Works by George Maciunas, Jonas Mekas and more In Person Only
Microscope is excited to present “By Way of Fluxus…” celebrating the spirit of Fluxus, artist friendships, and cross-cultural/generational exchange as the closing event of our current exhibition “Shigeru Izumi: Entrusted, New York Paintings 1959-1962.”
The evening includes the much-discussed, but rarely seen 35mm slide projection work “12! Big NAMES!” by Fluxus founding member and central figure George Maciunas (1931-1978), several short video works by Jonas Mekas (1922-2019) — whose Cinematheque at 80 Wooster was the site of the first performance of the slide piece along with many other Fluxus events — as well as other video documents and surprises, which include the serving of dumplings as a tribute to Maciunas’ dumpling parties.
“12! BIG NAMES!” was previously presented at Microscope in 2014 — in its former Willoughby Avenue location in Brooklyn — by Mekas who offered this description of the performance:
“12! BIG NAMES!” was a critique of his [George’s] colleague artists whom he considered as becoming more interested in building up their names than their art … During the first projection of the slides, which took place in l974, at the 80 Wooster Street Cinematheque, I was asked by George tokeep each slide on the screen for three minutes.The first projection was silent, except for the exuberant reactions of the audience which were recorded by Larry Miller and run during some of the following projections as a soundtrack.”
The work will be performed as it was originally presented.
The video works by Mekas on the program include those showing original Fluxus figures and friends in action — including some of the fore-mentioned “big names” — performing and taking part in events during the 1960s and 70s, as well other more recent Fluxus-related works shot by the artist in the 2000s.
It is thanks to Maciunas, Mekas and the artist Ay-O — a friend of Izumi and also a member of Fluxus — that the paintings are exhibited at the gallery today. Following Izumi’s departure from New York in 1962, the three — first Ay-O, then Maciunas, and finally Mekas — collectively cared for the paintings for more than 60 years.