2014 09 23 – 2015 04 01 Exhibition “FLUXUS + FLUXUS”

The Jonas Mekas Visual Arts Center in Vilnius, Lithuania is pleased to present the exhibition Fluxus + Fluxus.

Opening: September 23, 2014 at 6PM.

The (anti)art movement of Fluxus began in the early 1960s and was so universal that it transcended time and place and had an impact on almost all subsequent American as well as European art. The Fluxus ideology was based on eliminating the boundary between art and daily routine, seriousness and silliness, aesthetics and ideology.

The ideas of George Mačiūnas and Fluxus tremendously influenced the avant-garde (utopian, idealistic, etc.) aspirations of Lithuania’s artists during the Sąjūdis era as well as during the first several years of Lithuania’s independence. Even though Fluxus was from another time and place, it provided a powerful stimulus for changing ourselves as well as the world in which we lived.

The Fluxus + Fluxus exhibition consists of two parts. The first half is from the New York Fluxus collection of the JMVAC and consists of original works, documentation, posters, objects, artifacts, etc. It features Fluxus members George Mačiūnas, Nam June Paik, George Brecht, Dick Higgins, Ben Vautier and others.

The other half of the exhibition supplements the New York part with a Lithuanian Fluxus segment. It includes video and photo documentation of several avant-garde festivals and events that were influenced by Fluxus ideas and were held in Lithuania between 1988 and 1996, as well as original artifacts. Although not a comprehensive study of the impact of Fluxus in Lithuania, it does draw a parallel between the original material and Lithuanian examples of Fluxus.

The exhibition includes archival material and artifacts from the Anykščiai happenings festivals of 1988-1989 as well as videos of the Fluxus & Mačiūnas show that took place at the Children and Youth Center in 1992 in Vilnius. That exhibition was the first time that Fluxus originals were exhibited in Lithuania. Fluxus + Fluxus also includes footage of the groups Green Leaf, Post Ars and the street arts festival Straight.

This exhibition and its title are an attempt to see, without any obligation and with a sense of humor, what will happen when we add Fluxus to Fluxus. Will the result be just Fluxus or Fluxus + Fluxus?

A Fluxus performance that took place in 1992 in Lithuania will be re-enacted during the opening of the exhibition.

Curator: Kęstutis Šapoka