This is pdf of the full Fluxus Reader that includes the above essay. I worked on this anthology w... more This is pdf of the full Fluxus Reader that includes the above essay. I worked on this anthology with Ken Friedman and my students and I also researched and created all of the documents section, pp. 257-315, that includes a bibliography, chronology and a list of primary sources and Fluxus works
2002 version of the performance workbook with event scores by over 34 Fluxus artists. Produced in... more 2002 version of the performance workbook with event scores by over 34 Fluxus artists. Produced in conjunction with a special issue of journal Performance Research on Fluxus
Longer version of the paper presented at the SLSA conference in 2013.
Working in collaboration w... more Longer version of the paper presented at the SLSA conference in 2013.
Working in collaboration with the musician and programmer James Tenney, founding Fluxus member Dick Higgins produced the modular poem “hank and mary, a love story, a chorale for diter rot.” Working with the programming language Fortran IV Higgins and Tenney realized a poem that is a four-column permutation of the four words “hank,” “shot,” “mary,” and “dead.” Run on +3/10/1967 the computer took 1.64 minutes to generate 625 combinations of the four words in a four-column layout. This Paper considers this poem in the broader context of Higgins developing aesthetics and specifically considers how this work is a physical
manifestation of an attitude about art making; an aspect that recontextualizes creativity as a non-essentialist mode of pattern generation and can, and should, been seen as an important precursor to current discussions concerning the nature of creativity in a digital world. The significance of this poem is more than just a historical footnote as an early exploration into the use of computers in the arts. Instead, the use of the computer for the creation of this work marks a significant departure from the more typical understanding of computers and art in the mid and late 1960s. Instead of emphasizing more "standard" views" of computer as technology Higgins recognized and made use of the computer as a means for processing and manipulating information and most importantly as part of a system for interrogating the nature and function of paradigms. In his own early explorations of the use of computers Dick Higgins understood a crucial point about their potential, they were not the ultimate expression of centralized control, but they offered just the opposite, the greatest possibility for freedom for creativity through decentralization.
An extensive and definitive collection of Fluxus event scores by central Fluxus artists including... more An extensive and definitive collection of Fluxus event scores by central Fluxus artists including George Brecht, Ben Vautier, Dick Higgins, Milan Knizak, Bengt af Klintberg, Alison Knowles, Yoko Ono, Ken Friedman, Joe Jones, Mieko Shiomi, Emmett Williams, Larry Miller, George Maciunas and many more.
Legacy involves difficulties for those who inherit and for those who do not. History is both a gi... more Legacy involves difficulties for those who inherit and for those who do not. History is both a gift and a burden when it involves art. It is equally problematic when it involves the Fluxus intermedia forms that hover between art and life. This special issue of Visible Language — Fluxus After Fluxus — explores the challenging questions of Fluxus legacy. This includes the right to participate in a discourse network, canon formation, literature development, and the work of younger artists toward a heritage that some demand and others reject. These issues particularly trouble the legacy of Fluxus. Fluxus was an invisible college, created by the artists, composers, designers, and architects who took part. It functioned as a laboratory of experimental ideas. Fluxus challenged art and the art world on political and economic grounds using artistic means and philosophical principles. The perception of Fluxus has changed in recent years. The shift in standing and status has been bound up with and transformed by the institutions that collect, preserve, and interpret historical artifacts and documents. These artifacts and documents once told different versions of the Fluxus story to an uninterested world. Today, they tell a complex and often misunderstood story to a world that is interested in Fluxus for the wrong reasons. This situation defeats Fluxus with the trappings of success. This special journal issue on Fluxus After Fluxus explores the dialectical and hermeneutical work of recovery. It addresses the challenge of legacy by examining different aspects of the Fluxus legacy through multiple views.
Any community of thought and practice that expands beyond the circle of its immediate founders fa... more Any community of thought and practice that expands beyond the circle of its immediate founders faces the problem of legacy and history. This problem becomes inevitable when a community endures long enough to survive the founders. When these problems enter the realm of history, they are multiplied by the number of scholars and practitioners involved. The intermedia nature of Fluxus brings in questions and histories of art, literature, performance, music and other fields, while the mixed feelings and motives of younger practitioners raise other questions: the desire to claim legacy, the wish to deny legacy, anxiety of influence and more. Finally, the needs and demands of collectors, gallerists and museums compounds the problem. This special issue addresses these problems. Copyright (c) 2005 by Visible Language. Published here with permission of Visible Language.
This is pdf of the full Fluxus Reader that includes the above essay. I worked on this anthology w... more This is pdf of the full Fluxus Reader that includes the above essay. I worked on this anthology with Ken Friedman and my students and I also researched and created all of the documents section, pp. 257-315, that includes a bibliography, chronology and a list of primary sources and Fluxus works
2002 version of the performance workbook with event scores by over 34 Fluxus artists. Produced in... more 2002 version of the performance workbook with event scores by over 34 Fluxus artists. Produced in conjunction with a special issue of journal Performance Research on Fluxus
Longer version of the paper presented at the SLSA conference in 2013.
Working in collaboration w... more Longer version of the paper presented at the SLSA conference in 2013.
Working in collaboration with the musician and programmer James Tenney, founding Fluxus member Dick Higgins produced the modular poem “hank and mary, a love story, a chorale for diter rot.” Working with the programming language Fortran IV Higgins and Tenney realized a poem that is a four-column permutation of the four words “hank,” “shot,” “mary,” and “dead.” Run on +3/10/1967 the computer took 1.64 minutes to generate 625 combinations of the four words in a four-column layout. This Paper considers this poem in the broader context of Higgins developing aesthetics and specifically considers how this work is a physical
manifestation of an attitude about art making; an aspect that recontextualizes creativity as a non-essentialist mode of pattern generation and can, and should, been seen as an important precursor to current discussions concerning the nature of creativity in a digital world. The significance of this poem is more than just a historical footnote as an early exploration into the use of computers in the arts. Instead, the use of the computer for the creation of this work marks a significant departure from the more typical understanding of computers and art in the mid and late 1960s. Instead of emphasizing more "standard" views" of computer as technology Higgins recognized and made use of the computer as a means for processing and manipulating information and most importantly as part of a system for interrogating the nature and function of paradigms. In his own early explorations of the use of computers Dick Higgins understood a crucial point about their potential, they were not the ultimate expression of centralized control, but they offered just the opposite, the greatest possibility for freedom for creativity through decentralization.
An extensive and definitive collection of Fluxus event scores by central Fluxus artists including... more An extensive and definitive collection of Fluxus event scores by central Fluxus artists including George Brecht, Ben Vautier, Dick Higgins, Milan Knizak, Bengt af Klintberg, Alison Knowles, Yoko Ono, Ken Friedman, Joe Jones, Mieko Shiomi, Emmett Williams, Larry Miller, George Maciunas and many more.
Legacy involves difficulties for those who inherit and for those who do not. History is both a gi... more Legacy involves difficulties for those who inherit and for those who do not. History is both a gift and a burden when it involves art. It is equally problematic when it involves the Fluxus intermedia forms that hover between art and life. This special issue of Visible Language — Fluxus After Fluxus — explores the challenging questions of Fluxus legacy. This includes the right to participate in a discourse network, canon formation, literature development, and the work of younger artists toward a heritage that some demand and others reject. These issues particularly trouble the legacy of Fluxus. Fluxus was an invisible college, created by the artists, composers, designers, and architects who took part. It functioned as a laboratory of experimental ideas. Fluxus challenged art and the art world on political and economic grounds using artistic means and philosophical principles. The perception of Fluxus has changed in recent years. The shift in standing and status has been bound up with and transformed by the institutions that collect, preserve, and interpret historical artifacts and documents. These artifacts and documents once told different versions of the Fluxus story to an uninterested world. Today, they tell a complex and often misunderstood story to a world that is interested in Fluxus for the wrong reasons. This situation defeats Fluxus with the trappings of success. This special journal issue on Fluxus After Fluxus explores the dialectical and hermeneutical work of recovery. It addresses the challenge of legacy by examining different aspects of the Fluxus legacy through multiple views.
Any community of thought and practice that expands beyond the circle of its immediate founders fa... more Any community of thought and practice that expands beyond the circle of its immediate founders faces the problem of legacy and history. This problem becomes inevitable when a community endures long enough to survive the founders. When these problems enter the realm of history, they are multiplied by the number of scholars and practitioners involved. The intermedia nature of Fluxus brings in questions and histories of art, literature, performance, music and other fields, while the mixed feelings and motives of younger practitioners raise other questions: the desire to claim legacy, the wish to deny legacy, anxiety of influence and more. Finally, the needs and demands of collectors, gallerists and museums compounds the problem. This special issue addresses these problems. Copyright (c) 2005 by Visible Language. Published here with permission of Visible Language.
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Papers by Owen Smith
Working in collaboration with the musician and programmer James Tenney, founding Fluxus member Dick Higgins produced the modular poem “hank and mary, a love story, a chorale for diter rot.” Working with the programming language Fortran IV Higgins and Tenney realized a poem that is a four-column permutation of the four words “hank,” “shot,” “mary,” and “dead.” Run on +3/10/1967 the computer took 1.64 minutes to generate 625 combinations of the four words in a four-column layout. This Paper considers this poem in the broader context of
Higgins developing aesthetics and specifically considers how this work is a physical
manifestation of an attitude about art making; an aspect that recontextualizes creativity as a non-essentialist mode of pattern generation and can, and should, been seen as an important precursor to current discussions concerning the nature of creativity in a digital world. The significance of this poem is more than just a historical footnote as an early exploration into the use of computers in the arts. Instead, the use of the computer for the creation of this work marks a significant
departure from the more typical understanding of computers and art in the mid and late 1960s. Instead of emphasizing more "standard" views" of computer as technology Higgins recognized and made use of the computer as a means for processing and manipulating information and most importantly as part of a system for interrogating the nature and function of paradigms. In his own early explorations of the use of computers Dick Higgins understood a crucial point about their potential, they were not the ultimate expression of centralized control, but they offered just the opposite, the greatest possibility for freedom for creativity through decentralization.
Articles by Owen Smith
Fluxus and Intermedia by Owen Smith
Working in collaboration with the musician and programmer James Tenney, founding Fluxus member Dick Higgins produced the modular poem “hank and mary, a love story, a chorale for diter rot.” Working with the programming language Fortran IV Higgins and Tenney realized a poem that is a four-column permutation of the four words “hank,” “shot,” “mary,” and “dead.” Run on +3/10/1967 the computer took 1.64 minutes to generate 625 combinations of the four words in a four-column layout. This Paper considers this poem in the broader context of
Higgins developing aesthetics and specifically considers how this work is a physical
manifestation of an attitude about art making; an aspect that recontextualizes creativity as a non-essentialist mode of pattern generation and can, and should, been seen as an important precursor to current discussions concerning the nature of creativity in a digital world. The significance of this poem is more than just a historical footnote as an early exploration into the use of computers in the arts. Instead, the use of the computer for the creation of this work marks a significant
departure from the more typical understanding of computers and art in the mid and late 1960s. Instead of emphasizing more "standard" views" of computer as technology Higgins recognized and made use of the computer as a means for processing and manipulating information and most importantly as part of a system for interrogating the nature and function of paradigms. In his own early explorations of the use of computers Dick Higgins understood a crucial point about their potential, they were not the ultimate expression of centralized control, but they offered just the opposite, the greatest possibility for freedom for creativity through decentralization.