Fluxus Chap 3

The beginning of Chapter three briefly delves into how we perceive reality in art or art in reality. Again I think we are presented with the problem of how we determine what constitutes art and what does not, very much like our discussion of what is literature. I think part of what Fluxus does is confuse our own perception of art by taking what might be considered drab reality and transforming it into something one might consider art. After viewed the creatively altered object again in reality we have a different experience with it, we see it differently. Conversely, when we see art repeatedly in reality, we see it differently as well.

Ch.3

This chapter focused on the relationship between fluxus and other art forms, for instance, pop art, conceptual art, and happening art. Higgins shows that fluxus has influence in all of these art forms. "Philip Jackson argues that to experience as art is not the same as having an artificial experience; art, after all, is itself a form of reality."I found this quote really interesting, and thought provoking. It goes along with the whole idea of the fluxus form of art is a way of experiencing the art and how it ultimately becomes a part of our reality. You can see this filter through in these other art forms. For one, in pop art Andy Warhol painted and screen printed every day objects and people, like soup cans and Marylyn Monroe.

Fluxus ch.3

Chapter 3 about Fluxus explored the relationship, as Higgins mentioned, “between Fluxus and three other major movements of the 1960s and 1970s: Happenings, conceptual art, and pop art” (105). Each movement has its own uniqueness however, they also have similarities. Both Fluxus and Happenings were described by Kaprow as “avant-garde lifelike art” (108). With conceptual art, Fluxus artists produced some of the first conceptual arts such as the Event scores. In addition, pop art like Fluxus challenged the idea of original art works. But as Higgins has explained, Fluxus has influenced these other movements however, it has gained no recognition for its influence. This form of art is unique. For example, the Blink video clip that we watched in class wasn’t creative, but it did have a purpose. As I was starring at the screen, my eyes soon started to blink everything the white screen flashed and then my eyes would stop blinking when the black screen showed up. This piece dealt with the viewers perception and how his/her eyes were registering the image. The Fluxus art works are weird, but unlike the art we’re normally used to.

Chapter 3

For this week we were asked to look at Chapter 3 of Hannah Higgin's book. I found that Chapter 3 was pretty similar to the first chapter we looked at for Monday, but instead of focusing on the film aspect of Fluxus, it took a look at objects in general. After reading this article it gave me a better understanding of a museum I went to in high school. I went to the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis on a film trip and pretty much everything that was in the place confused me because I didn't really see it as art. One example of the type of art that was present in the museum was a kid's chair with a box of tissues on top of it. At the time I just thought it was ridiculous that something like that could be considered art, but after reading these chapters on Fluxus, it's interesting to look back and see that we all have different interpretations of what art is. The Fluxus movement to me seems like the artists live by the concept that anything in the world can be art if you interpret it to be art, which I find to be a rather intriguing idea.

Chapter 3

"Fluxus experiences sensitize the perceiver to the life world by creating a special place--called art--for the sensitization to occur" p3. I thought this sentence helped to embody what the Fluxus movement does. The different experiences that are intended to come out of a Fluxus piece of art show the subject something new in the world. Anything that is new or creative can be called art. Fluxus does that by stimulating the mind and body in unconventional ways. Instead of an individual experience art by simply reading with their eyes, or hearing with their ears, the person finds art in the physical presence of the piece. Like the installation described in chapter three, the art is there in front of you, it is intended to be touched an experienced, as opposed to art in a museum. People are supposed to derive their own interpretation from the art, and come away with something totally unique.

Chapter 3

Chapter 3 on Fluxus seemed very similar to chapter 1 to me. The only major difference I found was that chapter 3 focused more on the performance aspect of Fluxus, while chapter 1 focused more on the films and objects like “Blink” and the Fluxkits. What confuses me about Fluxus is that they consider ordinary objects to be art. If ordinary objects can be art, then everything can have artistic potential. So, if everything can be art, then is art special anymore? Is there an artistic performance, or is everything artistic? Everything being artistic is almost the same as nothing being artistic. It brings back the question of what exactly is art, and who should make that decision, the artist or the critic?

chapter 3

For today, we had to read Chapter 3 of Hannah Higgins. Going off of what the first chapter was about, how art is seen differently and in different perspectives by everybody. It is interesting to read about how since everybody has their own interpretation on what art is it makes for a whole different illusion. They talk about how the people in this chapter are doing different things, such as wrapping people in tin foil, but this is not what happens in real world. A lot of people would see this as fun or kind of prank like to see what people would do but a lot of people appreciate art since they consider these pranks as something different and art like.