-h as-to-be,doing-the-exact-thing-to-do-to-add-some-more-beauty-to-our-world-th at-most-of-people-won't-notice-even-though-anyone-can) As he knows his Little Fluxus Illustrated by heart
He has decided to get up to there by the Transsiberian first, then by the Transmongolian, then by ferry-boat, then by train, then by foot . Three details: He left from Berlin, where Emmett Williams and Ann Noel brought him to the train He will perform about 30 fluxus concerts all along the way to Japan, realizing though a very old dream of Maciunas (for the ones who really cares, see the planned schedule for Fluxus concerts in the very first fluxus newsletter (around may 62) in the catalogue FLuxus etc.) He has financed the whole operation all by himself (he sold out a very nice graphic about the project and put his own money for the remaining expenses) You can check that on our website at http://www.4t.fluxus.net/40p-a-lo.htm and it's even in English ;-))) But the very, very, very nice thing, is what Our Great Friend Takako Saito did when she learned about Ben's project. She sent him some seeds in a very nice and fragile box, (the one she usually uses to perform "Silent Music") that Ben will have to realease on Mount Fuji once at the top. This already so nice. But she did even better. She sent seeds in very nice and fragile boxes to the closests friends of Ben , and asked them to release them on the 29th of May, in his honour. To me this is actual secret Fluxus. In fact the actual Fluxus Bertrand ----- Original Message ----- From: "Alan Bowman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2004 3:30 PM Subject: FLUXLIST: what is Fluxus? > secret fluxus > > thank you for an interesting and eloquent response. > > re: > "Discussions of history, criticism, or theory > occupy a tiny fraction of list volume - significantly less than 5%. List > members seem to consider the suggestion that we discuss these kinds of > issues from time to time a bad idea. We gather that this has been the case > on Fluxlist in the past." > > I don't think that this is viewed as a bad idea, however problems have > arisen due to the sheer nature of fluxus. a major problem, i feel, is that > due to an inherent need for classification fluxus has become something that > it never actually was. this is a point that i have made before. in my > opinion fluxus can not be viewed as a single entity, a group, a movement > discussions of history, criticism etc is that often all we hear is the same > thing, repeated over and over again. i admit, i have not come up with > anything new myself and am more than willing to listen. > > also, many of the participants of the fluxlist are artists in their own > right, working in a very wide range of disciplines. they create, perhaps > their energies are focused elsewhere, i know mine certainly are. many of us > have read widely around fluxus, others are concerned with certain areas or > artists, many listmembers have been involved in recurring fluxus > discussions - perhaps it's just that many of us are waiting for something > new to pop up. i personally dont see the point of rehashing old arguments, > we can refer to the archives for that. > the influence of 'fluxus ideals' on contemporary practise is more > interesting to me as it brings up the 'what is fluxus?' question, which i've > already stated - i haven't seen an answer which satisfies me as yet > (hopefully, owen, bertrand et al can join in here) > > alan > > > >
