backstory50: Fluxus
Following last week’s backstory50 about Yoko Ono’s Mend Piece iterations and her role in Fluxus, performance, and instruction art, this week’s backstory50 highlights the Neuberger’s 1983 exhibition Fluxus, etc.: The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Collection and the FLUXFEST that was held in tandem with it. Read more here.
The exhibition itself featured various Fluxus art items, audiocassettes, correspondence, manuscripts, microfilm, photos, posters, and other archival materials gathered by artist Jon Hendricks, who worked over the course of nearly three decades to organize and curate the Silvermans’ collection.
A Fluxfest is one of the most common and effective ways for Fluxus artists to present their performance- or instruction-based works on a larger and even more collaborative scale. The Neuberger’s Fluxfest was organized by Dick Higgins and Larry Miller, two highly impactful artists who engaged Purchase College, SUNY, students to enact nearly forty works during the one-day event.
One of the artists who attended our Fluxfest was Hannah Wilke, a fantastic artist who sadly passed from cancer in 1993. In 2008, I was curating an exhibition of Hannah’s work entitled Hannah Wilke: Gestures and had the great pleasure of working with her sister, Marsie Scharlatt, and nephew, Andrew, in the Hannah Wilke Collection & Archives in Los Angeles. There, after spending hours and hours looking at the objects that were slated to be included in the exhibition, Marsie suddenly said, “Wait, there’s something else I want to show you.” She walked back into the storage area and returned carrying a small, rectangular box. I said, “What’s that?” She responded, “I don’t know.” Huh?
I opened the box and there inside was a magnifying glass with one of Hannah’s signature chewing gum sculptures. I took out the magnifying glass to look at it more closely. There on the glass was an inscription “Fluxfest ’83 Neuberger Museum of Art.” I looked at Marsie and said, “You really don’t know what this is?” She said, “No.”
I never met Hannah, but she was a powerful figure, larger than life, even after death.
Today’s 50th anniversary thank-you goes to the Silvermans; FLUXFEST ’83 artists such as Ay-O, Jean Dupuy, Dick Higgins, Alison Knowles, Larry Miller, Yoshi Wada, and Robert Watts; Yoko Ono, Hannah Wilke, and all the Purchase College students and community members who have, over the decades, helped bring performance-based art to the Neuberger.
Tracy Fitzpatrick
Director, Neuberger Museum of Art
Watch for a new backstory every Wednesday and follow us on social media as we share stories about the Museum’s history, our evolution to the present day, and look ahead to our exciting future. Stay up-to-date with the latest news and “NEU 50 Years” updates on our anniversary webpage.