Having had my own heart broken before and in various ways by Fluxus and FLUXLIST, it has been sad to watch Secret Fluxus begin to go through this experience. So I have taken it upon myself to update the Fluxlist website so that no one (hopefully) will ever again mistake FLUXLIST for a serious academic email discussion group ABOUT HISTORICAL FLUXUS. Ken Friedman always wanted this list to be like that. Secret Fluxus seems to have some sort of expectation like this in mind. Well, sorry, kids, but it isn't going to happen. Not on FLUXLIST. I hope we will continue to have the stray thoughtful notice and piece exploring this or that issue about whatever Fluxus was, but I honestly don't think there are enough Fluxus historians and academicians in the world to sustain such a list (and aren't Ken Friedman, Hannah Higgins, Owen Smith, Bertrand Clavez, and a dozen other full and part-time Fluxus historians already emailing each other and wouldn't they have evolved an email discussion list is it was going to be useful to them?). There certainly is enough room on FLUXLIST to accomodate all the serious Fluxus discussions that could ever be held ... but there don't seem to be enough people to ever sustain them. I will make Secret Fluxus the same offer that I have always made Ken Friedman: I will help set you up with your own email discussion list and list server. You can set it up any way you want (moderated/unmoderated, open to the public/invitation only) and create a serious Fluxus email list that would be a credit to Fluxus scholarship. I would love to see someone do this...start a new list. Much easier than trying to whip FLUXLIST into shape. FLUXLIST is . Sorry.
Here's what the new FLUXLIST website at http://www.fluxus.org/FLUXLIST/index2.htm now says about FLUXLIST (please note that I have removed all references to the "purpose" of the list): "FLUXLIST is an email discussion group for people who are interested in or attracted to Fluxus. The list includes a wide range of subscribers who post emails about Fluxus and non-Fluxus topics, projects, and other stuff (including the whether)." Very literal. No fancy promises. No statement of purpose. THAT shouldn't break any hearts. I have also removed Ken Friedman's statement of "new beginnings" as that has also proven to be an overly optimistic over-promise on what FLUXLIST delivers. Finally, two projects for secret fluxus or anyone else who wants to make a major contribution: 1. start an academic/serious email discussion group about Fluxus and get it to work to Ken Friedman's satisfaction 2. create a Fluxus bulletin board on the web that posts all known Fluxus, fluxus, fluxus-like activities so we can really see how the Fluxus meme is living and morphing 3. go back through the archives of FLUXLIST and pull out all the serious discussions and issues that HAVE been raised and discussed here (however briefly) and create a sort of academic "best of" document to e
