[artinfo] Fluxus East

[e-Flux]

FLUXUS EAST
September 27 to November 4, 2007,
Wed - Sun 2-7 pm
Opening: September 26, 7 pm

FLUXUS NETWORKS IN
CENTRAL EASTERN EUROPE
Künstlerhaus Bethanien
Mariannenplatz 2
D-10997 Berlin
 
Gábor Altorjay, Eric Andersen, Tamás St. Auby, 
Azorro, Robert Filliou, György Galántai, Geoffrey 
Hendricks, Dick Higgins, Tadeusz Kantor, Milan 
Knízák, Alison Knowles, Július Koller, Jaroslaw 
Kozlowski, Vytautas Landsbergis, George Maciunas, 
Jonas Mekas, Larry Miller, Ben Patterson, Mieko 
Shiomi, Slave Pianos, Endre Tót, Gábor Tóth, 
Nomeda and Gediminas Urbonas, Jirí Valoch, Ben 
Vautier, Branko Vucicevic, Emmett Williams

curator: Petra Stegmann, exhibition architecture: Andrea Pichl

Fluxus is well-known as an (anti-)artistic, 
international network with centres in the USA, 
Western Europe and Japan. But what about this 
"intermedia" art -- art encompassing music, 
actions, poetry, objects and events -- beyond the 
"Iron Curtain"? What echo did Fluxus find in the 
states of the former Eastern Bloc, and what 
parallel developments existed there?

As a "programme of action", Fluxus -- according 
to its self-styled "chairman", the exiled 
Lithuanian George Maciunas in a letter supposedly 
to Nikita Chruscev -- was predestined to bring 
about unity between the "concretist" artists of 
the world and the "concretist" society of the 
USSR. Maciunas planned Fluxus as a collective 
based on the model of the Russian LEF (Leftist 
Arts Front). But these plans -- e. g. for a 
performance tour by the artists on the 
Trans-Siberian Railway --, developed with 
polished communist rhetoric in manifestos and 
letters, were to remain no more than a utopia.

After 1962, a different FLUXUS EAST developed 
through creative exchange between Fluxus artists 
and artists/musicians of the former Eastern Bloc, 
leading to events including Fluxus festivals in 
Vilnius (1966), Prague (1966), Budapest (1969), 
and Poznan (1977).

FLUXUS EAST represents a first stocktaking of the 
diverse Fluxus activities in the former Eastern 
Bloc; the exhibition shows parallel developments 
and artistic practices inspired by Fluxus, which 
are still adopted by some young artists today. 
Besides the "classic" Fluxus objects, the display 
will include photographs, films, correspondence, 
secret police files, interviews and recordings of 
music that document the presence of Fluxus in the 
former Eastern Bloc. As an interactive 
exhibition, FLUXUS EAST aims to facilitate a 
profound encounter with ideas, works and texts -- 
some presented as facsimiles to permit intense 
study. It is possible to play at FLUX PING PONG, 
and visitors are also invited to explore the 
POIPOIDROME by Robert Filliou.

Performances by Eric Andersen, Geoffrey 
Hendricks, Milan Knízák, Alison Knowles, Larry 
Miller, Ben Patterson, Tamás St. Auby, Ben 
Vautier and others will take place at the opening 
on September, 26th.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue 
(German/English, ca 250 pages, ca 200 images, 
hardcover).

The exhibition at Künstlerhaus Bethanien and the 
catalogue are funded by the German Federal 
Cultural Foundation.

From September 27-29, 2007 the conference FLUXUS. 
NETWORKS BETWEEN WEST AND EAST -- a joint event 
of Künstlerhaus Bethanien and House of World 
Cultures -- will take place at House of World 
Cultures and Art Forum Berlin.< 
http://www.hkw.de/de/programm2007/new_york/veranstaltungen_14292/fluxus_14921/AlleVeranstaltungen.php>http://www.hkw.de/de/programm2007/new_york/veranstaltungen_14292/fluxus_14921/AlleVeranstaltungen.php

Further exhibition venues: Contemporary Art 
Center, Vilnius (November 30, 2007 - January 13, 
2008), Bunkier Sztuki, Kraków (February 7 - March 
30, 2008), Ludwig Múzeum, Budapest (April 17 - 
June 1, 2008).

Network programme in Berlin:

Tschechisches Zentrum Czechpoint
Czech Action Art of the 1960s to the 1990s
Exhibition, September 14 - November 2, 2007

Collegium Hungaricum Berlin Portable Intelligence 
Increase Museum. Pop Art, Conceptual Art, and 
Actionism in Hungary during the 60s - 1956-1976 / 
The Near-East-European Criss-Cross (1956-1989)
Exhibition, September 26 - November 4, 2007

Polnisches Institut Berlin Galeria Akumulatory 2
Exhibition, September 28 - November 8, 2007

Art Forum Berlin Slave Pianos: Dissident Consonances
(The Flux-Labyrinth & the Iron Curtain at the Art Forum Berlin)
Concert, September 28, 2007

For more information about FLUXUS EAST contact: 
fluxus at bethanien.de or presse at bethanien.de