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    Medina 2005 - Fluxus Kulturbolschevik

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    Desmond Anderson

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology ‘The President and Fellows of Harvard College The "Kulturbolschewiken" I: Fluxus, the Abolition of Art, the Soviet Union, and "Pure Amusement" Author(s): Cuauhtémoc Medina Source: RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics, No. 48, Permanent/Impermanent (Autumn, 2005), pp. 179-192 Published by: The President and Fellows of Harvard College acting through the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology Stable URL: http://www jstor.org/stable/20167686 Accessed: 29-05-2016 15:03 UTC Your use ofthe JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance ofthe Terms & Conditions of Use, avaiable at higp/about stor orgterms JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, end students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in rusted digital archive, We use information technology and lool (o inerease productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information sbout ISTOR, please c ct support@jstor.org. Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. The President and Fellows of Harvard College are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to RES: Anthropology and Aestheties his content downloaded fom 129.105.215.146 on Sun, 29 May 2016 15:03:39 UTC “Al use subjee to ht idbout jor rgterns The “Kulturbolschewiken” | Fluxus, the abolition of art, the Soviet Union, and “pure amusement” (CUAUHTEMOC MEDINA The secret revolutionary project ‘One ofthe most telling paradoxes of the history of Fluxus is that at the precise moment that the concept of the avant-garde was put into question by critics and artis in the early 194, Ganrge Maciunae (the polemical “Fluxus leader’) reached the conclusion that it was finally possible to apply Dada’s attack against the institution of art tothe Soviet project. The way anti-art was going to contribute, in George ‘Maciunas’ mind, tothe victory of Socialism has never been entiely revealed in the diferent studies of the group. This isin part due to the secrecy of Maciunas’ activities. Under the dark spell of the Cold War era, and ater having had a few bruises with the FB at the beginning of the 1960s Maciunas always Kept his ultimate political intentions locked in his heart. However, there are enough traces of his plans to [propose a reconstruction. At times it seemed as if he in fact was testing his collaborators to find those who would be ideologically prepared to join the secret. For instance, inthe letter he sent to Emmet Williams in June 1963 he tried to snare his friend to support the idea of relating Fluxus to the Communist Party. advancing the argument that if Dada had been only a transient phenomenon, it was because it had lacked a clear political commitment: Emmet: | must know how you feel about involving Fluxus politically with the party (you know which one). Our activities loose (sic) all significance if divorced from socio- political struggle going on now: We must coordinate our This isthe fist installment ofa two-part essay; he second pat “The “Kalubolschewiken I: Hanus, Khusches, and the “concretist society” will appear in RES 48 2006. A previous ance by this author on "Architecture and efficiency: George Maciunas andthe economy of Sf appeared n RES #5 Spring 2008 1 See Mate Calinescu, Fve Faces of Modernity. Modernism. ‘Avant Garde. Decadence. Kitch. Postmodernism. (Ducham: Duke University Pres, 19871, pp. 120-125, ‘This content doymlosdd from 129 105.215 activities or we shall become another ‘new wave,” another dada club, coming and going? We also know that, faithful to an old leftist tradition, ‘Maciunas understood Fluxus’s function in the two regimes under entirely diferent light. This surfaced. in fact, in one of the biggest deceptions the leader suffered atthe hands of his associates In the summer of 1964, Dutch Fluxus artist Eric ‘Andersen traveled to East Europe and the U.S.S.R. Along the way, he decided to play a ciuel joke on the Fluxus leader. He sent Maciunas several postcards and letters making him believe that in the company of Addi Kopcke, Tomas Schmit, and Emmet Williams, he was doing a Fluxus tour in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Russia. His account was grossly exaggerate: ‘According to him the Fluxus concerts in the Socialist ‘countries were attracting thousands of spectators. ‘Andersen claimed that they were provocatively perfoning pieces like Maciunas’s Homage (o Adriano Olivett by drinking, eating, and pissing, and therefore ‘were creating a “succes de scandale” in Moscow's newspapers. He went so far as to boast thatthe authorities had decided to probibit the press from even mentioning ther festival in Leningrad. ‘Maciunas was shocked. To Emmet Williams's puzzlement, who was entirely ignorant of the hoax, he wrote an angry letter to the four artists expelling them from the group, explaining that he had been forced to denounce their “apostasy” to the Soviet press. Infact, Maciunas issued a press release reproving the “four renegades and impostors" for having deliberately performed Fluxus compositions “in the most scoundrelly Isic] and scandalous way.” Maciunas stated further that 2. George Macunas Leter to Emmet Wiliams, June 1963. In Emmet Willams and Ann Node), Mr Fluxus A collective potait (oF George Maciunas 1451-1978 (London: IRames and Hudson, 197), p. 102, 3. See the exchange of eters and Andersen and Willams’ recollections ofthe event in id pp. 110-113, 46 09 San, 29 May 2016 15:08:39 UTC “Allus ubjct to htplaboat ste orgtsas 180. RES 48 AUTUMN 2005 Fluxus was in “full agreement with the criticism and

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