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{{short description|International network of artists, composers and designers}}
{{for|the programming environment|Fluxus (programming environment)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2014}}
[[File:Gmaciunas-manifesto.jpg|thumb|''Fluxus Manifesto'', 1963, by [[George Maciunas]]]]
[[File:Festum Fluxorum Fluxus.png|thumb|Poster to ''Festum Fluxorum Fluxus'', 1963]]

'''Fluxus''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|f|l|ʌ|k|s|ə|s}}) was an international, interdisciplinary community of artists, composers, designers, and poets during the 1960s and 1970s who, inspired by [[John Cage]], engaged in experimental [[performance art|art performances]] which emphasized the artistic tradition of chance-based process over the finished product.<ref>''Nationalencyclopedin'' (''Swedish National Encyclopedia''). 2016. "Fluxus". Accessible at: http://www.ne.se/uppslagsverk/encyclopedi/lång/fluxus {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423080425/https://auth.ne.se/login |date=23 April 2021 }} Accessed September 11, 2016.</ref><ref>Wainwright, Lisa S. 2016. "Fluxus." ''Britannica Academic'' (Encyclopædia Britannica Online).</ref> Fluxus is known for experimental contributions to different artistic media and disciplines and for generating new art forms. These art forms include [[intermedia]], a term coined by Fluxus artist [[Dick Higgins]];<ref>[[Dick Higgins|Higgins, Dick]]. 1966. "Intermedia." ''Something Else Newsletter''. vol. 1, no. 1, February, pp. 1–3.</ref><ref>Higgins, Dick. 2001. "Intermedia" ''Multimedia: From Wagner to Virtual Reality''. Randall Packer and Ken Jordan, eds. New York: W. W. Norton, pp. 27–32.</ref><ref>Higgins, Dick. 1984. ''Horizons: The Poetics and Theory of the Intermedia''. Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press</ref><ref>[[Hannah Higgins|Hannah B. Higgins]], "The Computational Word Works of Eric Andersen and Dick Higgins", ''Mainframe Experimentalism: Early Digital Computing in the Experimental Arts'', Hannah Higgins & Douglas Kahn, eds., pp. 271–281</ref> [[conceptual art]], first developed by [[Henry Flynt]],<ref>[[Henry Flynt|Flynt, Henry]]. 1961. "Concept Art: Innperseqs." Reprinted in 1963: ''An Anthology''. La Monte Young, ed. New York: Jackson Mac Low and La Monte Young, np.</ref><ref>Flynt, Henry. 1963. "Essay: Concept Art: Provisional Version." ''An Anthology''. La Monte Young, ed. New York: Jackson Mac Low and La Monte Young, np.</ref> an artist contentiously associated with Fluxus; and [[video art]], first pioneered by [[Nam June Paik]] and [[Wolf Vostell]].<ref>[[Nam June Paik|Paik, Nam June]]. 1993. ''Nam June Paik: eine Data Base. La Biennale di Venezia. XLV Esposizione lnternazionale D'Arte, June 13 – October 10, 1993''. {{ill|Klaus Bußmann|de}} and {{ill|Florian Matzner|de}}, eds. Venice and Berlin: [[Biennale di Venezia]] and Edition Cantz.</ref><ref>Hanhardt, John and Ken Hakuta. 2012. ''Nam June Paik: Global Visionary''. London and Washington, D.C.: D. Giles, Ltd., in association with the [[Smithsonian American Art Museum]].</ref><ref>Fundacio Joan Miro. 1979. ''Vostell. Environments Pintura Happenings Dibuixos Video de 1958 a 1978''. Barcelona: Fundacio Joan Miro.</ref> Dutch gallerist and art critic Harry Ruhé describes Fluxus as "the most radical and experimental art movement of the sixties".<ref name="Ruhé, Harry 1979">{{ill|Harry Ruhé|nl|lt=Ruhé, Harry}}. 1979. ''Fluxus, the Most Radical and Experimental Art Movement of the Sixties'' Amsterdam: Editions Galerie A.</ref><ref>Ruhé, Harry. 1999. "Introduction." ''25 Fluxus Stories'' Amsterdam: Tuja Books, p. 4.</ref>

Fluxus artists produced [[performance art|performance]] "events", which included enactments of scores, "[[Neo-Dada]]" [[noise music]], and time-based works, as well as [[concrete poetry]], [[visual art]], [[urban planning]], architecture, design, literature, and publishing. Many Fluxus artists share anti-commercial and [[anti-art]] sensibilities. Fluxus is sometimes described as "intermedia". The ideas and practices of composer [[John Cage]] heavily influenced Fluxus, especially his notions that one should embark on an artwork without a conception of its end, and his understanding of the work as a site of interaction between artist and audience. The process of creating was privileged over the finished product.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Fluxus Movement, Artists and Major Works|url = http://www.theartstory.org/movement-fluxus.htm|access-date = 2015-10-06|archive-date = 19 October 2015|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151019105630/http://www.theartstory.org/movement-fluxus.htm|url-status = live}}</ref> Another notable influence were the [[Readymades of Marcel Duchamp|readymades]] of [[Marcel Duchamp]], a French artist who was active in [[Dada]] (1916 – {{circa|1922}}). [[George Maciunas]], largely considered to be the founder of this fluid movement, coined the name Fluxus in 1961 to title a proposed magazine.<ref>{{Cite book|title=In the Spirit of Fluxus|editor1-last=Armstrong|editor1-first=Elizabeth|editor1-link=Elizabeth Armstrong (curator)|publisher=[[Walker Art Center]]|chapter=The Occasion of the Exhibition|year=1993|isbn=9780935640403|location=Minneapolis|page=24}}</ref>

Many artists of the 1960s took part in Fluxus activities, including [[Joseph Beuys]], [[Willem de Ridder]], [[George Brecht]], [[John Cage]], [[Robert Filliou]], [[Ben Vautier]], [[Al Hansen]], [[Dick Higgins]], [[Bengt af Klintberg]], [[Alison Knowles]], [[Arthur Köpcke|Addi Køpcke]], [[Yoko Ono]], [[Nam June Paik]], [[Shigeko Kubota]], [[La Monte Young]], [[Mary Bauermeister]], [[Joseph Byrd]], [[Ben Patterson]], [[Daniel Spoerri]], [[Jackson Mac Low]], [[Eric Andersen (artist)|Eric Andersen]], [[Ken Friedman]], [[Terry Riley]] and [[Wolf Vostell]]. Not only were they a diverse community of collaborators who influenced each other, they were also, largely, friends. They collectively had what were, at the time, radical ideas about art and the role of art in society.<ref>Zurbrugg, Nicholas. 1990. "A Spirit of Large Goals." – Dada and Fluxus at Two Speeds. ''Fluxus!'' Nicholas Zurbrugg, Francesco Conz, and Nicholas Tsoutas, eds. Brisbane, Australia: Institute of Modern Art, p. 29.</ref> Fluxus founder George Maciunas proposed a well known manifesto, but few considered Fluxus to be a true movement,<ref>[[Dick Higgins|Higgins, Dick]]. 1992. "Fluxus: Theory and Reception." ''Lund Art Press'', vol II, no. 2, pp. 25–46.</ref><ref>Higgins, Dick. 1998. "Fluxus: Theory and Reception." ''The Fluxus Reader'', Ken Friedman, ed. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley Academy Editions, pp. 218–236.</ref> and therefore the manifesto was not largely adopted. Instead, a series of festivals in Wiesbaden, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Amsterdam, London, and New York, gave rise to a loose but robust community with many similar beliefs. In keeping with the reputation Fluxus earned as a forum of experimentation,<ref name="Ruhé, Harry 1979"/> some Fluxus artists came to describe Fluxus as a laboratory.<ref>[[Ken Friedman|Friedman, Ken]]. 2011. "Fluxus: A Laboratory of Ideas." ''Fluxus and the Essential Qualities of Life''. Jacquelynne Baas, editor. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, p. 35.</ref><ref>Friedman, Ken. 2012. "Freedom? Nothingness? Time? Fluxus and the Laboratory of Ideas." ''Theory, Culture, and Society'', vol. 29, no. 7/8, December, pp. 372–398. {{doi|10.1177/0263276412465440}} {{Cite journal |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0263276412465440 |title=Freedom? Nothingness? Time? Fluxus and the Laboratory of Ideas - Ken Friedman, 2012 |journal=Theory, Culture & Society |date=December 2012 |volume=29 |issue=7–8 |pages=372–398 |doi=10.1177/0263276412465440 |access-date=23 April 2021 |archive-date=23 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423080414/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0263276412465440 |url-status=bot: unknown |last1=Friedman |first1=Ken |s2cid=144894255 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==Early history (late 1950s to 1965)==

===Origins===
[[File:FluxYearBox2.jpg|280px|thumb|''Flux Year Box 2'', {{circa|1967}}, a Flux box edited and produced by George Maciunas, containing works by many early Fluxus artists]] 
The origins of Fluxus lie in many of the concepts explored by composer [[John Cage]] in his [[experimental music]] of the 1930s through the 1960s. After attending courses on [[Zen Buddhism]] taught by [[D. T. Suzuki]], Cage taught a series of classes in experimental composition from 1957 to 1959 at the [[New School for Social Research]] in New York City. These classes explored the notions of chance and [[Indeterminacy in music|indeterminacy]] in art, using music scores as a basis for compositions that could be performed in potentially infinite ways. Some of the artists and musicians who became involved in Fluxus, including [[Jackson Mac Low]], [[La Monte Young]], [[George Brecht]], [[Al Hansen]], and [[Dick Higgins]] attended Cage's classes.<ref>Maciunas himself joined the class in 1959–60, and was taught by Maxfield</ref>{{sfn|Brecht|Robinson|2005|p=28}} A major influence is found in the work of [[Marcel Duchamp]].<ref name="MOMA">{{Cite web |url=http://www.moma.org/collection/theme.php?theme_id=10457 |title=Michael Corris, MoMA, Grove Art Online, Oxford University Press, 2009 |access-date=12 June 2012 |archive-date=8 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150508010418/http://www.moma.org/collection/theme.php?theme_id=10457 |url-status=live }}</ref> Also of importance was ''Dada Poets and Painters'', edited by Robert Motherwell, a book of translations of Dada texts that was widely read by members of Fluxus.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Dada Painters And Poets: An Anthology|last=Motherwell|first=Robert and Jean Arp|publisher=Belknap Press Of Harvard University Press|year=1989|location=Cambridge, Mass}}</ref> The term [[anti-art]], a precursor to [[Dada]], was coined by Duchamp around 1913, when he created his first readymades from [[found object]]s (ordinary objects found or purchased and declared art).<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/a/anti-art |title=Anti-art, Art that challenges the existing accepted definitions of art, Tate |access-date=7 October 2015 |archive-date=5 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170405055113/http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/a/anti-art |url-status=live }}</ref> Indifferently chosen, [[Readymades of Marcel Duchamp|readymades]] and altered readymades challenged the notion of art as an inherently optical experience, dependent on academic art skills. The most famous example is Duchamp's altered readymade ''[[Fountain (Duchamp)|Fountain]]'' (1917), a work which he signed "R. Mutt." While taking refuge from WWI in New York, in 1915 Duchamp formed a Dada group with [[Francis Picabia]] and American artist [[Man Ray]]. Other key members included [[Arthur Cravan]], [[Florine Stettheimer]], and the [[Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven|Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven]], credited by some with proposing the idea for [[Fountain (Duchamp)|Fountain]] to Duchamp.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/06/arts/design/06dada.html|title=Dada's Women, Ahead of Their Time|work=[[The New York Times]]|last=Cotter|first=Holland|author-link=Holland Cotter|date=6 July 2006|access-date=17 May 2022|archive-date=4 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170104063747/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/06/arts/design/06dada.html?_r=1|url-status=live}}</ref> By 1916 these artists, especially Duchamp, Man Ray, and Picabia, became the center for radical anti-art activities in New York City. Their artworks would inform Fluxus and [[conceptual art]] in general.<ref name="MOMA" /> In the late 1950s and very early 1960s, Fluxus and contemporaneous groups or movements, including [[Happenings]], [[Nouveau réalisme]], [[mail art]], and [[performance art|action art]] in Japan, Austria, and other international locations were, often placed under the rubric of [[Neo-Dada]]".<ref>Hapgood, Susan and Rittner, Jennifer. "Neo-Dada: Redefining Art, 1958–1962", ''[[Performing Arts Journal]]'', vol. 17, no. 1 (January 1995), pp. 63–70.</ref>

A number of other contemporary events are credited as either anticipating Fluxus or as constituting proto-Fluxus events.<ref name="MOMA" /> The most commonly cited include the series of Chambers Street loft concerts, in New York, curated by [[Yoko Ono]] and La Monte Young in 1961, featuring pieces by Ono, [[Jackson Mac Low]], [[Joseph Byrd]], and [[Henry Flynt]];<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.jeclique.com/onoweb/loftono.html |title=Performances at Yoko Ono's Chambers Street Loft |access-date=2 July 2012 |archive-date=10 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160410182850/http://www.jeclique.com/onoweb/loftono.html |url-status=live }}</ref> the month-long ''Yam'' festival held in upstate New York by George Brecht and [[Robert Watts (artist)|Robert Watts]] in May 1963 with [[Ray Johnson]] and [[Allan Kaprow]] (the culmination of a year's worth of [[Mail Art]] pieces);<ref name="MOMA" /> and a series of concerts held in [[Mary Bauermeister]]'s studio, Cologne, 1960–61, featuring [[Nam June Paik]] and John Cage among many others. It was at one of these events in 1960, during his Etude pour Piano, that Paik leapt into the audience and cut John Cage's tie off, ran out of the concert hall, and then phoned the hall's organisers to announce the piece had ended.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/exhibition/nam-june-paik/nam-june-paik-room-guide/nam-june-paik-section-2 |title=Tate, Nam June Paik, Fluxus, Performance, Participation |access-date=4 July 2012 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304111327/http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/exhibition/nam-june-paik/nam-june-paik-room-guide/nam-june-paik-section-2 |url-status=live }}</ref> As one of the movement's founders, Dick Higgins, stated:
<blockquote>Fluxus started with the work, and then came together, applying the name Fluxus to work which already existed. It was as if it started in the middle of the situation, rather than at the beginning.<ref>{{YouTube|9feLztCuQ18|1986 interview}}, [[Dick Higgins]] on Fluxus {{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9feLztCuQ18 |title=Dick Higgins on FLUXUS - YouTube |website=[[YouTube]] |date=15 March 2010 |access-date=27 November 2016 |archive-date=23 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170323115751/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9feLztCuQ18 |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref><ref>Amongst the earliest pieces that would later be published by Fluxus were Brecht's event scores, the earliest of which dated from around 1958/9, and works such as Valoche, which had originally been exhibited in Brecht's solo show 'Toward's Events' at 1959.</ref>
</blockquote>

===Neo-Dada Anthology of Chance Operations to Early Fluxus===
In 1961 the American musician/artist [[La Monte Young]] had been enlisted to guest-edit an East Coast issue of the west Coast literary journal ''[[Beatitude (magazine)|Beatitude]]'' to be called ''Beatitude East''. But as the ''Beatitude'' connection was prematurely terminated, [[George Maciunas]], a trained [[graphic design]]er, asked Young if he could layout and help publish the [[Neo-Dada]] material.<ref>Colby Chamberlain, ''Fluxus Administration: George Maciunas and the Art of Paperwork'', University of Chicago Press, 2024, p. 4</ref> Maciunas supplied the paper, design, and some money for publishing the anthology which contained the work of New York [[avant-garde]] artists from that time. The project took the title of ''[[An Anthology of Chance Operations]]'' from its full title ''An Anthology of chance operations concept art anti-art indeterminacy improvisation meaningless work natural disasters plans of action stories diagrams Music poetry essays dance constructions mathematics compositions''. ''An Anthology of Chance Operations'' was completed and published in 1963 by [[Jackson Mac Low]] and La Monte Young, as Maciunas had by then moved to Germany to escape his creditors.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/news-features/magazine/design-in-flux/. |title=Chamberlain, Colby. "Design in Flux" Art In America. 1 October 2014 |access-date=7 July 2015 |archive-date=8 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150708165151/http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/news-features/magazine/design-in-flux/ |url-status=live }}</ref> After opening a short-lived art gallery on [[Madison Avenue]], which showed work by [[Dick Higgins]], [[Yoko Ono]], [[Jonas Mekas]], [[Ray Johnson]], [[Henry Flynt]] and La Monte Young, Maciunas moved to [[Wiesbaden]], West Germany, having taken a job as a graphic designer with the [[US Air Force]] in late 1961{{sfn|Hendricks|1988|p=22}} after the gallery had gone bust. From Wiesbaden, Maciunas continued his contact with Young and other New York City-based artists and with expatriate American artists like [[Benjamin Patterson]] and [[Emmett Williams]], whom he met in Europe. By September 1962, Maciunas was joined by [[Dick Higgins]] and [[Alison Knowles]] who traveled to Europe to help him promote a second planned publication to be called '''Fluxus''', the first of a series of ''yearbooks'' of artists' works. Maciunas had first come up with the title ''Fluxus'' for a never done anthology of New York's [[Lithuania]]n artists, but instead applied the term to artists working in the ''Anthology of Chance Operations'' vein.<ref>Colby Chamberlain, ''Fluxus Administration: George Maciunas and the Art of Paperwork'', University of Chicago Press, 2024, p. 4</ref> Because after fleeing Lithuania at the end of [[World War II]], his family settled in New York, where he first met the group of avant-garde artists and musicians centered around [[John Cage]] and [[La Monte Young]]. Thus Maciunas coined the name ''Fluxus'' not for his perceived group of Lithuanian artists but for the [[Neo-Dada]] art being produced by a range of artists with a shared sensibility as an attempt to "fuse... cultural, social, & political revolutionaries into [a] united front and action".<ref>''Fluxus Manifesto'', 1963, by George Maciunas</ref> 

Maciunas first publicly coined the term ''Fluxus'' (meaning 'to flow') in a 'brochure prospectus' that he distributed to the audience at a festival he had organized, called ''Après Cage; Kleinen Sommerfest'' (After Cage; a Small Summer Festival), in [[Wuppertal]], West Germany, 9 June 1962.{{sfn|Hendricks|1988|p=91}}

Maciunas was an avid art historian, and initially referred to Fluxus as 'neo-dadaism' or 'renewed dadaism'.<ref>Maciunas, ''Fluxus Prospectus'', quoted in {{harvnb|Hendricks|1988|p=23}}</ref> He wrote a number of letters to [[Raoul Hausmann]], an original [[dada]]ist, outlining his ideas. Hausmann discouraged the use of the term;
<blockquote>
I note with much pleasure what you said about German neodadaists—but I think even the Americans should not use the term "neodadaism" because neo means nothing and -ism is old-fashioned. Why not simply "Fluxus"? It seems to me much better, because it's new, and dada is historic.<ref>Raoul Hausmann, quoted in {{harvnb|Maciunas|Ay-O|1998|p=40}}. Letter dated 4 November 1962, according to {{harvnb|Kellein|2007|loc=n. 47, p. 65}}</ref>
</blockquote>
As part of the festival, Maciunas wrote a lecture entitled 'Neo-Dada in the United States'.<ref>The lecture was actually given in German by Artus C Caspari</ref> After an attempt to define 'Concretist Neo-Dada' art, he explained that Fluxus was opposed to the exclusion of the everyday from art. Using 'anti-art and artistic banalities', Fluxus would fight the 'traditional artificialities of art'.<ref name=fluxus62>{{harvnb|Kellein|2007|p=62}}</ref> The lecture ended with the declaration "Anti-art is life, is nature, is true reality—it is one and all."<ref name=fluxus62/>

===European festivals and the Fluxkits===
[[File:PianoActivities.jpg|280px|left|thumb|''Piano Activities'', by [[Philip Corner]], as performed in Wiesbaden, 1962, by (l–r) [[Emmett Williams]], [[Wolf Vostell]], [[Nam June Paik]], [[Dick Higgins]], [[Benjamin Patterson]] and [[George Maciunas]]]]
In 1962, Maciunas, Higgins and Knowles traveled to Europe to promote the planned Fluxus publication with concerts of antique musical instruments. With the help of a group of artists including [[Joseph Beuys]] and [[Wolf Vostell]], Maciunas eventually organised a series of ''Fluxfests'' across Western Europe. Starting with 14 concerts between 1 and 23 September 1962, at [[Wiesbaden]], these ''Fluxfests'' presented work by musicians such as John Cage, [[György Ligeti|Ligeti]], [[Penderecki]], [[Terry Riley]] and [[Brion Gysin]] alongside [[Performance art|performance]] pieces written by Higgins, Knowles, George Brecht and [[Nam June Paik]], [[Ben Patterson]], [[Robert Filliou]], and [[Emmett Williams]], amongst many others. One performance in particular, ''Piano Activities'' by [[Philip Corner]], became notorious by challenging the important status of the piano in post-war German homes.

The score—which asks for any number of performers to, among other things, "play", "pluck or tap", "scratch or rub", "drop objects" on, "act on strings with", "strike soundboard, pins, lid or drag various kinds of objects across them" and "act in any way on underside of piano"<ref>[http://marcusboon.com/node/23 Marcus Boon] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101102022741/http://marcusboon.com/node/23 |date=2 November 2010 }}</ref>—resulted in the total destruction of a piano when performed by Maciunas, Higgins and others at Wiesbaden. The performance was considered scandalous enough to be shown on German television four times, with the introduction "The lunatics have escaped!"<ref>"Die Irren sind los" quoted in {{harvnb|Kellein|2007|p=65}}</ref>
<blockquote>At the end we did Corner's ''Piano Activities'' not according to his instructions since we systematically destroyed a piano which I bought for $5 and had to have it all cut up to throw it away, otherwise we would have had to pay movers, a very practical composition, but German sentiments about this "instrument of Chopin" were hurt and they made a row about it...<ref>George Maciunas, letter to [[La Monte Young]], 1962, quoted in {{harvnb|Maciunas|Ay-O|1998|p=53}}</ref>
</blockquote>
At the same time, Maciunas used his connections at work to start printing cheap mass-produced books and multiples by some of the artists that were involved in the performances. The first three to be printed were ''Composition 1961'' by La Monte Young ([https://web.archive.org/web/20150722033506/http://archives.carre.pagesperso-orange.fr/Young%20La%20Monte.html see it here], ''An Anthology of Chance Operations'' edited by Young and Mac Low and ''[[Water Yam (artist's book)|Water Yam]]'', by George Brecht. ''Water Yam'', a series of event scores printed on small sheets of card and collected together in a cardboard box, was the first in a series of artworks that Maciunas printed that became known as ''Fluxkits''. Cheap, mass-produced and easily distributed, ''Fluxkits'' were originally intended to form an ever-expanding library of modern [[performance art]]. ''Water Yam'' was published in an edition of 1000 and originally cost $4.<ref>Price listed in the ''Fluxus Preview Review'', July 1963, quoted in {{harvnb|Hendricks|1988|p=217}}</ref> By April 1964, almost a year later, Maciunas still had 996 copies unsold.<ref>Maciunas, letter to Emmett Williams, quoted in {{harvnb|Maciunas|Ay-O|1998|p=106}}</ref>

Maciunas' original plan had been to design, edit and pay for each edition himself, in exchange for the copyright to be held by the collective.{{sfn|Hendricks|1988|p=24}}{{sfn|Kellein|2007|p=69}} Profits were to be split 80/20 at first, in favor of the artist.<ref>This was to go down to 50/50 within a year{{harvnb|Kellein|2007|p=88}}</ref> Since most of the composers already had publishing deals, Fluxus quickly moved away from music toward performance and visual art. John Cage, for instance, never published work under the Fluxus moniker due to his contract with the music publishers [[Edition Peters]].<ref>Maciunas sent out letters to 20 international artists between late 62 and early 63, demanding each artist relinquish any publishing rights and have Fluxus as sole and exclusive publisher. Maciunas likened his agreement to Cage's arrangement with Peters Editions. Only two artists—[[Henry Flynt]] and [[Thomas Schmit]] signed up. Cage was not asked, due at least on Maciunas' side, to the aforesaid contract with editions peters. {{harvnb|Kellein|2007|pp=69–71}}</ref>
<blockquote>Maciunas seemed to have a fantastic ability to get things done.... if you had things to be printed he could get them printed. It's pretty hard in East Brunswick to get good offset printing. It's not impossible, but it's not so easy, and since I'm very lazy it was a relief to find somebody who could take the burden off my hands. So there was this guy Maciunas, a Lithuanian or Bulgarian, or somehow a refugee or whatever—beautifully dressed—"astonishing looking" would be a better adjective. He was somehow able to carry the whole thing off, without my having to go 57 miles to find a printer.<ref>George Brecht, "An Interview with Robin Page for [[Carla Liss]]", In ''Art And Artists'', London October 1972, pp. 30–31 reprinted in {{harvnb|Maciunas|Ay-O|1998|pp=109–110}}</ref>
</blockquote>
Since Maciunas was [[colorblind]], Fluxus multiples were almost always black and white.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/24/arts/art-in-review-069620.html|title=Art in Review: The man who organized Fluxus|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=24 May 1996 |access-date=17 May 2022|archive-date=27 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170627120907/http://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/24/arts/art-in-review-069620.html |url-status=live|last=Cotter|first=Holland|author-link=Holland Cotter}}</ref>

===New York and the FluxShops===
[[File:DeRidder'sFluxMailOrder.jpg|upright|left|thumb|[[Willem de Ridder]]'s Mail Order FluxShop, Amsterdam, with Dorothea Meijer, winter 1964–65]]
After his contract with the US Air Force was terminated due to ill health, Maciunas was forced to return to the US on 3 September 1963.{{sfn|Maciunas|Ay-O|1998|p=340}} Once back in New York, he set about organizing a series of street concerts and opened a new shop, the 'Fluxhall', on [[Canal Street (Manhattan)|Canal Street]].
12 concerts, "away from the beaten track of the New York art scene",<ref name=fluxus93>{{harvnb|Kellein|2007|p=93}}</ref> took place on Canal Street, 11 April to 23 May 1964. With photographs taken by Maciunas himself, pieces by [[Ben Vautier]], [[Alison Knowles]] and [[Takehisa Kosugi]] were performed in the street for free, although in practice there was 'no audience to speak of'<ref name=fluxus93/> anyway.
<blockquote>
The people in Fluxus had understood, as Brecht explained, that "concert halls, theaters, and art galleries" were "mummifying". Instead, these artists found themselves "preferring streets, homes, and railway stations...." Maciunas recognized a radical political potential in all this forthrightly anti-institutional production, which was an important source for his own deep commitment to it. Deploying his expertise as a professional graphic designer, Maciunas played an important role in projecting upon Fluxus whatever coherence it would later seem to have had.{{sfn|Brecht|Robinson|2005|p=118}}
</blockquote>
Along with the New York shop, Maciunas built up a distribution network for the new art across Europe and later outlets in California and Japan. Gallery and mail order outlets were established in Amsterdam, Villefranche-Sur-Mer, Milan and London, amongst others.{{sfn|Kellein|2007|p=109}} By 1965, the first anthology ''[[Fluxus 1]]'' was available, consisting of manila envelopes bolted together containing work by numerous artists who would later become famous including La Monte Young, [[Christo]], [[Joseph Byrd]] and Yoko Ono. Other pieces available included packs of altered playing cards by George Brecht, sensory boxes by [[Ay-O]], a regular newsletter with contributions by artists and musicians such as [[Ray Johnson]] and John Cale, and tin cans filled with poems, songs and recipes about beans by [[Alison Knowles]] ([http://www.aknowles.com/beanrolls.html see]).

===Stockhausen's ''Originale''===
[[File:FluxusTraitor.jpg|280px|thumb|''Traitor, you left Fluxus!'', a postcard sent by George Maciunas to Nam June Paik, c late 1964, after the latter's involvement with Stockhausen's ''Originale'']]
After returning to New York, Maciunas became reacquainted with Henry Flynt,<ref>At the time, a member of the leftist set WWP.{{harvnb|Maciunas|Ay-O|1998|p=108}}</ref> who encouraged members of Fluxus to take a more overtly political stance. One of the results of these discussions was to set up a picket line at the American premiere of ''[[Originale]]'', a recent work by the German composer [[Karlheinz Stockhausen]], 8 September 1964.<ref name=":Bloch">[http://www.panmodern.com/OnStockhausen-sOriginale.pdf Bloch, Mark. "On Originale.", from Bloch, Mark, editor] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924063736/http://www.panmodern.com/OnStockhausen-sOriginale.pdf |date=24 September 2015 }}. "Robert Delford Brown: Meat, Maps and Militant Metaphysics", Cameron Museum of Art, Wilmington, North Carolina, 2008.</ref> Stockhausen was deemed a 'Cultural Imperialist' by Maciunas and Flynt, while other members vehemently disagreed. The result was members of Fluxus, such as Nam June Paik and Jackson Mac Low, crossing a picket line made up of other members, including Ben Vautier and [[Takako Saito]]{{sfn|Kellein|2007|p=98}} who handed out leaflets denouncing Stockhausen as "a characteristic European-North American ruling-class Artist".<ref>"Picket Stockhausen Concert!", [[Henry Flynt|Flynt]] and [[George Maciunas|Maciunas]] flyer, 1964. Reproduced{{Full citation needed|date=July 2015|reason=Something got chopped off here.}}</ref> Dick Higgins participated in the picket, and then coolly joined the other performers inside;<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ubu.com/film/stockhausen_originale.html |title=A film of the event, UbuWeb |access-date=15 June 2012 |archive-date=10 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120210203729/http://www.ubu.com/film/stockhausen_originale.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
<blockquote>
Maciunas and his friend Henry Flynt tried to get the Fluxus people to march around outside the circus with white cards that said Originale was bad. And they tried to say that the Fluxus people who were in the circus weren't Fluxus any more. That was silly, because it made a split. I thought it was funny, and so first I walked around with Maciunas and with Henry with a card, then I went inside and joined the circus; so both groups got angry with me. Oh well. Some people say that Fluxus died that day—I once thought so myself—but it turned out I was wrong.<ref>[[Dick Higgins]], [http://www.artnotart.com/fluxus/dhiggins-childshistory.html "A Child's History of Fluxus"], 1979. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120622030429/http://www.artnotart.com/fluxus/dhiggins-childshistory.html |date=22 June 2012 }}</ref>
</blockquote>
The event, arranged by [[Charlotte Moorman]] as part of her ''2nd Annual New York Avant Garde Festival'', would cement animosities between Maciunas and her,{{sfn|Kellein|2007|loc=n. 104, p. 98}} with Maciunas frequently demanding that artists associated with Fluxus have nothing to do with the annual festival, and would often expel artists who ignored his demands. This hostility continued throughout Maciunas' life—much to Moorman's bemusement—despite her continued championing of Fluxus art and artists.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiEJdOlgcDE |title=Charlotte Moorman and Nam June Paik "The Originale" |website=[[YouTube]] |access-date=27 November 2016 |archive-date=31 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181231083801/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiEJdOlgcDE |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Middle history (1965–78)==

===Perceived insurgencies and the Asiatic influence===
[[File:CutPieceOno.jpeg|thumb|''Cut Piece'', a performance piece by Yoko Ono in which the audience is invited to cut off her clothing. This version was staged at Carnegie Recital Hall, New York, 21 March 1965. Still taken from a film by [[Albert and David Maysles]]]]
The picketing of ''Originale'' marked the high point of Maciunas' [[agitprop]] approach,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.stewarthomesociety.org/ass/fluxone.htm |title=Stewart Home, The Assault on Culture, The origins of Fluxus and the movement in its 'heroic' period, Chapter 9 |access-date=16 June 2012 |archive-date=2 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090602022154/http://www.stewarthomesociety.org/ass/fluxone.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> an approach that estranged many of Fluxus' early proponents; Jackson Mac Low had resigned immediately after hearing 'antisocial' plans laid in April 1963, such as breaking down trucks [[Holland Tunnel|under the Hudson River]].<ref>Jackson Mac Low quoted in {{harvnb|Maciunas|Ay-O|1998|pp=94–95}}</ref> Brecht threatened to quit on the same issue, and then left New York in the spring of 1965. Despite his continued allegiance to Fluxus ideals, Dick Higgins fell out with Maciunas around the same time, ostensibly over his setting up the [[Something Else Press]] which printed many texts by key Fluxus-related personalities and other members of the avant garde. Charlotte Moorman continued to present her [[Annual Avant Garde Festival]] in New York.

Such perceived insurrections in the coherence of Maciunas' leadership of Fluxus provided an opening for Fluxus to become increasingly influenced by Japanese members of the group.{{sfn|Kellein|2007|p=101}} Since returning to Japan in 1961, Yoko Ono had been recommending colleagues look Maciunas up if they moved to New York; by the time she had returned, in early 1965, [[Genpei Akasegawa|Hi Red Center]], [[Shigeko Kubota]], Takako Saito, [[Mieko Shiomi (composer)|Mieko Shiomi]], [[Yasunao Tone]] and [[Ay-O]] had all started to make work for Fluxus, often of a contemplative nature.{{sfn|Kellein|2007|p=102}}

In Tokyo Japan 1964 Yoko Ono, a nonconformist to the Fluxus community,<ref>Weisman, S. (2011). ''The mind music of Yoko Ono: Screams and silences at the intersection of the real and the imagined (195-196)''(Order No. 3458632). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (872186218).</ref> independently published her artist’s book ''[[Grapefruit (book)|Grapefruit]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Laynor |first=Gregory |title=The Making of Intermedia: John Cage to Yoko Ono, 1952 to 1972 |date=2016 |others=University of Washington. English, Brian Reed |isbn=978-1-339-94191-2 |volume=78-03A |location=Ann Arbor |pages=(94) |oclc=1257952914}}</ref> The book’s text itself encompassing event scores and other forms of participatory art.<ref>Sallabedra, M. (2012). ''Like an elephant's tail: Process and instruction in the work of Michael Rakowitz, Rirkrit Tiravanija and Yoko Ono (7) (9-20)'' (Order No. 1514168). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (1026566248).</ref>

An event score from the book:{{blockquote|'''Cloud Piece'''<ref>Ono, Y. (1964). ''Grapefruit''. Wunternaum Press.</ref>

Imagine the clouds dripping.

Dig a hole in your garden to put them in.}}

===Proto-performance art===

On September 25, 1965, the '''FluxOrchestra''', with La Monte Young conducting, played at [[Carnegie Recital Hall]] in New York City with a poster and program designed by George Maciunas. Copies of the program were folded into paper airplanes and launched during the evening, which included performances of "Falling Event" by [[Chieko Shiomi]], "Symphony No. 3 'On the Floor from 'Clouds Scissors'" by [[George Brecht]], "4 Pieces for Orchestra to La Monte Young" by Yoko Ono, "Disappearing Music for Face" by Shiomi, "Tactical Pieces for Orchestra" and "Olivetti Adding Machine in Memoriam for Adriano Olivetti" by [[Anthony Cox (producer)|Anthony Cox]], "Trance for Orchestra" by Watts, "Sky Piece to Jesus Christ*" by Ono, "Octet for Winds 'In the Water' from 'Cloud Scissors" by Brecht, "Piece" by [[Shigeko Kubota]], "1965 $50" by Young, "Piano Piece" by [[Tomas Schmit]], "Sword Piece" by Cox, "Music for Late Afternoon Together With" by Shiomi, "2" by Watts, "c/t Trace" by Watts, "Intermission Event" by [[Willem de Ridder]], "Moviee Music" by [[Stan Vanderbeek]], "Mechanical Orchestra" by [[Joe Jones (Fluxus musician)|Joe Jones]], and "Secret Room" by [[Ben Vautier]].

In 1969, Fluxus artist [[Joe Jones (Fluxus artist)|Joe Jones]] opened his ''JJ Music Store'' (aka ''Tone Deaf Music Store'') at 18 [[North Moore Street]], where he presented his [[Repetition (music)|repetitive]] [[Drone (music)|drone]] music machines. He created there an installation in the window so that anyone could press numerous door buttons to play the [[noise music]] machines displayed there.<ref>[http://www.sukothai.com/X.SA.07/X7.Jones.f1.html Interview with Joe Jones by Nakagawa Shin] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170103101126/http://www.sukothai.com/X.SA.07/X7.Jones.f1.html |date=3 January 2017 }} (1992)</ref> Jones also presented small musical installation performances there, alone or with other Fluxus artists, such as [[Yoko Ono]] and [[John Lennon]],{{sfn|Smith|1998|pp=206–209}} among others. From April 18 to June 12, 1970, Ono and Lennon (aka [[Plastic Ono Band]]) presented a series of Fluxus art events and concerts there called ''GRAPEFRUIT FLUXBANQUET''. It was promoted with a poster designed by Fluxus leader [[George Maciunas]]. Performances included ''Come Impersonating John Lennon & Yoko Ono, Grapefruit Banquet'' (April 11–17) by George Maciunas, [[Yoshimasa Wada]], Nye Ffarrabas (formerly Bici Forbes and Bici Forbes Hendricks), [[Geoffrey Hendricks]], and [[Robert Watts]]; ''Do It Yourself'' (April 11–17) by Yoko Ono; ''Tickets by John Lennon + Fluxagents'' (April 18–24) with Wada, [[Ben Vautier]] and Maciunas; ''Clinic by Yoko Ono + Hi Red Center'' (April 25-May 1); ''Blue Room by Yoko + Fluxmasterliars'' (May 2–8); ''Weight & Water by Yoko + Fluxfiremen'' (May 9–15); ''Capsule by Yoko + Flux Space Center'' (May 16–22) with Maciunas, [[Paul Sharits]], [[George Brecht]], [[Ay-O]], Ono, Watts, [[John Cavanaugh (sculptor)|John Cavanaugh]]; ''Portrait of [[John Lennon]] as a Young Cloud by Yoko + Everybody'' (May 23–29); ''The Store by Yoko + Fluxfactory'' (May 30-June 5), with Ono, Maciunas, Wada, Ay-O; and finally ''Examination by Yoko + Fluxschool'' (June 6–12) with Ono, Geoffrey Hendricks, Watts, [[Mieko Shiomi]] and [[Robert Filliou]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://specificobject.com/objects/info.cfm?inventory_id=23254&object_id=19915&page=5&search=George%20Maciunas&sort=pubdate&search_type=basic&pobject_status=All&options=artist |title=Joint Yoko Ono, John Lennon, & Fluxgroup Project / Press Release -- April 1, 1970 |access-date=15 January 2021 |archive-date=21 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210121071320/https://specificobject.com/objects/info.cfm?inventory_id=23254&object_id=19915&page=5&search=George%20Maciunas&sort=pubdate&search_type=basic&pobject_status=All&options=artist |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Objects blurring boundaries===
As Fluxus gradually became more famous, Maciunas' ambitions for the sale of cheap multiples grew. The second flux-anthology, the ''Fluxkit'' (late 1964),<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2011/fluxus_editions/works/fluxkit/ |title=Fluxkit, MoMA |access-date=4 July 2012 |archive-date=17 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120517191326/http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2011/fluxus_editions/works/fluxkit/ |url-status=live }}</ref> collected together early 3D work made by the collective in a businessman's case, an idea borrowed directly from Duchamp's ''Boite en Valise''{{sfn|Hendricks|1988|p=76}}<ref name="MoMA, Interactive">{{Cite web |url=http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/1999/muse/artist_pages/duchamp_boite.html |title=MoMA, Interactive exhibitions |access-date=28 June 2012 |archive-date=4 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120904044659/http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/1999/muse/artist_pages/duchamp_boite.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Within a year, plans for a new anthology, ''Fluxus 2'', were in full swing to contain Flux films by [[John Cage]] and Yoko Ono (with hand held projectors provided), disrupted matchboxes and postcards by Ben Vautier, plastic food by [[Claes Oldenburg]], FluxMedicine by [[Shigeko Kubota]] (containing empty pill packages), and artworks made of rocks, ink stamps, outdated travel tickets, undoable puzzles and a machine to facilitate humming.{{sfn|Hendricks|1988|p=124}}

Maciunas' belief in the collective extended to authorship; a number of pieces from this period were anonymous, mis-attributed, or have had their authorship since questioned.<ref>Yoko Ono, for instance, has claimed authorship of Mieko Shiomi's Disappearing Music For Face (aka Smile) for instance.</ref> As a further complication, Maciunas was in the habit of dramatically changing ideas submitted by various artists before he put the works into production.
''Solid Plastic in Plastic Box'', credited to [[Per Kirkeby]] 1967, for instance, had originally been realised by Kirkeby as a metal box, inscribed 'This Box Contains Wood'. When opened, the box would be found to contain sawdust. By the time the multiple had been manufactured by Maciunas, it was a block of solid plastic contained in a plastic box of the same color.<ref name="MoMA, Interactive" /> Conversely, Maciunas assigned ''Degree Face Clock'', in which a clock face is measured out in 360°, to Kirkeby despite being an idea by [[Robert Watts (artist)|Robert Watts]];{{sfn|Hendricks|1988|p=290}}
<blockquote>Some years ago, when I spoke with Robert Watts about ''Degree Face Clock'' and ''Compass Face Clock'', he had recalled thinking up the idea himself and was surprised that George Maciunas advertised them as Per Kirkeby's. Watts shrugged and said that was the way George worked. There would be ideas in the air and Maciunas would assign the piece to one artist or another.{{sfn|Hendricks|1988|p=291}}</blockquote>
Other tactics from this time included Maciunas buying large amounts of plastic boxes wholesale, and handing them out to artists with the simple request to turn them into Fluxkits, and the use of the rapidly growing international network of artists to contribute items needed to complete works. Robert Watts' ''Fluxatlas'', 1973, for instance, contains small rocks sent by members of the group from around the world.<ref>"All contributors will receive a box in return..." {{harvnb|Hendricks|1988|p=542}}</ref>

===Inventing performance art===
In addition to his numerous original compositions which have joined the collective's catalog of works, [[Larry Miller (artist)|Larry Miller]], associated with the group since 1969, has also been active as an interpreter of the "classic" scores and responsible for bringing the group's works to a wider public, blurring the lines between artist, producer and researcher. Besides Miller's own artistic work, he has also organized, reconstructed and performed at numerous Fluxus events and assembled an extensive collection of material on the history of Fluxus.<ref>[http://www.fluxus-east.eu/index.php?lang=en "Fluxus East: Fluxus Networks in Central Eastern Europe"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304063726/http://www.fluxus-east.eu/?item=exhib&sub=miller&lang=en |date=4 March 2016 }}</ref> Through Miller, Fluxus attracted media coverage such as the worldwide [[CNN]] coverage of ''Off Limits'' exhibit at the [[The Newark Museum of Art|Newark Museum]] (now The Newark Museum of Art) in 1999.<ref>Marter, Joan M. and Anderson, Simon. ''Off Limits: Rutgers University and the Avant-garde, 1957–1963''. Newark Museum. Newark, New Jersey</ref> Other Miller activities as organizer, performer and presenter within the Fluxus milieu include ''Performance in Fluxus Continue 1963–2003'' at Musee d'Art et d'Art Contemporain in Nice; ''Fluxus a la Carte'' in Amsterdam; and ''Centraal Fluxus Festival'' at Centraal Museum in [[Utrecht|Utrecht, Netherlands]]. In 2004, for Geoff Hendricks' ''Critical Mass: Happenings, Fluxus, Performance, Intermedia and Rutgers University 1958–1972'', Miller reprised and updated the track and field events of the Flux Olympics, first presented in 1970.<ref>Hendricks, Geoffrey, editor. Critical Mass: Happenings, Fluxus, Performance, Intermedia, and Rutgers. Mead Art Museum, Amherst, Massachusetts</ref> For ''Do-it Yourself Fluxus'' at AI – Art Interactive – in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]], Miller worked as the curatorial consultant for an exhibit of works that allowed viewers hands-on experience including the reconstruction of several sections of the historic ''Flux Labyrinth'', a massive and intricate maze that Miller originally constructed with George Maciunas at ''Akademie der Künste'' in [[Berlin]] in 1976 and which included sections by several of the Fluxus artists. Miller created a new version of the ''Flux Labyrinth'' at the ''In the Spirit of Fluxus'' exhibit at the Walker Art Center in 1994, where Greil Marcus said, "Miller was... fine tuning the monster."<ref>Marcus, Greil. ''Real Life Rock: The Complete Top Ten Columns, 1986–2014''. Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut p. 114.</ref>

=== Feminism ===
Women associated with Fluxus such as [[Carolee Schneemann]] and [[Charlotte Moorman]], and founding members of the group such as [[Alison Knowles]] and [[Yoko Ono]], contributed works in varying media and with differing content such as Knowles' "Make a Salad" and "Make a Soup.". Each was shaped by their times and their associations with artists of the previous generation such as [[Sari Dienes]] who were pointing the way to the changes of the 1960s and 70s with strong personas and art.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://whitehotmagazine.com/articles/museum-show-for-sari-dienes/5895|title=A New Book and a Museum Show for Sari Dienes|work=[[Whitehot Magazine]]|last=Bloch|first=Mark|author-link=Mark Bloch (artist)|date=July 2023|access-date=8 September 2023}}</ref> Some made experimental and performative work having to do with the body that created a powerful female presence, which existed within Fluxus from the group's beginning as illustrated by works including [[Carolee Schneemann|Carolee Schneemann's]] "Interior Scroll", Yoko Ono's "[[Cut Piece 1964|Cut Piece]]", and [[Shigeko Kubota]]'s "Vagina Painting". Women working within Fluxus were often simultaneously critiquing their position within a male dominated society while also exposing the inequalities within an art collective that claimed to be open and diverse. George Maciunas, in his rejection of Schneeman as a member of Fluxus, called her "guilty of Baroque tendencies, overt sexuality, and theatrical excess".<ref name="O'Dell">{{harvnb|O'Dell|1997}}</ref> "Interior Scroll" was a response to Schneemann's experience as a filmmaker in the 1950s and 1960s, when male filmmakers claimed that women should restrict themselves to dance.
{{Poem quote|text=
He said we are fond of you
You are charming
But don't ask us
To look at your films
We cannot
There are certain films
We cannot look at
The personal clutter
The persistence of feeling
The hand-touch sensibility
|sign=Carolee Schneemann<ref name="O'Dell" />
}}

In ''An evening with Fluxus women: a roundtable discussion'', hosted at New York University on 19 February 2009 by ''Women & Performance: a journal of feminist theory'' and the Department of Performance Studies, a passage from Mieko Shiomi reads "...the best thing about Fluxus, I think, is that there was no discrimination on the basis of nationality and gender. Fluxus was open to anyone who shared similar thoughts about art and life. That's why women artists could be so active without feeling any frustration."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Yoshimoto |first1=Midori |last2=Knowles |first2=Alison |last3=Schneemann |first3=Carolee |last4=Seagull |first4=Sara |last5=Moore |first5=Barbara |last6=Shiovitz |first6=Brynn Wein |last7=Yoshimoto |first7=Midori |last8=Pittman |first8=Alex |title=An evening with Fluxus women: a roundtable discussion |journal=Women & Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory |date=November 2009 |volume=19 |issue=3 |pages=369–389 |doi=10.1080/07407700903399524|s2cid=194022721 }}</ref>{{rp|p=370}}

[[Shigeko Kubota|Shigeko Kubota]]'s ''Vagina Painting'' (1965), was performed by attaching a paintbrush dipped in red paint to her underwear, then applying it to a piece of paper while moving over it in a crouching position. The paint evoked menstrual blood. ''Vagina Painting'' has been interpreted as a critique of [[Jackson Pollock]]'s action paintings, and the male-dominated [[Abstract expressionism|abstract expressionist]] tradition.<ref>Terpenkas, Andrea (June 2017). "Fluxus, Feminism, and the 1960's". ''Western Tribularies''. '''4'''.</ref>

===Utopian communities===
A number of artists in the group were interested in setting up Flux communes, intending to 'bridge the gap between the artist community and the surrounding society'<ref name="Danielle">{{Cite web |url=http://www.wordsinspace.net/urban-media-archaeology/2011-fall/2011/10/11/project-proposal-2/ |title=The History of Artists and Art Production in SoHo, Danielle |date=11 October 2011 |access-date=2 July 2012 |archive-date=9 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130209090851/http://www.wordsinspace.net/urban-media-archaeology/2011-fall/2011/10/11/project-proposal-2/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The first of these, La Cédille qui Sourit or ''The [[Cedilla]] That Smiles'',<ref>Harren, Natilee. "La cédille qui ne finit pas: Robert Filliou, George Brecht, and Fluxus in Villefranche". ''Getty Research Journal'', no. 4 (2012), pp. 127–143.</ref> was set up in [[Villefranche-sur-Mer]], France, by [[Robert Filliou]] and George Brecht, 1965–1968. Intended as an 'International Centre of Permanent Creation', the shop sold Fluxkits and other small wares as well as housing a 'non-school', boasting the motto "A carefree exchange of information and experience. No students, no teachers. Perfect licence, at times to listen at times to talk."<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://catalogue.drouot.com/ref-drouot/lot-ventes-aux-encheres-drouot.jsp?id=1150365 |title=Fluxkit documenting the project |access-date=4 July 2012 |archive-date=6 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006102516/http://catalogue.drouot.com/ref-drouot/lot-ventes-aux-encheres-drouot.jsp?id=1150365 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1966, Maciunas, Watts and others took advantage of new legislation drafted to regenerate the area of Manhattan known as 'Hell's Hundred Acres', soon to become rebranded as [[SoHo]], allowing artists to buy live/work spaces in an area that had been blighted due to a proposed 18-lane expressway along [[Broome Street]].<ref name="Danielle" /> Led by Maciunas, plans were laid to start a series of real-estate developments in the area, designed to create an artists' community within a few streets of the FluxShop on Canal Street. 
<blockquote>
'Maciunas wanted to establish collective workshops, food-buying cooperatives and theaters to link the strengths of various media together and bridge the gap between the artist community and the surrounding society'</blockquote>

The first warehouse, intended to house Maciunas, Watts, Christo & Jeanne-Claude, Jonas Mekas, La Monte Young and others, was located on Greene Street. Likening these communities to the soviet [[Kolkhoz]]s, Maciunas didn't hesitate to adopt the title 'Chairman of Bldg. Co-Op'{{sfn|Kellein|2007|p=131}} without first registering an office or becoming a member of the New York State Association of Realtors.{{sfn|Kellein|2007|p=132}} FluxHousing Co-Operatives continued to redevelop the area over the next decade, and were widened to include plans to set up a ''FluxIsland''- a suitable island was located near Antigua, but the money to buy and develop it remained unforthcoming- and finally a performance arts centre called the ''FluxFarm'' established in [[New Marlborough]], Massachusetts. The plans were continually dogged by financial problems, constant run-ins with the New York authorities, and eventually resulted, on 8 November 1975, in Maciunas being severely beaten by thugs sent by an unpaid electrical contractor.{{sfn|Kellein|2007|p=147}}

==Fluxus since 1978==
===Death of George Maciunas===
Maciunas moved to the Berkshire Mountains in Western Massachusetts in the late 1970s. Two decades earlier, after collecting paintings, the Boston art collector Jean Brown, and her late husband Leonard Brown, began to shift their focus to Dadaist and Surrealist art, manifestoes and periodicals. In 1971, after Mr. Brown's death, Mrs. Brown moved to [[Tyringham, Massachusetts|Tyringham]], and expanded into areas adjacent to Fluxus, including artists' books, concrete poetry, happenings, mail art and performance art. Maciunas helped turn her home, originally a Shaker seed house, into an important center for both Fluxus artists and scholars, with Mrs. Brown alternately cooking meals and showing guests her collection. Activities centered on a large archive room on the second floor built by Maciunas, who settled in nearby [[Great Barrington, Massachusetts|Great Barrington]], where it was discovered in 1977 that Maciunas developed cancer of the [[Pancreatic cancer|pancreas]] and [[Liver cancer|liver]].

Three months before his death, he married his friend and companion, the poet Billie Hutching. After a legal wedding in Lee, Massachusetts, the couple performed a "Fluxwedding" in a friend's loft in SoHo on 25 February 1978. A videotape of the Maciunas' wedding was produced by [[Dimitri Devyatkin]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVDB1oy1O8s |title=Marriage of George and Billy Maciunas |website=[[YouTube]] |date=18 June 2011 |access-date=9 September 2014 |archive-date=7 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307134518/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVDB1oy1O8s |url-status=live }}</ref> The bride and groom traded clothing.<ref>According to Hutching, quoted in {{harvnb|Maciunas|Ay-O|1998|p=280}}, Maciunas was a transvestite and masochist.</ref> Maciunas died on 9 May 1978 in a hospital in Boston.

His funeral, dubbed “Fluxfeast and Wake”, was held in typical Fluxus style, with mourners eating only black, white, or purple foods.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.theartstory.org/movement-fluxus.htm|title = Fluxus Movement, Artists and Major Works|date = 2015|website = The Art Story|last = DiTolla|first = Racy|access-date = 6 October 2015|archive-date = 19 October 2015|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151019105630/http://www.theartstory.org/movement-fluxus.htm|url-status = live}}</ref> Maciunas left behind his thoughts on Fluxus in a series of important video conversations called ''Interview With George Maciunas'' with Fluxus artist [[Larry Miller (artist)|Larry Miller]], which has been screened internationally and translated into numerous languages.<ref>Interview with [[Larry Miller (artist)|Larry Miller]], 1978, referenced in {{harvnb|Maciunas|Ay-O|1998|page=114}}</ref> Over a 30 year period, Miller shot and collected Fluxus related materials including tapes on Joe Jones, Carolee Schneemann, Ben Vautier, Dick Higgins, and Alison Knowles, in addition to the 1978 Maciunas interview.

===Post-Maciunas developments===
After the death of Maciunas a rift opened in Fluxus between a few collectors and curators who placed Fluxus as an art movement in a specific time frame (1962 to 1978), and the artists themselves, many of whom continued to see Fluxus as a living entity held together by its core values and world view.<ref>{{cite book|first=Dorothée|last=Brill|year=2010|location=Hanover (New Hampshire)|title=Shock and the senseless in Dada and Fluxus|publisher=Dartmouth College Press|quote=Thus Fluxus had been under way for several years before its supposed 1962 starting date. Even more difficult to determine, however, is the end of Fluxus. Although some mark it by the death of Maciunas in April 1979, the other artists were "still as much of a group as we ever were,” as Dick Higgins stated in 1982, and continued doing Fluxus artworks, although not necessarily exclusively.}}</ref> Different theorists and historians adopted each of these views. Fluxus is therefore referred to variously in the past or the present tense. The definition of Fluxus was always a subject of controversy, complicated by the death of the original artists who were still living when Maciunas died.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/24/arts/design/fluxus-and-the-essential-questions-of-life-review.html|title=Liberating Viewers, and the World, With Silliness|type=exhibition review|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=23 September 2011 |access-date=17 May 2022|archive-date=17 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170417092417/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/24/arts/design/fluxus-and-the-essential-questions-of-life-review.html |url-status=live |last=Johnson|first=Ken|author-link=Ken Johnson (art critic)}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.nyu.edu/greyart/exhibits/fluxus/FluxNYU.html |title=''Fluxus at NYU'' |access-date=15 December 2011 |archive-date=23 December 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111223000424/http://www.nyu.edu/greyart/exhibits/fluxus/FluxNYU.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Some have argued that the unique control that curator [[Jon Hendricks (artist)|Jon Hendricks]] holds over major historical Fluxus collection the Gilbert and Lila Silverman collection has enabled him to influence, through the numerous books and catalogues subsidized by the collection, the view that Fluxus died with Maciunas. Hendricks argues that Fluxus was a historical movement that occurred at a particular time, asserting that such central Fluxus artists as Dick Higgins and Nam June Paik could no longer label themselves as active Fluxus artists after 1978, and that contemporary artists influenced by Fluxus cannot lay claim to be Fluxus artists.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Phillpot |first1=Clive |url=https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/2141 |title=Fluxus : selections from the Gilbert and Lila Silverman Collection |last2=Hendricks |first2=Jon |publisher=[[Museum of Modern Art]] |year=1988 |isbn=0870703110 |pages=15 |author1-link=Clive Phillpot}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/atca/subjugated/one_2.htm |title=Robert Pincus-Witten on Fluxus, and Jon Hendricks's ''Codex''|access-date=15 December 2011 |archive-date=16 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120416192810/http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/atca/subjugated/one_2.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Museum of Modern Art]] makes the same claim dating the movement to the 1960s and 1970s.<ref name="MOMA" /><ref>[http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/1033 MoMA exhibitions, October 2009 – August 2010] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100914025056/http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/1033 |date=14 September 2010 }} Retrieved 5 September 2010</ref> Many of the original Fluxus artists still working enjoy homages by younger Fluxus-influenced artists who stage events to commemorate Fluxus, but discourage the use of the "Fluxus" label by younger artists.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://whitehotmagazine.com/articles/boat-book-alison-knowles/3113 |title=Bloch, Mark. "The Boat Book: Alison Knowles" |access-date=7 July 2015 |archive-date=3 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170703041408/https://whitehotmagazine.com/articles/boat-book-alison-knowles/3113 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://artsonline.monash.edu.au/colloquy/download/colloquy_issue_twenty-two/drinkall.pdf |title=Drinkall, Jacquelene. "Human Telepathic Collaborations from Fluxus to Now" |access-date=7 July 2015 |archive-date=9 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150709123142/http://artsonline.monash.edu.au/colloquy/download/colloquy_issue_twenty-two/drinkall.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Others, including historian of art [[Hannah Higgins]], daughter of Fluxus artists [[Alison Knowles]] and [[Dick Higgins]], assert that although Maciunas was a key participant, there were many more, including Fluxus co-founder Higgins, who continued to work within Fluxus after the death of Maciunas.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://mouthtomouthmag.com/higgins.html |title=Interview with Hannah Higgins |access-date=16 December 2011 |archive-date=5 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205235147/http://www.mouthtomouthmag.com/higgins.html |url-status=live }}</ref> 

The rise of the internet in the 1990s enabled a vibrant post-Fluxus community to emerge online. Some of the original Fluxus artists from the 1960s and 1970s, including Higgins, created online communities such as the Fluxlist; following their departure, younger artists, writers, musicians, and performers have attempted to continue their work in [[cyberspace]]. The influence of Fluxus continued also in [[multi-media]] [[digital art]] performances, such as that presented by [[Other Minds (organization)|Other Minds]] in the SOMArts building in San Francisco to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Fluxus in September 2011.<ref>[https://www.sfcv.org/reviews/other-minds/always-in-flux-mostly-in-fun "Always in Flux, Mostly in Fun"] by David Bratman, sfcv.org {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140810200229/https://www.sfcv.org/reviews/other-minds/always-in-flux-mostly-in-fun |date=10 August 2014 }} Retrieved 1 August 2014</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archives.otherminds.org/index.php/Detail/occurrences/234|title=Something Else: A Fluxus Semicentenary|website=Other Minds Archives|access-date=February 15, 2024}}</ref> The performance was curated by [[Adam Fong]] who was also one of the performers along with [[Yoshi Wada]], [[Alison Knowles]], [[Hannah Higgins]], [[Luciano Chessa]] and Adam Overton. In 2018 the [[Los Angeles Philharmonic]] in its ''Fluxus Festival'' presented a fluxus performance incorporating [[John Cage|John Cage's]] "Europeras 1 and 2" directed by [[Yuval Sharon]].<ref>{{cite news |title=What Happens When Fluxus Enters the Concert Hall? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/11/arts/music/la-philharmonic-fluxus-festival.html|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=17 November 2018 |date=11 November 2018 |last1=Barone |first1=Joshua |archive-date=17 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181117233633/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/11/arts/music/la-philharmonic-fluxus-festival.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Fluxus artists continue to perform today on a smaller scale.

== Influences ==
An immediate predecessor of Fluxus, according to Maciunas, was the Gutai group which promoted art as an anti-academic, psychophysical experience, an "art of matter as it is" as explained by Shiraga Kazuo in 1956. Gutai became connected with a sort of artistic mass-production, anticipating Fluxus's trademark, i.e., ambiguity between the cultivated and the trivial, between high and low. Indeed, avant-garde art in Japan tended toward informal rather than conceptual elements, radically opposing the extreme formality and symbolism found in Japanese art.

In the 1950s New York music scene there could be discerned many issues related to the post-war disenchantment experienced by many throughout the developed world. Such disillusionment in itself presented a case for commitment to Buddhism and Zen in everyday matters such as mental attitude, meditation, and approach to food and body care. It was also felt, however, that there was a general need for a more radical artistic sensibility. The themes of decay and of the inadequacy of the idea of modernity in artistic fields were adopted, partly from Duchamp and Dada and partly from consciousness of the uneasiness of living in contemporary society.

It is said that Fluxus challenged notions of representation, offering instead simple presentation. This, in fact, corresponds to a major difference between Western and Japanese art. Another important Fluxus characteristic was the elimination of perceived boundaries between art and life, a very prominent trend in post war art. This was exemplified by the work and writings of Joseph Beuys who stated, "every man is an artist." Fluxus's approach was an everyday, "economic" one as seen in the production of small objects made of paper and plastic. Again, this strongly corresponds with some of the fundamental characteristics of Japanese culture, i.e., the high artistic value of everyday acts and objects and the aesthetic appreciation of frugality. This also links with Japanese art, and the concept of shibumi, which may involve incompleteness, and supports the appreciation of bare objects, emphasizing subtlety rather than overtness. The renowned Japanese aesthetics scholar Onishi Yoshinori called the essence of Japanese art pantonomic because of the consciousness of no distinction between nature, art and life. Art is the way to approach life and nature/reality corresponding to actual existence.<ref>{{Cite journal|jstor = 25164637|title = Toshi Ichiyanagi, Japanese Composer and "Fluxus"|last = Galliano|first = Luciana|date = Summer 2006|journal = [[Perspectives of New Music]]|volume=44|issue = 2|pages=250–261|doi = 10.1353/pnm.2006.0012| s2cid=258131560 }}</ref>

==Fluxus art==
Fluxus encouraged a "[[do-it-yourself]]" aesthetic, and valued simplicity over complexity. Like [[Dada]] before it, Fluxus included a strong current of anti-commercialism and an [[anti-art]] sensibility, disparaging the conventional market-driven art world in favor of an artist-centered creative practice. As Fluxus artist [[Robert Filliou]] wrote, however, Fluxus differed from Dada in its richer set of aspirations, and the positive social and communitarian aspirations of Fluxus far outweighed the anti-art tendency that also marked the group.<ref>[https://artsbirthday.blogspot.com/2007/12/who-was-robert-filliou.html Robert Filliou on Fluxus and art] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110919125827/http://artsbirthday.blogspot.com/2007/12/who-was-robert-filliou.html |date=19 September 2011 }} Retrieved 5 September 2010</ref>

Among its early associates were [[Joseph Beuys]], [[Dick Higgins]], [[Davi Det Hompson]], [[Nam June Paik]], [[Wolf Vostell]], [[La Monte Young]], [[Joseph Byrd]], [[Al Hansen]] and [[Yoko Ono]] who explored media ranging from performance art to poetry to experimental music to film. Taking the stance of opposition to the ideas of tradition and professionalism in the arts of their time, the Fluxus group shifted the emphasis from what an artist makes to the artist's personality, actions, and opinions. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s (their most active period) they staged "action" events, engaged in politics and public speaking, and produced sculptural works featuring unconventional materials. Their radically untraditional works included, for example, the [[video art]] of Nam June Paik and [[Charlotte Moorman]] and the performance art of Joseph Beuys and Wolf Vostell. During the early years of Fluxus, the often playful style of the Fluxus artists resulted in them being considered by some to be little more than a group of [[prank]]sters. Fluxus has also been compared to [[Dada]] and aspects of [[Pop Art]] and is seen as the starting point of [[mail art]] and [[no wave]] artists. Artists from succeeding generations such as [[Mark Bloch (artist)|Mark Bloch]] do not try to characterize themselves as Fluxus but create spinoffs such as Fluxpan or Jung Fluxus as a way of continuing some of the Fluxus ideas in a 21st-century, post-[[mail art]] context.

In terms of an artistic approach, Fluxus artists preferred to work with whatever materials were at hand, and either created their own work or collaborated in the creation process with their colleagues. Outsourcing part of the creative process to commercial fabricators was not usually part of Fluxus practice. Maciunas personally hand-assembled many of the Fluxus multiples and editions.<ref>[http://www.artnotart.com/fluxus/kfriedman-fourtyyears.html Ken Friedman, ''40 Years of Fluxus''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100211142656/http://www.artnotart.com/fluxus/kfriedman-fourtyyears.html |date=11 February 2010 }} Retrieved 5 September 2010</ref> While Maciunas assembled many objects by hand, he designed and intended them for mass production.<ref name="MOMA" /><ref name="Maciunas on Fluxus">[http://www.artnotart.com/fluxus/gmaciunas--.html Maciunas on Fluxus] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100210185828/http://www.artnotart.com/fluxus/gmaciunas--.html |date=10 February 2010 }} Retrieved 5 September 2010</ref> Where multiple publishers produced signed, numbered objects in limited editions intended for sale at high prices, Maciunas produced open editions at low prices.<ref name="MOMA" /><ref name="Maciunas on Fluxus"/> Several other Fluxus publishers produced different kinds of Fluxus editions. The best known of these was the [[Something Else Press]], established by Dick Higgins, probably the largest and most extensive Fluxus publisher, producing books in editions that ran from 1,500 copies to as many as 5,000 copies, all available at standard bookstore prices.<ref>[http://members.chello.nl/j.seegers1/flux_files/something-else-press.html Fluxus and Happening, the Something Else Press] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110203222607/http://members.chello.nl/j.seegers1/flux_files/something-else-press.html |date=3 February 2011 }} Retrieved 5 September 2010</ref><ref>[http://www.ubu.com/historical/gb/ UBUWeb] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100914214705/http://www.ubu.com/historical/gb/ |date=14 September 2010 }} Retrieved 5 September 2010</ref> Higgins created the term "[[intermedia]]" in a 1966 essay.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://whitehotmagazine.com/articles/selected-writings-by-dick-higgins/4157|title=Intermedia, Fluxus And The Something Else Press: Selected Writings By Dick Higgins|work=[[Whitehot Magazine]]|last=Bloch|first=Mark|author-link=Mark Bloch (artist)|date=February 2019|access-date=8 September 2023}}</ref>

The art forms most closely associated with Fluxus are event scores and Fluxus boxes. Fluxus boxes (sometimes called Fluxkits or Fluxboxes) originated with George Maciunas who would gather collections of printed cards, games, and ideas, organizing them in small plastic or wooden boxes.{{sfn|Kellein|Hendricks|1995|p=11}}

===Event score===
An event score, such as [[George Brecht]]'s "Drip Music", is essentially a [[performance art]] script that is usually only a few lines long and consists of descriptions of actions to be performed rather than dialogue.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Kotz|first=Liz|author-link=Liz Kotz|date=Spring 2001|title=Post-Cagean aesthetics and the 'event' score|journal=[[October (journal)|October]]|volume=95|issue=95|pages=55–89|jstor=779200}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Dezeuze |first=Anna |date=January 2002 |title=Origins of the Fluxus score: from indeterminacy to the 'do-it-yourself' artwork |journal=[[Performance Research]] |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=78–94 |doi=10.1080/13528165.2002.10871876|s2cid=191234739 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Robinson |first=Julia |date=Winter 2009 |title=Abstraction to model: George Brecht's events and the conceptual turn in art of the 1960s |journal=[[October (journal)|October]] |volume=127 |pages=77–108 |doi=10.1162/octo.2009.127.1.77 |jstor=40368554|s2cid=57562781 }}</ref> Fluxus artists differentiate event scores from "[[happening]]s". Whereas happenings were sometimes complicated, lengthy performances meant to blur the lines between performer and audience, performance and reality, event performances were usually brief and simple. The event performances sought to elevate the banal, to be mindful of the mundane, and to frustrate the [[high culture]] of academic and market-driven music and art.

The idea of the event began in [[Henry Cowell]]'s philosophy of music.{{citation needed|date=September 2016}} Cowell, a teacher to John Cage and later to Dick Higgins, coined the term that Higgins and others later applied to short, terse descriptions of performable work. The term "score" is used in exactly the sense that one uses the term to describe a music score: a series of notes that allow anyone to perform the work, an idea linked both to what [[Nam June Paik]] labeled the "do it yourself" approach and to what [[Ken Friedman]] termed "musicality." While much is made of the do it yourself approach to art, it is vital to recognize that this idea emerges in music, and such important Fluxus artists as Paik, Higgins, or Corner began as composers, bringing to art the idea that each person can create the work by "doing it." This is what Friedman meant by musicality, extending the idea more radically to conclude that anyone can create work of any kind from a score, acknowledging the composer as the originator of the work while realizing the work freely and even interpreting it in far different ways from those the original composer might have done.

Other creative forms that have been adopted by Fluxus practitioners include [[collage]], [[sound art]], music, video, and poetry—especially [[visual poetry]] and [[concrete poetry]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://whitehotmagazine.com/articles/reader-edited-by-dick-higgins/5683|title=Book Review: A Something Else Reader, Edited by Dick Higgins|work=[[Whitehot Magazine]]|last=Bloch|first=Mark|author-link=Mark Bloch (artist)|date=February 2023|access-date=8 September 2023}}</ref>

===Use of shock===
[[Nam June Paik]] and his peers in the Fluxus art movement thoroughly understood the impact and importance of shock on the viewer. Fluxus artists believed that shock not only makes the viewer question their own reasoning, but is a means to awaken the viewer, "...from a perceptive lethargy furthered by habit."<ref name=Brill131>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=64_MywUrftoC&q=.from%20a%20perceptive%20lethargy%20furthered%20by%20habit%22&pg=PA131|title=Shock and the Senseless in Dada and Fluxus|last=Brill|first=Dorothée|date=2010|publisher=University Press of New England|isbn=9781584659174|page=131|access-date=25 October 2020|archive-date=23 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423080439/https://books.google.com/books?id=64_MywUrftoC&q=.from+a+perceptive+lethargy+furthered+by+habit%22&pg=PA131|url-status=live}}</ref> Paik himself described the shock factor in his Fluxus work: "People who come to my concerts or see my objects need to be transferred into another state of consciousness. They have to be high. And in order to put them into this state of highness, a little shock is required... Anyone who came to my exhibition saw the head and was high."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xv7XCwAAQBAJ&q=People%20who%20come%20to%20my%20concerts%20or%20see%20my%20objects%20paik&pg=PA294|title=Into the Maelstrom: Music, Improvisation and the Dream of Freedom: Before 1970|last=Toop|first=David|author-link=David Toop|date=2016-05-05|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA|isbn=9781441102775|pages=294|access-date=25 October 2020|archive-date=23 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423080414/https://books.google.com/books?id=xv7XCwAAQBAJ&q=People+who+come+to+my+concerts+or+see+my+objects+paik&pg=PA294|url-status=live}}</ref> Paik's "head" was that of a real cow displayed at the entrance to his exhibition, Exposition of Music—Electronic Television, located in the Galerie Parnass, Wuppertal, Germany in 1963.<ref name=Brill131 />

==Artistic philosophies==
Fluxus is similar in spirit to the earlier art movement of [[Dada]], emphasizing the concept of [[anti-art]] and taking jabs at the seriousness of modern art.<ref name="rush24">{{harvnb|Rush|2005|p=24}}</ref> Fluxus artists used their minimal performances to highlight their perceived connections between everyday objects and art, similarly to Duchamp in pieces such as ''[[Fountain (Duchamp)|Fountain]]''.<ref name="rush24"/> Fluxus art was often presented in "events", which Fluxus member [[George Brecht]] defined as "the smallest unit of a situation."<ref name="rush24"/><ref>[http://members.chello.nl/j.seegers1/flux_files/brecht.html On George Brecht, Robert Filliou and others] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101114003700/http://members.chello.nl/j.seegers1/flux_files/brecht.html |date=14 November 2010 }} Retrieved 5 September 2010</ref> The events consisted of a minimal instruction, opening the events to accidents and other unintended effects.<ref name="rush25">{{harvnb|Rush|2005|p=25}}</ref> Also contributing to the randomness of events was the integration of audience members into the performances, realizing Duchamp's notion of the viewer completing the art work.<ref name="rush25"/>

==Late criticism==
There is a complexity in adequately charting a unified history of Fluxus. In ''Fluxus: A Brief History and Other Fictions'', Owen Smith concedes that, with the emergence of new material published about Fluxus and its expansion into the present, its history must remain open.<ref name="O'neill">O'neill, Rosemary. ''In the Spirit of Fluxus''. Art Journal 53.1 (1994): 90–93. Web.</ref> The resistance to being pigeonholed, and with the absence of a stable identity, Fluxus opened up to wide participation but also, from what would appear in history, closed off that possibility. Maciunas made frequent acts of excommunication between 1962 and 1978 which destabilized the collective.{{sfn|O'Dell|1997}} Kristine Stiles argues in one of her essays that the essence of Fluxus is "performative", while recently she feels that essence has been "eroded or threatened". Fluxus instead moved towards favoring the objects of publication, Stiles asserts: "Care must be taken that Fluxus is not transformed historically from a radical process and presentational art into a tradition static and representational art."<ref name="O'neill" /> With no leadership, no identifiable guidelines, no real collective strategy, no homogeneity in terms of practices, Fluxus cannot be handled through traditional critical tools. Fluxus is an indicator of this confusion. Fluxus therefore is nearly always a discourse on the failure of discourse.<ref>''Fluxus, More Flux Than History''. Art-Press 391 (2012): 65–69. Art Source. Web. 6 October 2015.</ref>

==Fluxus artists==
Fluxus artists shared several characteristics including wit and "childlikeness", though they lacked a consistent identity as an artistic community.<ref name="odell43">{{harvnb|O'Dell|1997|p=43}}</ref> This vague self-identification allowed the group to include a variety of artists, including a large number of women. The possibility that Fluxus had more female members than any Western art group up to that point in history is particularly significant because Fluxus came on the heels of the white male-dominated [[abstract expressionism]] movement.<ref name="odell43"/> However, despite the designed open-endedness of Fluxus, Maciunas insisted on maintaining unity in the collective. Because of this, Maciunas was accused of expelling certain members for deviating from what he perceived as the goals of Fluxus.{{sfn|Oren|1993|p=8}}

Many artists, writers, and composers have been associated with Fluxus over the years:
{{Div col|colwidth=18em}}
*[[Eric Andersen (artist)|Eric Andersen]] (born 1940)
*[[John Armleder]] (born 1948)
*[[Ay-O]] (born 1931)
*[[Mary Bauermeister]] (1934–2023)
*[[Joseph Beuys]] (1921–1986)
*[[Bazon Brock]] (born 1936)
*[[Joseph Byrd]] (1937–2025)
*[[John Cage]] (1912–1992)<ref>Baas, Jacquelynn, et al. Fluxus and the Essential Questions of Life, pp 80,86. Chicago and Hanover, NH: University of Chicago Press and Hood Museum of Art, 2011.</ref>
*[[George Brecht]] (1926–2008)
*[[Giuseppe Chiari (artist-composer-philosopher)|Giuseppe Chiari]] (1926–2007)
*[[Henning Christiansen]] (1932–2008)
*[[Philip Corner]] (born 1933)
*[[Jean Dupuy (artist)|Jean Dupuy]] (1925–2021)
*[[Felipe Ehrenberg]] (1943–2017)
*[[Öyvind Fahlström]] (1928–1976)
*[[Robert Filliou]] (1926–1987)
*[[Simone Forti]] (born 1935)
*[[Henry Flynt]] (born 1940)
*[[Ken Friedman]] (born 1949)
*[[Al Hansen]] (1927–1995)
*[[Martha Hellion]] (born 1937)
*[[Geoffrey Hendricks]] (1931–2018)
*[[Nye Ffarrabas|Bici Hendricks]] (born 1932)
*[[Dick Higgins]] (1938–1998)
*[[Davi Det Hompson]] (1939–1996)
*[[Alice Hutchins]] (1916–2009)
*[[Toshi Ichiyanagi]] (1933–2022)
*[[Ruud Janssen]] (born 1959)
*[[Terry Jennings]] (1940–1981)
*[[Ray Johnson]] (1927–1995)
*[[Joe Jones (Fluxus artist)|Joe Jones]] (1934–1993)
*[[Allan Kaprow]] (1927–2006)
*[[Bengt af Klintberg]] (born 1938)
*[[Milan Knížák]] (born 1940)
*[[Alison Knowles]] (1933-2025)
*[[Arthur Köpcke]] (1928–1977)
*[[Takehisa Kosugi]] (1938–2018)
*[[Philip Krumm]] (born 1941)
*[[Shigeko Kubota]] (1937–2015)
*[[George Landow (filmmaker)|George Landow]] (1944–2011)
*[[Vytautas Landsbergis]] (born 1932)
*[[John Lennon]] (1940–1980)
*[[Jackson Mac Low]] (1922–2004)
*[[Richard Maxfield]] (1927–1969)
*[[George Maciunas]] (1931–1978)
*[[Jonas Mekas]] (1922–2019)
*[[Gustav Metzger]] (1926–2017)
*[[Larry Miller (artist)|Larry Miller]] (born 1944)
*[[Kate Millett]] (1934–2017)
*[[Charlotte Moorman]] (1933–1991)
*[[Maurizio Nannucci]] (born 1939)
*[[Yoko Ono]] (born 1933)
*[[Robin Page]] (1932–2015)
*[[Nam June Paik]] (1932–2006)
*[[Ben Patterson]] (1934–2016)
*[[Terry Riley]] (born 1935)
*[[Dieter Roth]] (1930–1998)
*[[Takako Saito]] (1929-2025)
*[[Wim T. Schippers]] (born 1942)
*[[Tomas Schmit]] (1943–2006)
*[[Carolee Schneemann]] (1939–2019)
*[[Mieko Shiomi (composer)|Mieko Shiomi]] (born 1938)
*[[Gianni-Emilio Simonetti]] (born 1940)
*[[Joey Skaggs]] (born 1945)
*[[Daniel Spoerri]] (1930–2024)
*[[James Tenney]] (1934–2006)
*[[Yasunao Tone]] (1935–2025)
*[[Peter Van Riper]] (1942–1998)
*[[Ben Vautier]] (1935–2024)
*[[Wolf Vostell]] (1932–1998)
*[[Yoshi Wada]] (1943–2021)
*[[Robert Watts (artist)|Robert Watts]] (1923–1988)
*[[Emmett Williams]] (1925–2007)
*[[La Monte Young]] (born 1935)
{{div col end}}

==Scholars, critics, and curators associated with Fluxus==
{{Div col|colwidth=18em}}
*[[Jacquelynn Baas]] (born 1948)
*[[Mark Bloch (artist)|Mark Bloch]] (born 1956)
*[[Jean Brown]] (1911–1994)
*[[Peter Frank (art critic)|Peter Frank]] (born 1950)
*[[Ken Friedman]] (born 1949)
*[[John Hanhardt]] (born 1945)
*[[John Held Jr. (mailartist)]] (born 1947)
*[[Jon Hendricks (artist)|Jon Hendricks]] (born 1939)
*[[Hannah Higgins]] (born 1964)
*[[Judith Hoffberg]] (1934–2009)
*[[Jill Johnston]] (1929–2010)
*[[Clive Phillpot]] (born 1950)
*[[Kristine Stiles]] (born 1947)
*[[Knud Pedersen]] (1925–2014)
{{div col end}}

==Major collections and archives==
<!-- alphabetical list -->
{{refimprove section|date=December 2024}}
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* Alternative Traditions in Contemporary Art, University Library and [[University of Iowa Museum of Art]], [[University of Iowa]], Iowa City, Iowa, USA
* Archiv Sohm, [[Staatsgalerie Stuttgart]], Stuttgart, Germany<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.staatsgalerie.de/de/sammlung/themen/kunstarchive/archiv-sohm |title=Archiv Sohm |website=Staatsgalerie Stuttgart |language=de |access-date=2026-06-20}}</ref>
* Archivio Conz, Verona, Italy
* [[Artpool Art Research Center]], Budapest, Hungary<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.artpool.hu/institute/about.html |title=About Artpool Art Research Center |website=Artpool Art Research Center |access-date=2026-06-20}}</ref>
* [[Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive]], Berkeley, California
* David Mayor/Fluxshoe/Beau Geste Press papers, Tate Gallery Archive, [[Tate Britain]], London, England<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://archive.tate.org.uk/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqServer=tb-calm&dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqPos=8&dsqSearch=(UserWrapped5='Mayor') |title=Tate Archive and Public Records Catalogue |access-date=8 July 2015 |archive-date=23 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423080508/http://archive.tate.org.uk/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqServer=tb-calm&dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqPos=8&dsqSearch=%28UserWrapped5%3D%27Mayor%27%29%2C |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[De Montfort University]], Leicester, UK
* Emily Harvey Foundation, New York City, and Venice, Italy
* {{ill|Fluxeum|de|Fluxeum}}, collection Ute and Michael Berger, Wiesbaden-Erbenheim, Germany
* Fluxus Collection, [[Ken Friedman]] papers, Tate Gallery Archive, Tate Britain, London, England
* Fluxus Collection, [[Walker Art Center]], Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
* ''Fluxus & NeoFluxus / Stolen Symphony'' (a 2023 CD collection of Fluxus sound works by [[Sub Rosa (label)|Sub Rosa]] records)
* Fondation du Doute, Blois, France<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.fondationdudoute.fr/1584-presentation.htm |title=Fondation du Doute |access-date=14 October 2016 |archive-date=24 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161024063940/http://www.fondationdudoute.fr/1584-presentation.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>
* Fondazione Bonotto, Molvena, Vicenza, Italy<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.fondazionebonotto.org/en/collection/ |title=Fluxus and Experimental Poetry Collection |website=Fondazione Bonotto |access-date=2026-06-20}}</ref>
* Franklin Furnace Archive, [[Museum of Modern Art]], New York City
* George Maciunas Memorial Collection, [[Hood Museum of Art]], Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA<ref>{{cite web |url=https://hoodmuseum.dartmouth.edu/explore/collection/modern-contemporary-art/fluxus |title=Fluxus |website=Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College |access-date=2026-06-20}}</ref>
* Gilbert and Lila Silverman, Fluxus Foundation, Detroit, Michigan, and New York City, USA
* Institute for the Arts & Science, [[University of California, Santa Cruz]], USA
* [[Israel Museum]], Jerusalem, Gift from the Gilbert and Lila Silverman Collection, Detroit, to American Friends of the Israel Museum
* [http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa890164 Jean Brown papers, 1916–1995] finding aid, [[Getty Research Institute]], Los Angeles<ref>Getty Research Institute [http://archives.getty.edu:8082/cgi/f/findaid/findaid-idx?cc=utf8a;c=utf8a;view=reslist;subview=standard;didno=US%3A%3ACMalG%3A%3A890164 Selected Special Collections Finding Aids. Jean Brown papers, 1916–1995, bulk 1958–1985.]. Retrieved 28 August 2008.</ref>
* [[Jonas Mekas Visual Arts Center]], [[Vilnius]], Lithuania
* [[Museo Vostell Malpartida]],<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://museovostell.gobex.es/ |title=Museo Vostell Malpartida |access-date=23 April 2021 |archive-date=20 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200720155556/http://museovostell.gobex.es/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Cáceres, Spain
* [[Museum FLUXUS+]], Potsdam, Germany<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.fluxus-plus.de/ |title=Museum Fluxus+ Potsdam, Germany |access-date=3 September 2005 |archive-date=28 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171228234401/http://www.fluxus-plus.de/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
* Sammlung Maria und Walter Schnepel, Bremen, Germany
* ''The Endless Story of FLUXUS'' ([[TVF Media|TVF]]),<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.artvideo.tv/ |title=The Endless Story of FLUXUS |access-date=23 April 2021 |archive-date=24 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224182145/http://artvideo.tv/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Gent, Belgium
{{div col end}}

==Selected bibliography==
{{div col|colwidth=45em}}
* Jürgen Becker, Wolf Vostell, ''Happenings, Fluxus, Pop Art, Nouveau Réalisme''. Eine Dokumentation. Rowohlt Verlag, Reinbek 1965.
* ''Happening & Fluxus''. Kölnischer Kunstverein, 1970.
* Baas, Jacquelynn, Friedman, Ken ''Fluxus and the Essential Questions of Life''. Chicago and Hanover, NH: University of Chicago Press and Hood Museum of Art, 2011. {{ISBN|978-022-60335-9-4}}.
* Bernstein, Roslyn, and Shael Shapiro. ''Illegal Living: 80 Wooster Street and the Evolution of SoHo'' (Jonas Mekas Foundation), www.illegalliving.com {{ISBN|978-609-95172-0-9}}, September 2010.
* Block, René, ed. ''1962 Wiesbaden Fluxus 1982''. Wiesbaden: Harlekin Art, Museum Wiesbaden, and Nassauischer Kunstverein, 1982.
* Clay, Steve, and Ken Friedman, eds. ''Intermedia, Fluxus and the Something Else Press: Selected Writings by Dick Higgins''. Catskill, New York: Siglio Press, 2018. {{ISBN|978-1-938221-20-0}}.
* Chamberlain, Colby, ''Fluxus Administration: George Maciunas and the Art of Paperwork'', University of Chicago Press, 2024 {{ISBN|022683137X}}
* ''Der Traum von Fluxus. George Maciunas: Eine Künstlerbiographie''. [[Thomas Kellein]], Walther König, 2007. {{ISBN|978-3-8656-0228-2}}.
* Fluxus und Freunde: Sammlung Maria und Walter Schnepel, Katalog zur Ausstellung Neues Museum Weserburg Bremen; Fondazione Morra, Napoli; Kunst Museum Bonn 2002.
* Friedman, Ken, ed. [http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/42234 ''The Fluxus Reader'']. Chicester, West Sussex and New York: Academy Editions, 1998.
* Gray, John. ''Action Art. A Bibliography of Artists' Performance from Futurism to Fluxus and Beyond''. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1993.
* Haskell, Barbara. ''BLAM! The Explosion of Pop, Minimalism and Performance 1958–1964''. New York: W. W. Norton in association with the [[Whitney Museum of American Art]], 1984.
* Hansen, Al, and Beck Hansen. ''Playing with Matches''. RAM USA, 1998.
* Harren, Natilee. ''Fluxus Forms: Scores, Multiples, and the Eternal Network.'' Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2020.
* Hapgood, Susan, and Cornelia Lauf. ''FluxAttitudes''. Ghent: Imschoot Uitgevers, 1991.
* Held, John Jr. ''Mail Art: an Annotated Bibliography''. Metuchen, New Jersey and London: Scarecrow Press, 1991.
* Held, John Jr. ''Where the Secret is Hidden: Collected Essays'' Breda: TAM-Publications Netherlands, 2011.
* Hendricks, Geoffrey, ed. ''Critical Mass, Happenings, Fluxus, Performance, Intermedia and Rutgers University 1958–1972''. Mason Gross Art Galleries, Rutgers, and Mead Art Gallery, Amherst, 2003.
* Hendricks, Jon, ed. ''Fluxus, etc.: The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Collection''. Bloomfield Hills, Michigan: Cranbrook Museum of Art, 1982.
* Hendricks, Jon. ''Fluxus Codex''. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1988.
* [[Hannah Higgins|Higgins, Hannah]]. ''Fluxus Experience''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002.
* Janssen, Ruud. ''Mail-Interviews Part 1 Interviews with Mail-Art and Fluxus Artists''. Breda: TAM-Publications, Netherlands 2008.
* [[Thomas Kellein|Kellein, Thomas]]. ''Fluxus''. London and New York: Thames & Hudson, 1995.
* Milman, Estera, ed. "Fluxus: A Conceptual Country", ''Visible Language'' [Special Issue], vol. 26, nos. 1/2, Providence: Rhode Island School of Design, 1992.
* ''Fluxus y Di Maggio''. Museo Vostell Malpartida, 1998, {{ISBN|84-7671-446-7}}.
* Moren, Lisa. ''Intermedia''. Baltimore, Maryland: University of Maryland, Baltimore County, 2003.
* Paull, Silke, and Hervé Würz, eds. "How We Met or a Microdemystification". ''AQ 16'' [Special Issue], (1977)
* Saper, Craig J. ''Networked Art''. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2001.
* Schmidt-Burkhardt, Astrit. ''Maciunas' Learning Machines: From Art History to a Chronology of Fluxus'', with a foreword by Jon Hendricks. Second, revised and enlarged edition, Vienna and New York: Springer, 2011. {{ISBN|978-3-7091-0479-8}}.
* Smith, Owen F. ''Fluxus: The History of an Attitude''. San Diego, CA: San Diego State University Press, 1998.
*''Nie wieder störungsfrei! Aachen Avantgarde seit 1964'', Kerber Verlag, 2011, {{ISBN|978-3-86678-602-8}}.
* ''Fluxus at 50''. Stefan Fricke, Alexander Klar, Sarah Maske, Kerber Verlag, 2012, {{ISBN|978-3-86678-700-1}}.
* ''Fluxus! 50 Jahre Fluxus''. Werner Esser, Steffen Engle, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, 2012. {{ISBN|978-3-86442-032-0}}.
* Stegmann, Petra, ed. '' 'The lunatics are on the loose…' European Fluxus festivals 1962–1977''. Down with art! Berlin 2012. {{ISBN|978-3-9815579-0-9}}.
* Stegmann, Petra, ed. ''Fluxus East. Fluxus-Netzwerke in Mittelosteuropa. Fluxus Networks in Central Eastern Europe''. Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin 2007. {{ISBN|978-3932754876}}.
* Würz, Fleurice ''Fluxus Nice''. Saarbrücken (Germany): AQ-Verlag, 2011. {{ISBN|978-3-922441-11-3}}.
* Zanichelli, Elena (2012). ''Women in Fluxus & Other Experimental Tales: Eventi Partiture Performance''.
* ''Beuys Brock Vostell. Aktion Demonstration Partizipation 1949–1983''. ZKM – Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, Hatje Cantz, Karlsruhe, 2014, {{ISBN|978-3-7757-3864-4}}.
{{div col end}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Arts}}
{{Col-begin|width=50%}}
{{Col-break}}
* [[Art intervention]]
* [[Artist's book]]
* [[Body art]]
* [[Fluxus at Rutgers University]]
* [[Gutai group]]
* [[Ministry of Fluxus]]
* [[Xerox art]]
{{col-end}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist|22em}}

===Sources===
* {{cite book|last=Hendricks|first=Jon|title=Fluxus Codex|location=New York|publisher=Harry N. Abrams|year=1988|isbn=9780810909205}}
* {{cite book|last1=Kellein|first1=Thomas|author1-link=Thomas Kellein|last2=Hendricks|first2=Jon|year=1995|title=Fluxus|location=London|publisher=Thames & Hudson}}
* {{Cite book|last=Kellein|first=Thomas|author-link=Thomas Kellein|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MO_hIEpUiBQC|title=George Maciunas: The Dream of Fluxus|publisher=Thames & Hudson|year=2007|isbn=9780500976654|location=New York}}
* {{cite book|last1=Maciunas|first1=George|author1-link=George Maciunas|last2=Ay-O|author2-link=Ay-O|year=1998|title=Mr. Fluxus – A Collective Portrait of George Maciunas, 1931–1978|editor1=Emmett Williams|editor2=Ann Noël|location=London|publisher=Thames & Hudson|oclc=38974950|isbn=9780500974612}}
* {{cite journal|last=O'Dell|first=Kathy|author-link=Kathy O'Dell|date=Spring 1997|title=Fluxus Feminus|journal=[[TDR (journal)|TDR: The Drama Review]]|volume=41|issue=1|pages=43–60| doi=10.2307/1146571|jstor=1146571}}
* {{cite journal|last=Oren|first=Michel|year=1993|title=Anti-Art as the End of Cultural History|journal= [[Performing Arts Journal]] |volume=15|issue=2|pages=1–30|doi=10.2307/3245708|jstor=3245708|s2cid=195053017}}
* {{cite book|last1=Brecht|first1=George|author1-link=George Brecht|last2=Robinson|first2=Julia|title=George Brecht: Events – Eine Heterospektive|location=Cologne|publisher=[[Museum Ludwig]] and {{ill|Buchhandlung Walther König|de}}|year=2005|language=de}}
* {{cite book|last=Rush|first=Michael|author-link=Michael Rush (museum director)|year=2005|title=New Media in Art|location=London|publisher=Thames & Hudson}}
* {{cite book|last=Smith|first=Owen|year=1998|title=Fluxus: The History of an Attitude|location=San Diego|publisher=San Diego State University Press}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}
*Links at [[Ubuweb]]:
**[http://www.ubu.com/sound/tellus_24.html Samples of Fluxus Audio] on the [[Tellus Audio Cassette Magazine]]
**[http://ubu.com/historical/young/index.html ''An Anthology of Chance Operations'' (1963)]
**[http://www.ubu.com/film/fluxfilm.html FluxFilms (1962–1970) in MPEG format]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20130209090452/http://www.fluxusheidelberg.org/kenfriedman.html Interview with Ken Friedman]
*[http://thelunaticsareontheloose.tumblr.com/ European Fluxus Festivals 1962–1977]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSulycqZH-U John Cage on I've Got A Secret performing ''Water Walk'', January 1960, from the same era as his teaching classes at the New School]
*[http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2011/fluxus_editions/category_works/fluxus1/ MOMA online archive of Fluxus 1, Fluxkit and Flux Year Box 2]
*[http://www.fluxus-plus.de/ Museum Fluxus+ Potsdam, Germany]
*[http://museovostell.gobex.es Museo Vostell Malpartida], Cáceres, Spain.
*[http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/atca/subjugated/cover.htm Subjugated Knowledges exhibition catalogue]
*[http://www.fluxus-archive.dk The Copenhagen Fluxus Archive] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090810110413/http://www.fluxus-archive.dk/ |date=10 August 2009 }}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20111007194223/http://aok2.lib.umbc.edu/specoll/Higgins/index.php Dick Higgins collection at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County]
*[https://www.fondazionebonotto.org/en/collection/fluxus/artist Fondazione Bonotto, Fluxus works collection]
*[http://fluxus.lib.uiowa.edu/  Fluxus Digital Collection, University of Iowa ]
*[https://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/islandora/object/ui%3Afluxus Fluxus West Digital Collection]
*[https://www.fluxuscomesalive.fun/en/ Fluxus Comes Alive - interactive Fluxus guide]
*{{discogs artist|Fluxus (4)}}
{{div col end}}

{{Fluxus}}
{{westernart}}
{{Avant-garde}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Fluxus| ]]
[[Category:Contemporary art organizations]]
[[Category:Conceptual art]]
[[Category:Avant-garde art]]
[[Category:Experimental music]]
[[Category:International artist groups and collectives]]
[[Category:Neo-Dada]]