Fluxus at Rutgers University
Encyclopedia
The mid-20th-century art movement Fluxus
had a strong association with Rutgers University
.
Allan Kaprow
and Robert Watts, both key figures in the movement, originally met while they were students at Columbia University
; though only together there for one year, soon after they both began teaching at Rutgers. George Brecht
was working in New Brunswick, New Jersey
when he saw the work of Robert Watts
on display at the university. He was so impressed that he sought him out and they became friends.
Claes Oldenburg
referred to Allan Kaprow, George Segal
, George Brecht, Robert Whitman
, Robert Watts, Lucas Samaras
, Geoffrey Hendricks
and Roy Lichtenstein
as the New Jersey School. George Segal and Allan Kaprow referred to it as the New Brunswick School of Painting.
In the late 1950s, George Segal
invited Allan Kaprow to go on a mushroom hunt with him and John Cage
. Cage is remembered for his class in experimental composition
, but he also taught mushroom identification. A discussion on the use of electronic sound recordings in art pieces led to Cage inviting Kaprow to his class. George Segal, Allan Kaprow, and Robert Watts all attended Cage’s class.
, for an impromptu artistic event, in the Spring of 1957. ‘Happening’ first appeared in print in the Winter 1958 issue of the Rutgers undergraduate literary magazine, ‘’Anthologist’’. The form was imitated and the term was adopted by artists across the United States
, Germany
, and Japan
. Jack Kerouac
referred to Kaprow as “the Happenings man,” and an ad showing a woman floating in outer space declared, “I dreamt I was in a happening in my Maidenform
brassiere.”
in New Brunswick, they were occasionally joined by Geoffrey Hendricks
. It was there that they planned the Yam Festival
. While the festival was originally supposed to take place in Princeton at the suggestion of Bob Whitman, it ended up taking place at Segal's farm, on the Rutgers campuses, and in New York City
.
Yam Festival was a year long festival that took place between 1962 – 1963. Yam is May backwards. Happenings included Yam Lecture, Yam Hat Sale, Water Day, Clock Day, Box Day and Yam Day. The Yam Festival Delivery Event was an early mail art
piece.
performed his Orgies Mysteries Theater at the round house on College Farm Road on the Cook College campus. A lamb was killed, skinned, disemboweled, and hung on a wall.
shot sheets of orchestral paper with a machine gun to create ‘’One Thousand Symphonies’’, which was later performed by Philip Corner
.
Geoffrey Hendricks performed ‘’The Sky is the Limit’’ in the Voorhees Chapel in 1969.
A 1970 Flux Fest at Douglass featured soccer played on stilts, a javelin event with a balloon replacing the javelin, and table tennis with holes in the center of the paddles or tin cans glued to the paddle.
In 1999, Joan Marter published ‘’Off Limits: Rutgers University and the Avant-Garde, 1957-1963’’, which featured an exhibit of the same name at the Newark Museum
. It won the International Association of Art Critics award for “Best Exhibition in a Museum Outside New York City.”
In 2003, the art galleries at Mason Gross held ‘’Critical Mass: Happenings, Fluxus, Performance, Intermedia and Rutgers University, 1958-1972’’ to coincide with the release of a book by the same name by Geoffrey Hendricks. It featured artifacts from performances by Rutgers-affiliated Fluxus artists. The Flux Mass was re-staged that year on November 1 (in the same chapel as the original Flux Mass) as part of a series of performances to accompany the exhibition. The mass was also re-created at Amherst College
.
Fluxus
Fluxus—a name taken from a Latin word meaning "to flow"—is an international network of artists, composers and designers noted for blending different artistic media and disciplines in the 1960s. They have been active in Neo-Dada noise music and visual art as well as literature, urban planning,...
had a strong association with Rutgers University
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
.
Allan Kaprow
Allan Kaprow
Allan Kaprow was an American painter, assemblagist and a pioneer in establishing the concepts of performance art. He helped to develop the "Environment" and "Happening" in the late 1950s and 1960s, as well as their theory. His Happenings - some 200 of them - evolved over the years...
and Robert Watts, both key figures in the movement, originally met while they were students at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
; though only together there for one year, soon after they both began teaching at Rutgers. George Brecht
George Brecht
George Brecht , born George Ellis MacDiarmid, was an American conceptual artist and avant-garde composer as well as a professional chemist who worked as a consultant for companies including Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and Mobil Oil...
was working in New Brunswick, New Jersey
New Brunswick, New Jersey
New Brunswick is a city in Middlesex County, New Jersey, USA. It is the county seat and the home of Rutgers University. The city is located on the Northeast Corridor rail line, southwest of Manhattan, on the southern bank of the Raritan River. At the 2010 United States Census, the population of...
when he saw the work of Robert Watts
Robert Watts (artist)
Robert Watts was an American artist best known for his work as a member of the international Avant-garde art movement Fluxus. Born in Burlington, Iowa June 14, 1923, he became Professor of Art at Douglass College, Rutgers University, New Jersey in 1953, a post he kept until 1984...
on display at the university. He was so impressed that he sought him out and they became friends.
Claes Oldenburg
Claes Oldenburg
Claes Oldenburg is a Swedish sculptor, best known for his public art installations typically featuring very large replicas of everyday objects...
referred to Allan Kaprow, George Segal
George Segal (artist)
George Segal was an American painter and sculptor associated with the Pop Art movement. He was presented with a National Medal of Arts in 1999.-Works:...
, George Brecht, Robert Whitman
Robert Whitman
Robert Whitman is an American artist best known for his seminal theater pieces of the early 1960s combining visual and sound images, actors, film, slides, and evocative props in environments of his own making...
, Robert Watts, Lucas Samaras
Lucas Samaras
Lucas Samaras , is an artist, born in Kastoria, Greece. He studied at Rutgers University on a scholarship, where he met Allan Kaprow and George Segal. While at Rutgers, he joined Gamma Sigma . He participated in Kaprow's "Happenings," and posed for Segal's plaster sculptures...
, Geoffrey Hendricks
Geoffrey Hendricks
Geoffrey Hendricks is an American artist associated with Fluxus since the mid 1960s, and has styled himself as "cloudsmith" for his extensive work with sky imagery in paintings, on objects, in installations and performances. Hendricks was born in Littleton, New Hampshire in 1931...
and Roy Lichtenstein
Roy Lichtenstein
Roy Lichtenstein was a prominent American pop artist. During the 1960s his paintings were exhibited at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York City and along with Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, James Rosenquist and others he became a leading figure in the new art movement...
as the New Jersey School. George Segal and Allan Kaprow referred to it as the New Brunswick School of Painting.
In the late 1950s, George Segal
George Segal (artist)
George Segal was an American painter and sculptor associated with the Pop Art movement. He was presented with a National Medal of Arts in 1999.-Works:...
invited Allan Kaprow to go on a mushroom hunt with him and John Cage
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
. Cage is remembered for his class in experimental composition
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
, but he also taught mushroom identification. A discussion on the use of electronic sound recordings in art pieces led to Cage inviting Kaprow to his class. George Segal, Allan Kaprow, and Robert Watts all attended Cage’s class.
The first "happenings"
Segal hosted annual picnics for his New York art friends. It was at one of these that Kaprow first coined the term HappeningHappening
A happening is a performance, event or situation meant to be considered art, usually as performance art. Happenings take place anywhere , are often multi-disciplinary, with a nonlinear narrative and the active participation of the audience...
, for an impromptu artistic event, in the Spring of 1957. ‘Happening’ first appeared in print in the Winter 1958 issue of the Rutgers undergraduate literary magazine, ‘’Anthologist’’. The form was imitated and the term was adopted by artists across the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. Jack Kerouac
Jack Kerouac
Jean-Louis "Jack" Lebris de Kerouac was an American novelist and poet. He is considered a literary iconoclast and, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Kerouac is recognized for his spontaneous method of writing, covering topics such as Catholic...
referred to Kaprow as “the Happenings man,” and an ad showing a woman floating in outer space declared, “I dreamt I was in a happening in my Maidenform
Maidenform
Maidenform Brands is a manufacturer of women's underwear, founded in 1922 by three people: seamstress Ida Rosenthal; Enid Bissett, who owned the shop that employed her; and Ida's husband, William Rosenthal...
brassiere.”
Yam Festival
George Brecht and Robert Watts would meet for lunch once a week at the Howard Johnson'sHoward Johnson's
Howard Johnson's is a chain of hotels and restaurants, located primarily throughout the United States and Canada. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Howard Johnson's was the largest restaurant chain in the United States, with over 1,000 restaurants...
in New Brunswick, they were occasionally joined by Geoffrey Hendricks
Geoffrey Hendricks
Geoffrey Hendricks is an American artist associated with Fluxus since the mid 1960s, and has styled himself as "cloudsmith" for his extensive work with sky imagery in paintings, on objects, in installations and performances. Hendricks was born in Littleton, New Hampshire in 1931...
. It was there that they planned the Yam Festival
Yam festival
The Yam Festival is a popular holiday in Ghana and Nigeria, usually held in the beginning of August at the end of the rainy season. It is named after yams, the most common food in many African countries. It is also known as "Ikeji" in Nigeria. In Nigeria, dancers wear masks that reflect the seasons...
. While the festival was originally supposed to take place in Princeton at the suggestion of Bob Whitman, it ended up taking place at Segal's farm, on the Rutgers campuses, and in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
Yam Festival was a year long festival that took place between 1962 – 1963. Yam is May backwards. Happenings included Yam Lecture, Yam Hat Sale, Water Day, Clock Day, Box Day and Yam Day. The Yam Festival Delivery Event was an early mail art
Mail art
Mail art is a worldwide cultural movement that began in the early 1960s and involves sending visual art through the international postal system. Mail Art is also known as Postal Art or Correspondence Art...
piece.
Orgies Mysteries Theater
In 1970, Hermann NitschHermann Nitsch
Hermann Nitsch is an Austrian artist who works in experimental and multimedia modes.Born in Vienna, Nitsch received training in painting during the time he studied at the Wiener Graphische Lehr-und Versuchanstalt. He is called an "actionist" or a performance artist...
performed his Orgies Mysteries Theater at the round house on College Farm Road on the Cook College campus. A lamb was killed, skinned, disemboweled, and hung on a wall.
Other happenings
In 1968, Dick HigginsDick Higgins
Dick Higgins was a composer, poet, printer, and early Fluxus artist. Higgins was born in Cambridge, England, but raised in the United States in various parts of New England, including Worcester, Massachusetts, Putney, Vermont, and Concord, New Hampshire.Like other Fluxus artists, Higgins studied...
shot sheets of orchestral paper with a machine gun to create ‘’One Thousand Symphonies’’, which was later performed by Philip Corner
Philip Corner
Philip Corner is an American composer, action musician, trombone/alphornist, sometime vocalist, pianist-improvisor, theorist-educator, graphic score designer, and visual artist, collage&assembleur, calligrapher.-Biography:After The High School of Music & Art in New York City, Philip Corner...
.
Geoffrey Hendricks performed ‘’The Sky is the Limit’’ in the Voorhees Chapel in 1969.
A 1970 Flux Fest at Douglass featured soccer played on stilts, a javelin event with a balloon replacing the javelin, and table tennis with holes in the center of the paddles or tin cans glued to the paddle.
Today
Watts taught at Rutgers for 31 years. Geoffrey Hendricks retired in 2003, after nearly 50 years at Rutgers.In 1999, Joan Marter published ‘’Off Limits: Rutgers University and the Avant-Garde, 1957-1963’’, which featured an exhibit of the same name at the Newark Museum
Newark Museum
The Newark Museum is the largest museum in New Jersey, USA. It holds fine collections of American art, decorative arts, contemporary art, and arts of Asia, Africa, the Americas, and the ancient world...
. It won the International Association of Art Critics award for “Best Exhibition in a Museum Outside New York City.”
In 2003, the art galleries at Mason Gross held ‘’Critical Mass: Happenings, Fluxus, Performance, Intermedia and Rutgers University, 1958-1972’’ to coincide with the release of a book by the same name by Geoffrey Hendricks. It featured artifacts from performances by Rutgers-affiliated Fluxus artists. The Flux Mass was re-staged that year on November 1 (in the same chapel as the original Flux Mass) as part of a series of performances to accompany the exhibition. The mass was also re-created at Amherst College
Amherst College
Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...
.
Selected bibliography
- Marter, Joan. Off Limits: Rutgers University and the Avant-Garde, 1957-1963. Newark, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1999.
- Hendricks, Geoffrey. ed. Critical Mass: happenings, Fluxus, performance, intermedia, and Rutgers University, 1958-1972. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2003.
- Hendricks, John. ed. Fluxus Codex. Detroit, Mich. : Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection, 1998.