Some Little Fluxus Events and Fluxus Concerts As part of ... - Prada

Some Little Fluxus Events and Fluxus Concerts
The Small Utopia. Ars Multiplicata
August 31-September 7, 2012
As part of the exhibition The Small Utopia. Ars Multiplicata, curated by Germano Celant, the
Fondazione Prada is organizing a series of events to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the birth of
Fluxus (1962‐2012) that will commence on August 31, 2012.
Fluxus is the smallest of the small utopias of the 20th century, but also the one with the most
illustrious founding fathers, from Erik Satie to Marcel Duchamp, Tristan Tzara, Filippo
Tommaso Marinetti and John Cage. It has been and still is an avant‐garde of déraciné artists
from every corner of the world, specialists in contradiction, but faithful to a poetics that wants
to turn art into an experience that measures up to the desires of life today, since, as Duchamp
argued, le spectateur fait l’oeuvre.
The term Fluxus was coined in 1961 in New York, by George Maciunas (1931‐78), but came
into current use the year after, in 1962, at Wiesbaden in Germany, where a series of musical
actions and events were held that have gone down in the history of modern art and in
particular of performance.
To define Fluxus is to define the indefinable, but the fact remains that its poetics has, with
Cage above all, changed forever contemporary music and the way it relates to art. In Fluxus a
dual alliance has been achieved, that of the word with the gesture, speech with silence, non‐
sense with the absolute seriousness of play. For George Maciunas Fluxus represented the
eruption of the unexpected into daily life with the objective of restoring to art its ancient
dream, that of an experience capable of generating new social ties above and beyond any form
of power and violence.
To commemorate this small and last utopia of the 20th century the Fondazione Prada has
asked Gianni‐Emilio Simonetti––one of the Italian artists who has played a part in Fluxus and
who has been involved with music since 1960––to restage, in a manner as much in keeping
with the spirit of the time as possible, a Fluxus Concert, divided into two parts, and a Flux
Dinner. In this connection Arthur C. Danto, the doyen of the philosophy of art in the United
States, wrote in Unnatural Wonders (2005) that what distinguished Fluxus in the 1970s was the
use of food as art and as the subject of many performances.
In line with the spirit of Fluxus the direction of these events is Simonetti’s responsibility, but he
will rely on the help of young and nonprofessional performers: Evelina Carrara, Sara Murrone,

Giulia Tacchini, Melissa Sieben, Andrea Grotto, Gionatan Lassandro, Jacopo Pagin and Giulio
Saverio Rossi.
They will present pieces by Ay‐o, George Brecht, Philip Corner, Al Hansen, Dick Higgins, Alison
Knowles, Takehisa Kosugi, Shigeko Kubota, Joe Jones, George Maciunas, Walter Marchetti,
Nam June Paik, Ben Patterson, Terry Riley, Tomas Schmit, Mieko Shiomi, Ben Vautier, Robert
Watts and La Monte Young, and for the occasion several works by John Cage will also be
reinterpreted in the spirit of this avant‐garde: Fontana Mix (1958), Sounds of Venice and Water
Walk (1959), Variation III (1962).
Program
Some Little Fluxus Events organized by Gianni Emilio Simonetti
Friday August 31, 6 pm – 9 pm
Fluxus Concert, An Anthology. Part I.
Saturday September 1, 7 pm
Fluxus Concert, An anthology. Part II.
Sunday September 2, 7 pm
A Fluxus Dinner preceded by John Cage’s Variation III (1962)
Friday September 7, 7 pm
Ca’ Corner della Regina – Calle de Ca’ Corner, Santa Croce 2215, Venice 30135
RSVP +390254670981 info@fondazioneprada.org
Please note that the maximum number of guests admitted inside the exhibition space of 200
persons at once.
Details of the exhibition
Title: “The Small Utopia. Ars Multiplicata,” curated by Germano Celant
Venue: Ca’ Corner della Regina – Calle de Ca’ Corner, Santa Croce 2215, Venice 30135 – San
Stae Stop, Linea 1, Direction Lido
Opening hours: 10 am‐6 pm, closed on Tuesdays. The ticket office closes at 5:30 pm
Entrance: 10 euros, except for under 18s and over 65s
Information: tel. +39.041.8109161 Venice; tel. +39.02.54670515 Milan
www.fondazioneprada.org ; info@fondazioneprada.org
Press Office: tel. +39.02.54670202 / press@fondazioneprada.org
Vaporetto dell’arte: priority boarding and 15% discount on all publications
Publication: The Small Utopia. Ars Multiplicata, Edizione Progetto Prada Arte