Re:Flux
27 June 2008
St Paul's Church, Birmingham - UK
The Re:Flux fluxconcert was a one day audio performance event exploring
a form of collaborative working developed by Fluxus, the basic principle
of which is that one artist/composer will write a performance 'score'
which can then be performed by any number of other performers as interpretations.
Each artist involved scored original works to be performed by someone
else, and they also performed at least one original Fluxus work from
The Fluxus Performance Workbook.
This fluidity of authorship, this sharing of responsibility is at odds
with the idea of the artist as brand, but completely in keeping with
the history of Fluxus - itself shifting and open to interpretation:
a 'becoming' that does not aim at finality, at closure. This is an ongoing
state, which may be explored in performances, but can expand beyond
them into a changed way of experiencing the world, bringing the audience
into a direct perception of the duration and context of the event rather
than a circumscribed, reproduction of an experience.
This points towards a type of performance where the audience create
the artwork themselves as they experience it: they become participants.
Even attempts to resist this, to passively consume, show choices that
mean they have engaged with the work. This involvement is a responsibility
as much as a gift, many people have a fear of 'audience participation'
being coerced into doing something they are not comfortable with, and
it is up to the initiator of such involvement to present options, possibilities
and openings rather than just a more subtle form of control. One way
this Fluxconcert addressed this issue, was by each participating artist
handing their own scores over to others and taking instructions from
others in turn.
Contributing artists were: Ana Benlloch, Cormac Faulkner, Jonathan Green,
Phillip Henderson, Calum F. Kerr, Sian McFarlane, Niki Russell, Stuart
Tait, Keir Williams, and Dan Williamson.
Curated by a.a.s. & Ensemble Interakt for Vivid.
To download a programme for the concert, including all scores and an
introductory text by Stuart Tait and Ana Benlloch click here.
