Fluxus: Difference between revisions

It is said that Fluxus challenged notions of representation, offering instead simple presentation. This, in fact, corresponds to a major difference between Western and Japanese art. Another important Fluxus characteristic was the elimination of perceived boundaries between art and life, a very prominent trend in post war art. This was exemplified by the work and writings of Josheph Beuys who stated, "every man is an artist." Fluxus's approach was an everyday, "economic" one as seen in the production of small objects made of paper and plastic. Again, this strongly corresponds with some of the fundamental characteristics of Japanese culture, i.e., the high artistic value of everyday acts and objects and the aesthetic appreciation of frugality. This also links with Japanese art, and the concept of shibumi, which may involve incompleteness, and supports the appreciation of bare objects, emphasizing subtlety rather than overtness. The renowned Japanese aesthetics scholar Onishi Yoshinori called the essence of Japanese art pantonomic because of the consciousness of no distinction between nature, art and life. Art is the way to approach life and nature/reality corresponding to actual existence.<ref>{{Cite journal|jstor = 25164637|title = Toshi Ichiyanagi, Japanese Composer and "Fluxus"|last = Galliano|first = Luciana|date = Summer 2006|journal = [[Perspectives of New Music]]|volume=44|issue = 2|pages=250–261|doi = 10.1353/pnm.2006.0012| s2cid=258131560 }}</ref>

 

Fluxus encouraged a "[[do-it-yourself]]" aesthetic, and valued simplicity over complexity. Like [[Dada]] before it, Fluxus included a strong current of anti-commercialism and an [[anti-art]] sensibility, disparaging the conventional market-driven art world in favor of an artist-centered creative practice. As Fluxus artist [[Robert Filliou]] wrote, however, Fluxus differed from Dada in its richer set of aspirations, and the positive social and communitarian aspirations of Fluxus far outweighed the anti-art tendency that also marked the group.<ref>[http://artsbirthday.blogspot.com/2007/12/who-was-robert-filliou.html Robert Filliou on Fluxus and art] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110919125827/http://artsbirthday.blogspot.com/2007/12/who-was-robert-filliou.html |date=19 September 2011 }} Retrieved 5 September 2010</ref>

 

===Use of shock===

[[Nam June Paik]] and his peers in the Fluxus art movement thoroughly understood the impact and importance of shock on the viewer. Fluxus artists believed that shock not only makes the viewer question their own reasoning, but is a means to awaken the viewer, "...from a perceptive lethargy furthered by habit."<ref name=Brill131>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=64_MywUrftoC&q=.from%20a%20perceptive%20lethargy%20furthered%20by%20habit%22&pg=PA131|title=Shock and the Senseless in Dada and Fluxus|last=Brill|first=Dorothée|date=2010|publisher=University Press of New England|isbn=9781584659174|page=131|access-date=25 October 2020|archive-date=23 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423080439/https://books.google.com/books?id=64_MywUrftoC&q=.from+a+perceptive+lethargy+furthered+by+habit%22&pg=PA131|url-status=live}}</ref> Paik himself described the shock factor in his Fluxus work: "People who come to my concerts or see my objects need to be transferred into another state of consciousness. They have to be high. And in order to put them into this state of highness, a little shock is required... Anyone who came to my exhibition saw the head and was high."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xv7XCwAAQBAJ&q=People%20who%20come%20to%20my%20concerts%20or%20see%20my%20objects%20paik&pg=PA294|title=Into the Maelstrom: Music, Improvisation and the Dream of Freedom: Before 1970|last=Toop|first=David|author-link=David Toop|date=2016-05-05|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA|isbn=9781441102775|pages=294|access-date=25 October 2020|archive-date=23 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423080414/https://books.google.com/books?id=xv7XCwAAQBAJ&q=People+who+come+to+my+concerts+or+see+my+objects+paik&pg=PA294|url-status=live}}</ref> Paik's "head" was that of a real cow displayed at the entrance to his exhibition, Exposition of Music—Electronic Television, located in the Galerie Parnass, Wuppertal, Germany in 1963.<ref name=Brill131 />

 

==Artistic philosophies==