...and as soon as I can dig out my booklet that will remind me how, I will also delete the welcoming FLUXLIST message (see below). This statement of purpose has turned out to be a very optimistic and naive bit of dope smoking, I'd say. Grandiosity into false advertising. Should have gotten rid of it a long time ago.
Secret Fluxus asked what others think about FLUXLIST. Okay, here is what I think: I helped start this list because I was hoping the internet and an email discussion group like this would put me in contact with other people playing fluxus games and that maybe I could find some other people to play fluxus games with, too. I had been playing around with fluxus and fluxus projects for years without having much of any contact with others who knew or cared about Fluxus. I was pretty sure there had to be other people out there who wouldn't mind getting together to see what we could cook up and the internet seemed like it was the perfect new tool to do this. FLUXLIST has brought me into contact with a whole bunch of cool people (many of whom, but not all of whom, have stayed on this list) and we have even gotten around to playing some pretty interesting games here. And for that I am grateful. But FLUXLIST is not efficient. Everyone has a slightly different agenda or presence here, so I have to be real patient and sort through stuff to find the stuff that does it for me. And some of the stuff that I really like is undoubtably stuff that others think is stupid, trivial, or loathsome (and vice versa). So "relax, have some tea," is not bad advice. It's easy to imagine a much better and more exciting list than FLUXLIST. On the other hand, Fluxus is such an obscure and arcane area of art and creativity that I think it is also a miracle that enough of us Fluxus admirers, appreciators, pretenders, students, visionaries, self-promoters, and cranks have found each other and have been able to sustain any sort of list that has "Fluxus" as it's organizing topic. (You know, the old "the glass is half full" sort of attitude.) I am the only one of the original founders who still actively subscribes/participates in FLUXLIST. I am probably the only one whose expectations or hopes were met. For that I am grateful. Thanks for wanting to play and email here, too. Allen Bukoff - a 52-year old Social Psychologist working in advertising and living in a suburb of Detroit, Michigan >> From the welcome letter to Fluxlist: >> > >> The Purpose of Fluxlist< >> > > The purpose of Fluxlist is to examine and consider the range of > concerns that typify Fluxus and intermedia. > > This might include such topics as: > > > Art > Art history > Art practice > Art theory > Artist books in theory and practice > Artist housing > Artist periodicals > Artist stamps > Book culture > Book reviews > Books > Concept art > Concrete poetry > Correspondence art > Current work by historical Fluxus artists > Current work by new Fluxus artists > Digital media > Exhibitions > Film > Fluxus > Fluxus history > Happenings > Historical work by historical Fluxus artists > Historical work by artists related to Fluxus > Historical work by intermedia artists > Information society issues > Intermedia > Internet > Internet culture > John Cage > Mail art > Mail art projects and events > Minimalist art > Multimedia > Music > Music composition > Musicality > New music > New work by contemporary artists in the Fluxus tradition > News of relevant listserv discussions on other lists > Performance > Performance art > Radicalism in art > Research notes > Research reports > Research requests > Shared projects for list members > URL pointers with descriptions of interesting web sites > Video > Web site reviews > Zines > > > We are interested in the rich web of circumstances and ideas that > Fluxus represents as well as in the historical Fluxus. The past > four decades of Fluxus activity gave pointers and signals. Members > are welcome to develop Fluxlist topics as they deem appropriate. > > We hope that Fluxlist will become a premier forum for conversation > and interaction on these topics. We want to create a rich locus for > the exchange of information on the theory and practice of what Dick > Higgins termed the arts of the new mentality and the intermedia art > forms. > > Fluxlist offers a forum for considering the early history of media > and intermedia ideas that have now taken on a rich identity of > their own. It is also a forum for considering the rich ecological > framework within which these distinct media and intermedia still > intersect. Fluxlist operates within the concept of the Fluxus > laboratory. It is open to the history of ideas and the archeology > of developments that are not always evident in single-discipline > discussions or the framework of single media. > > All kinds of discussion and participation are welcome. > > >> Invitation with suggestions< >> > > We actively invite notes, comments, and contributions on any of the > subjects or topics listed. Essays, letters, or lengthy reports of > topical subjects are welcome, along with conversation and > discussion on prior posts.
