FLUXUS GUIDE
This breakdown is a beautiful idea that lets you realise that you can turn anything into an artistic experience just by framing it differently – which also means you don’t need to have any training to be an artist or performer.
“Promote a REVOLUTIONARY FLOOD
AND TIDE IN ART,
Promote living art, anti-art, promote NON ART REALITY to not befully grasped by all peoples,
not only critics, dilettantes and professionals”
The simplicity and vagueness of many of the event scores has also led to younger artists coming up with inventive reinterpretations of older pieces (notably Yoko Ono’s work)
SO… WHAT IS A FLUXUS OPEN MIC…?
Ok basically, we’re inviting YOU (our audience) to come and perform Fluxus pieces.
We’re a bit worried everybody will be too terrified, so we’re going to have a few “professionals” as plants, and we’ll also have some super easy pieces you could take part in without having to prepare or bring anything.
But we’d love for you to do a bit of research, or think of an original idea, and let us know if you’d like to take part. We will probably curate the show so that there are multiple pieces happening simultaneously, stage managed by Kirkos, and we will definitely use our (actually professional) experience and skills to keep everything safe and fun.
SO HOW DO I TAKE PART?
To take part, email Sebastian at sebastian@kirkosensemble.com with your idea and how you think you would perform it. Do this before July 30th, but ideally as soon as possible so that we can start planning properly! Once we have a plan figured out, we’ll communicate it to all the people who’ve submitted.
ARE THERE ANY LIMITS?
Yes! We don’t know what they are, but we will have to make sure that the event is safe and fun for everybody, so we might have to say no to some ideas for safety reasons. Having said that, if you have been to some of our previous events, you probably know we are quite open-minded!
Firstly—have you considered writing your own event score?
We also have some nice ideas here of pieces that could work well, and there’s also this amazing resource available for free online.
We also have this nice anthology of pieces we made ourselves for untrained performers to play at home FOR PRIVATE USE
Finally, if you’re too shy, please feel free to come along as an audience member and enjoy the chaos!
WHAT IS A FLUXUS OPEN MIC?
We made it up! Maybe… Actually maybe not…WHAT IS FLUXUS?
Fluxus is hard to pin down precisely, but it's an interdisciplinary movement in art that made use of humour, simple ideas, absurdism, and is extremely anti-commercial. One of the things we really like about it is that it breaks down the separation of ART and LIFE – one of the most famous pieces (by Alison Knowles) simply involves making and serving a salad: the performance in this case is as much about a shared gesture of hospitality as it is about any sonic or visual element.This breakdown is a beautiful idea that lets you realise that you can turn anything into an artistic experience just by framing it differently – which also means you don’t need to have any training to be an artist or performer.
ISN’T THAT ART? AREN’T YOU MUSICIANS?
Although Fluxus is also commonly associated with the visual art world, a lot of the Fluxus artists mader their work as written instructions, mostly very short, which were normally called “event scores”. Classical musicians are famously good at following instructions, so this kind of work makes a lot of sense to us! (On top of that, Fluxus has its roots in experimental music)DIDN’T THEY DO THAT IN THE 60’S?
Yes, definitely, but we think the goals of the Fluxus movement are still unmet, still relevant and still important in 2022 – the arts are seen as a hobby for people with money to spare, and this is as sad and unnecessary now as it was when George Maciunas wrote:“Promote a REVOLUTIONARY FLOOD
AND TIDE IN ART,
Promote living art, anti-art, promote NON ART REALITY to not be
not only critics, dilettantes and professionals”
The simplicity and vagueness of many of the event scores has also led to younger artists coming up with inventive reinterpretations of older pieces (notably Yoko Ono’s work)
SO… WHAT IS A FLUXUS OPEN MIC…?
Ok basically, we’re inviting YOU (our audience) to come and perform Fluxus pieces.
We’re a bit worried everybody will be too terrified, so we’re going to have a few “professionals” as plants, and we’ll also have some super easy pieces you could take part in without having to prepare or bring anything.
But we’d love for you to do a bit of research, or think of an original idea, and let us know if you’d like to take part. We will probably curate the show so that there are multiple pieces happening simultaneously, stage managed by Kirkos, and we will definitely use our (actually professional) experience and skills to keep everything safe and fun.
SO HOW DO I TAKE PART?
To take part, email Sebastian at sebastian@kirkosensemble.com with your idea and how you think you would perform it. Do this before July 30th, but ideally as soon as possible so that we can start planning properly! Once we have a plan figured out, we’ll communicate it to all the people who’ve submitted.
ARE THERE ANY LIMITS?
Yes! We don’t know what they are, but we will have to make sure that the event is safe and fun for everybody, so we might have to say no to some ideas for safety reasons. Having said that, if you have been to some of our previous events, you probably know we are quite open-minded!
I’D LOVE TO COME, BUT I CAN’T THINK OF ANY PIECES TO PLAY…
That’s fine!Firstly—have you considered writing your own event score?
We also have some nice ideas here of pieces that could work well, and there’s also this amazing resource available for free online.
We also have this nice anthology of pieces we made ourselves for untrained performers to play at home FOR PRIVATE USE
Finally, if you’re too shy, please feel free to come along as an audience member and enjoy the chaos!