Friday, November 23, 2007

A Neo-Fluxus Creation!



I created the fluxus film above. It's called "Desert of the Real", after the term that Baudrillard used to first explain media in the society of spectacles, and all the narration in the video comes from Guy Debord's "Society of the Spectacle". It was partly filmed in Turkey, partly filmed in San Fransisco, and partly filmed in my bedroom. But in fact that doesn't matter much since, as you'll see, media images are simply "detached from every aspect of life" and they "merge into a stream in which the unity of that life can no longer be recovered." The "reality" of the medium in the message--and thus the medium itself--can be subject to unmitigated skepticism.

But just what is fluxus? Can anyone define it? There was a special period of fluxus, during the 60s, in which certain characteristics were upheld. But since then it has taken on a new life of its own. Many believe that fluxus is dead. But there are many fluxus artists still making what they claim to be fluxus art. So I have come up with a list of characteristics below that I think best describe what fluxus means in brainstorming-style descriptiveness.

  • Fluxus is an attitude. It is not a movement or a style.
  • Fluxus is intermedia. Fluxus creators like to see what happens when different media intersect. They use found & everyday objects, sounds, images, and texts to create new combinations of objects, sounds, images, and texts.
  • Fluxus is experimental.
  • Fluxus works are simple. The art is small, the texts are short, and the performances are brief.
  • Fluxus is fun. Humor has always been an important element in Fluxus.
  • Fluxus is about modality and the disunity of art.
  • Fluxus is always changing, so it doesn't always have to be this way.
  • Fluxus is not an art style.

2 comments:

Jeff Wills said...

The new look to your blog is good. The change becomes you, in a way. Oh, and I haven't forgot about the American Imperialism discussion either. I will get around to that discussion eventually. Been really busy lately with research.

I hope the weather in the NW is not too cold.

Acumensch said...

The weather here is sunny actually, just like in Hyperborea, oddly enough.

I'm glad you like the new aesthetics.