Category Archives: Fluxus

Robert Filliou, One-Minute Scenario (1963)

“A man runs out of the Chelsea Hotel, 222 W. 23rd Street, N.Y. He runs east to 7th Avenue

then south to 22nd Street

then west to 8th Avenue

then north to 23rd Street

then east to the Chelsea Hotel which he reenters at the same speed.”

Critic Lori Waxman compares this score to Benjamin Patterson’s Man Who Runs (1963), and points out how race and place deeply affect these scores. Filliou is a white French Protestant with a glass eye referencing a hotel, while Patterson is a Black man and referenced the library.

 

Credit: Waxman, Lori. Keep Walking Intently: The Ambulatory Art of the Surrealists, the Situationist International, and Fluxus. Sternberg Press, 2017. Page 232.

John Cage, Water Walk (1959)

[credit]

“Composed in 1959. Premiered on “Lascia o Raddoppia,” a TV program televised in Milan, Feb 5, 1959. Subsequently performed on “I’ve Got a Secret,” the popular American game show, Feb 24, 1960.

For solo television performance involving a large number of properties and a special single-track tape, 7.5 i.p.s. In one of his manuscripts, Cage indicated a subtitle for Water Walk as Water Music No. 2″. Like his Sounds of Venice, it was composed for the Italian TV quiz “Lascia O Raddoppia”, using Fontana Mix as the composing means. In it, Cage used 34 materials, as well as a single-track tape, 7 1/2″, 3 minutes.

The materials required are mostly related to water, i.e. bath tub, toy fish, pressure cooker, ice cubes (and an electric mixer to crush them), rubber duck, etc., but Cage also calls for a grand piano and 5 radios. The score consists of a list of properties, a floor plan showing the placements of instruments and objects, three pages with a timeline (one minute each) with descriptions and pictographic notations of occurrence of events, and a list of notes “regarding some of the actions to be made in the order of occurrence.” Timings are not accurate: “Start watch and then time actions as closely as possible to their appearance in the score” (from score). Water Walk led Cage to compose his Theatre Piece.”

 

La Monte Young, Composition 1960 #10

typed words on a piece of paper

La Monte Young “Composition 1960 #10” (1960) typewriter ink on paper, 3 3/8 × 8 9/16in.

La Monte Young‘s Composition 1960 #10, simply states, “Draw a straight line and follow it.” Young (1935-) was a well-known member of Fluxus.

Credit: Waxman, Lori. Keep Walking Intently: The Ambulatory Art of the Surrealists, the Situationist International, and Fluxus. Sternberg Press, 2017. Page 206.

person painting a line with their head

Nam June Paik “Zen for Head” (1962) [credit]

“During the first Fluxus concert, held in Wiesbaden, Germany, in 1962, Paik performed La Monte Young’s text-based score Composition 1960 #10 (to Bob Morris), which reads, “Draw a straight line and follow it.” Paik dipped his head into a bowl of ink and proceeded to produce a line with his hands, head, and necktie as he moved down the length of a large sheet of paper laid on the floor. This performance—which gained notoriety for Paik’s rather flamboyant interpretation and execution—became known as Zen for Head.” [credit]



Benjamin Patterson, “Stand Erect” (1961)

Ben Patterson, “From Methods & Processes: Stand Erect” (1962); performed by Ben Patterson and others

people standing together and slowly walking

Stand erect

Place body weight on right foot

lift left leg and foot with bent knee several inches above ground while balancing on right foot

extend left leg forward and place foot on ground, heel first, several inches ahead and to left of right foot

shift body weight to left foot

lift right leg and foot with bent knee several inches above ground while balancing on left foot

extend right leg forward and place foot on ground, heel first, several inches ahead and to the right of left foot

shift body weight to right foot

continue sequentially left, right, left, right until process becomes automatic

Yoko Ono “Map Piece” (1962-64)

Yoko Ono’s “Map Piece” (1962) takes the form of a set of instructions. It reverses the normal order of things: First you make the map, then you actualize it on the landscape, and finally you uncover the place’s name.

score for a walk

When she returned to “Map Piece” two years later (1964), Yoko Ono inverted our entire idea of a map. We use maps to locate ourselves, but how would you “Draw a map to get lost”?

score for a walk

[Image Credits]