Fluxus, meaning “flow” in Latin, is dead terminology and gibberish to most. But in actuality, “fluxus” stands for a local, in-the-now art movement here at Conn, and an international and historical movement that will inspire artists for the ages.
The art-intermedia group on campus, founded by Savitri Arvey ’12 and Catherine Monahon ’12, is not only an effort to bring students together to experiment with cross-disciplinary art expression outside of the classroom, but also a continuation of the international movement of the same name that was most influential in the sixties.
Art History professor Karen Gonzalez Rice spoke to Arvey and Monahon to further explain the history of the movement, in order to give context and inspiration for Conn’s group. The movement, particularly influenced by the works of John Cage, began experimenting with cross-disciplinary collaboration leading to what became known as the “flux concert,” a staged performance art that utilized a diverse set of media and participants. Arvey and Monahon decided to take this movement as inspiration to launch artists (whether they consider themselves to be artists or not) on campus into action.
“Catherine’s an art major and I’m not,” Arvey said, “but we both felt there wasn’t a space out of the classroom that supported the collaboration between different arts.”
So far, Fluxus has attempted to join the forces of fine arts, music, theatre, dance, creative writing and film, in an all-inclusive way. If students are unable to be traditionally trained in the classroom in any of these art forms but wish to exercise their creative rights, Fluxus will give them a space to do so.
The most concrete action the group has put into effect is the figure drawing classes that occur once a week. There was enough student interest to take the idea to the administration for permission to hold such a comprehensive and rigorous art platform. Chair of the Art Department and Fluxus’ faculty advisor, Professor Denise Pelletier, wrote up contracts for each role in the figure drawing experience. After three drafts went through the administration, the project was finally put into action.
The project is still fermenting, however. “We’re in the process of working out contracts and hiring models, and we’re looking for people who are interested in modeling,” Monahon said.
The essential aspect of the Fluxus project is community collaboration and interaction. Above all, this is what all participants in Fluxus value most.
“Through collaboration you can come up with good ideas and forms of expression that aren’t possible if you stay in your field … We have so many talented students outside the different departments, so to have them all come together creates really positive results,” Arvey said.
Professor Rice agrees. “That collaboration can illuminate possibilities in your own medium that maybe weren’t obvious before. It infuses the work with new possibilities.”
Arvey and Monahon’s roles are less to create art themselves, and more to give a platform to any students with artistic vision through funding and organizational strategies.
“If [the students] could find a way to make their projects involve other people … then we can totally find a way to give you money. Some sort of conversation has to be happening,” Monahon said.
The group began last semester, opening to a very positive and encouraging student audience with many ideas to share. Most of the conversations revolved around brainstorming and looking towards the future possibilities of Fluxus. Even though the group has organized very solid events, like the evening figure drawing classes, the momentum from last semester has definitely dwindled. Arvey and Monahan serve as facilitators, but students need to use personal passion to keep the group active. This slower pace, however, discourages neither Arvey nor Monahon.
“Even though we haven’t had that many events, people get so excited about the idea of [Fluxus] … that is, in itself, pretty meaningful,” said Monahon.
Although community action is the purpose of Fluxus, it does take individual vision to put thoughts into action.
“[The implication of community-based art] is up to each individual artist. What do you want to communicate or accomplish? How do you want your work to participate in community? Is it decoration, is it entertainment, is it making people think about a specific event, or their habitat or their habits? How do my concerns relate to global or communal concerns?” Rice said.
The movement from the sixties was, and our on-campus Fluxus strives to be, all-inclusive. This progressive nature, along with the emphasis on community action, implies that Fluxus art and artists are in some way participating in a broader activism, perhaps with political undertones.
Rice assures that this bridge between art and activism is nothing new. “It really is in historical tradition to argue what the radical political possibilities for this are,” Rice said. “This is one of the major splits in Fluxus: how to be political. Do we shut down the transportation system by riding in the subway, or do we make art that makes people think differently about their place in the world?”
Rice, though, warns that not all avant-garde work is radically progressive just because it is visually so. “In many ways it is our assumption that good avant-garde should be radically progressive, but that is sort of the art-historical or established view, whereas I think it’s more complicated than that,” she said.
Despite the successes of all Fluxus-organized events on campus (figure drawing, journey dances, the Chiquita Banana cause led by Juan Pablo Pacheco ’14 and the calligraphy exhibition in Coffee Grounds), it will take student initiative to fully embrace the possibilities Fluxus provides.
In the case of the Chiquita Banana project, such successful campus permeation can be attributed to the dedication and passion of Pacheco. Arvey, Monahon and Pelletier are masters of the behind-the-scenes — their role is primarily to foster and launch artists’ passions and projects. “[Pacheco] really cared; he made it happen in a week. Sav and I were facilitators, but we don’t really have time to do that power week,” Monahon said.
As of right now, the founders only wish that more students utilized the great opportunities Fluxus offers. “We really want to hear student ideas, even if they shoot us an email,” Arvey said. “SGA was very generous. Come take advantage of it.”
