Fluxus is an avant-garde art movement rising to prominence in Europe and America in the 1960s. The importance of Fluxus can be illustrated in the following statement by Roberta Smith: “Without Fluxus there would probably be no conceptual art, performance art or body art; Minimal and Pop would be substantially different.” Even though Fluxus is one of the most important art movements in history, it is actually very difficult to define. It inherits the anti-art and anti-authority concepts during the WWII and post-war periods; however, it is more than that. Beneath its decisive opposition against art, it proposes a solution to art.
In a declarative essay, “Neo-Dada in Music, Theater, Poetry, Art”, George Maciunas, one of the founding members of Fluxus, manifested many concepts that had a profound influence on contemporary art. These concepts can be generalized and categorized into the following three major beliefs of Fluxus. Firstly, to break the boundaries of art, Fluxus opposes the traditional categorization of fine art and believes the boundaries among different types of traditional categories of art are gradually blurring. This belief not only expands the scope of art and gives rise to the contemporary multimedia art. Secondly, Fluxus questions and demolishes the relationships between performers (active players) and audience (passive receivers). This belief is carried forward by many contemporary action artists and happening artists. Thirdly, Fluxus blurs the boundaries between art and life, believing everything in life is art. This broad belief allows for all kinds of possible forms of art, including music, languages, environmental issues, social issues and many others, which consequently enriches and expands the definition of art.

This exhibition can be seen as the first one in Asia to most comprehensively present the Fluxus movement, in which Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts works with the Palli Collection, a renowned contemporary art collection organization in Italy, showcasing over 300 pieces and sets of exhibits that cover a wide variety of artistic expressions and epitomize the spirits of Fluxus, including the artworks, publications, photographic records, performance documentations, music recording of over 50 representative Fluxus artists such as George Maciunas, Nam June Paik, Yoko Ono, John Cage, Joseph Beuys, and George Brecht. In addition, to help viewers develop further understanding of the Fluxus movement development back then, this exhibition also includes many valuable documentation photos by Fabrizio Garghetti, a renowned Italian photographer, of the historical moments and performances of Fluxus artists as well as several films rarely accessible to the public.

*image(left)
Untitled, 1969
3 TV devices and 3 white bases with artist's intervention
27x40x50.48x30x45.50x35x50cm
© Nam June Paik

Courtesy of Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts