Notes
- This is the definition of art that Martin Heidegger offers. See M. Heidegger, ‘The origin of the work of art’, in his Poetry, Language, Thought, A. Hofstadter (trans.), New York: Harper and Row/Toronto: Fitzhenry and Whiteside, 1971, pp.17–81.
- Fluxus's first event was a concert entitled Fluxus: International Festival of the Newest Music, held at the Städtisches Museum, Wiesbaden, 1962. Catalogues of recent exhibitions on fluxus shown in Australia include R. Block and G. Knapstein (eds), A Long Tale with Many Knots: Fluxus in Germany, 1962–1994, A. Lerner (trans.), Stuttgart: Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, 1995 (this catalogue was used for the exhibition when shown in Sydney and Melbourne in 2000 and was an English-language version of R. Block and G. Knapstein (eds), Eine lange Geschichte mit vielen Knoten: Fluxus in Deutschland, 1962–1994, Stuttgart: Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, 1995 [the German catalogue includes significantly more reproductions of works than the English]); A. Kirker and N. Zurbrugg, Francesco Conz and the Intermedia Avantgarde, Brisbane: Queensland Art Gallery, 1997; A. Kirker with K. Grant, Fluxus and After…, Brisbane: Queensland Art Gallery, 1993.
- A. Huyssen, ‘Back to the future: Fluxus in context’, in E. Armstrong and J. Rothfuss (eds), In the Spirit of Fluxus, Minneapolis, Minnesota: Walker Art Center, 1993, pp.141–51, p.150.
- R.E. Krauss, The Optical Unconscious, Cambridge, Mass./London: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1993, p.12.
- Block and Knapstein, Eine lange Geschichte mit vielen Knoten…, p.22.
- ibid. For Krauss's interest in the legacy of dada, surrealism and the thought of Georges Bataille, see Krauss, The Optical Unconscious; and Y. Bois and R.E. Krauss, Formless: A User's Guide, (exhibition at Centre Georges Pompidou), Cambridge, Mass.: Zone, 1997.
- Maciunas's notion of fluxus as ‘rear-garde’ is cited in I. Conzen, ‘From manager of the avant-garde to fluxus conductor: George Maciunas in Germany’ in Block and Knapstein, A Long Tale with Many Knots…, pp.18–29; p.24. Huyssen reads this ‘rear-garde’ as a version of avant-gardism (see his ‘Back to the future: fluxus in context’). While fluxus clearly did maintain many of the approaches associated with the avant-garde, it is also the case that they were grappling with its legacy. Huyssen does not acknowledge the catch-22 situation that fluxus found itself in: either the avant-garde is opposed, in which case such an opposition would mimic the oppositional tactics of the avant-garde, or, the avant-garde is left unquestioned, and is perpetuated.
- It may well be argued that Beuys's work, while associated with fluxus, does not fulfill the anti-art sentiment of other fluxus artists, nor does it fulfill fluxus's call for a project separated from the cult of the artist. René Block propounds such a view in his ‘Fluxus music: an everyday event. A lecture’, in Block and Knapstein, A Long Tale with Many Knots…, pp.30–40, pp.38–39. Beuys himself also recognised that while his work is rooted in fluxus's ideals, his art is a development of fluxus rather than a strict adherence to fluxus. See C. Kuoni (ed.), Energy Plan for the Western Man: Joseph Beuys in America, New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 1990, pp.128–29.