Project 4/ Fluxus Overview

From my past experience and knowledge I  remember that the Fluxus, and the movement they created dealt largely with the notion of being the "anti-art;" they wanted to completely disassociate themselves from the aesthetics and ideals that were categorized as art, and the generalized connotations that came with the term. Fluxus was an international movement, that housed the ideas for many composers, artists and designers, who all shared this common goal of exploring and experimenting with objects, styles and techniques, in creating new forms and meanings of what is art. They were heavily influenced and experimental with the use of sound and movement in pieces and design. A lot of the ideals stated by the Futurist group were also acknowledged by Fluxus artists.

for Project 4 i'm still unsure of what my subject will be. I feel like some of my ideas are so closely linked to those I've already done, and I'm having a hard time deciphering what is necessary to show in this project and how it differs from a theme I've already done.

My Ideas

• my own demons
• recreate my psychological everyday issues that i go through
• under the influence
•  fast forward of my day to day outfits based on external forces [persona, weather, friends] 

Fluxus Art

Unlike previous artistic movements, Fluxus sought to change the history of the world, not just the history of art. The persistent goal of most Fluxus artists was to destroy any boundary between art and life. George Maciunas especially wanted to, "purge the world of bourgeoisie sickness...." He stated that Fluxus was "anti-art," in order to underscore the revolutionary mode of thinking about the practice and process of art.

A central Fluxus tenet was to dismiss and mock the elitist world of "high art" and to find any way possible to bring art to the masses, much in keeping with the social climate of the 1960s. Fluxus artists used humor to express their intent and, along with Dada, Fluxus was one of the few art movements to use humor throughout history. Despite their playful attitude, Fluxus artists were serious about their desire to change the balance of power in the art world. Their irreverence for "high art" had an impact on the perceived authority of the museum to determine what, and who, constituted "art."

Fluxus art involved the viewer, relying on the element of chance to shape the ultimate outcome of the piece. The use of chance was also employed by Dada,Marcel Duchamp, and other performance art of the time, such as Happenings. Fluxus artists were most heavily influenced by the ideas of John Cage, who believed that one should embark on a piece without having a conception of the eventual end. It was the process of creating that was important, not the finished product.

"In Fluxus there has never been any attempt to agree on aims or methods; individuals with something unnamable in common have simply naturally coalesced to publish and perform their work. Perhaps this common thing is a feeling that the bounds of art are much wider than they have conventionally seemed, or that art and certain long established bounds are no longer very useful."

http://www.theartstory.org/movement-fluxus.htm

Project 4 Ideas

YOKO ONO CUT PIECE by TECHNOLOGOS

For my experiment video I am most inspired by Yoko Ono. Specifically her performance art. Above is a simple performance piece that she did where she let random people in the audience cut her clothes off.  She said that "if half the people didn't get up and leave during the performance than she was not doing it right." This is because she wanted to create some type of emotion in the audience. She wanted them to react even if it was in a simple way. I'm also intrigued by her personal life with her daughter going missing and than of course her and John Lennon, she was a very interesting person to learn about.

Of course I'm not going to let people cut off my clothes but I'm thinking about doing a very short performance that will somehow make people react. I'm quiet sure what the performance will be. I'm still questioning and brainstorming. Like all familiar things can be abnormal and surreal, but how?

Fluxus movement started around the 1960s and had a dadaist attitude. I also have a big interest in the artist who use mixed-media and humor in their work. This movement was the anti-art. Fluxus encouraged a "'do-it-yourself' aesthetic, and valued simplicity over complexity." This is the route I want to go with my work.

I had ideas right now both involving self degradation or self degrading thoughts and screaming them out loud in a public place. But Su help inspire me to simplify it into just screams. Me with help from my friends will go into public places like the grocery store, bus, turlington, etc. and just simply scream. These are everyday places that I go to and I will try to experience then in a new light. I am really interested in peoples reaction. Yes, I know people might think I'm crazy but I'm really excited to make this project. I will also explore how each crowds reactions are different. I will use multiple cameras and people to help me bring this project to life.

Fluxus and Video Experiment

Fluxus was a movement of artists that sought to blend different artistic mediums and approaches to make art for "everyone." The movement served as a rebellion that desegragated art, making it available to those artistically "non-educated" individuals.

As far as the direction of my project, I'm not sure where I am headed. This will be determined by more research. Depicting everyday things can be a broad subject, and truly honing in on one of the aspects is something that I continue to explore.

Project 4: Fluxus and Ideation

The Fluxus movement is an "anti-art" movement dealing in areas from literature to urban planning that created an international network of artists from various fields and combined their disciplines in order to open up the definition of art. It combined the work of the revolutionaries from culture to politics.

     "Under the leadership of George Maciunas. Fluxus staged a series of festivals in Paris, Copenhagen,
     Amsterdam, London and New York, with avant-garde performances often spilling out into the street."

Fluxus came about through a series of concepts explored by John Cage, a composer of experimental music in the 50s. It was also hugely influenced by French artist, Marcel Duchamp, who had previously been active in the Dada movement. With his work made of found objects, he eliminated the need for artistic ability in order to create what we qualify as art.

For this project I'm interested in working on the idea of shoes and how we dress for the weather. Recently forecast will say there's a chance of rain, so you'll wear boots (like me today!), but the day is entirely clear and cloudless. The same thing goes for the opposite where it will appear sunny but then you have to slosh through puddles and walk through wet grass. The idea is entirely relatable but can also be comical as the Fluxus video was today, especially if it includes some audio of the subject protesting about the weather. So I'll most likely take shots of someone walking in wet shoes, walking in shoes with dirt in them, etc.