Together with festivals, street actions, and musical events, artists’ editions played an essential role in Fluxus, an network of artists that emerged in the early 1960s in the United States, Europe, and Japan. A central figure in the group, artist and designer George Maciunas conceived of Fluxus Editions—affordable and portable publications and multiples meant to introduce art into everyday experience and to publicize the group’s ideas on an international scale. Often housed in small boxes or kits, the works incorporate instruction scores, films, interactive objects, word games, musical instruments, and performance documentation, reflecting an interdisciplinary, provocative, and often playful approach. Fluxus, alongside Pop Art, Nouveau Realisme, and Viennese Actionism, among other movements, challenged traditional forms, bringing about a radical shift in the production and perception of art in the second half of the twentieth century.
Fluxus Editions, as artworks produced in multiple, comprises an ambitious and influential aspect of these new currents. Dozens of projects resulted—often collaboratively – including works by George Brecht, Robert Filliou, Willem de Ridder, Milan Knizak, Alison Knowles, Yoko Ono, Nam June Paik, Benjamin Patterson, Mieko Shiomi, Ben Vautier, and Robert Watts.
This exhibition is the Museum's first in-depth presentation of works from the Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, which was acquired in 2008. It is one of the largest collections of its kind, consisting of approximately 8,000 artworks, archive and library materials. The nearly one hundred examples of Fluxus Editions on display represent the many aspects of the group’s innovative editions, including print projects, object multiples, a sound installation, and film projections.
Organized by Gretchen L. Wagner, The Sue and Eugene Mercy, Jr., Assistant Curator, Department of Prints and Illustrated Books, The Museum of Modern Art, and Jon Hendricks, Fluxus Consulting Curator.
During the course of the exhibition, the display of Fluxkits—collective groupings of Fluxus Editions assembled by George Maciunas—will change. Artists—some who were original members of Fluxus—have been invited to select objects from the kits and determine their arrangement. Video recordings of their process will be available on MoMA.org.
Mieko Shiomi (Japanese, born 1938) September 21–October 24, 2011
Alison Knowles (American, born 1933) October 5–October 31, 2011
Dora Maurer (Hungarian, born 1937) October 26–November 28, 2011
Anna Ostoya (Polish, born 1978) November 2–December 12, 2011
Cory Arcangel (American, born 1978) November 30, 2011–January 16, 2012
William Pope.L (American, born 1955) December 14, 2011–January 16, 2012
The artists’ involvement in the exhibition is supported through the generosity of the Associates of the Department of Prints and Illustrated Books.
The Museum of Modern Art
Thing/Thought: Fluxus Editions, 1962–1978
September 21, 2011–January 16, 2012
The Paul J. Sachs Prints and Illustrated Books Galleries, second floor
