at/around/beyond: Fluxus at Rutgers

American Art Gallery

Fluxus celebrates its fiftieth anniversary in 2012. A radical, experimental, and multimedia art movement of the mid-twentieth century that continues to influence contemporary art, Fluxus focuses on the unpredictable, ordinary, and ephemeral moments of everyday life. Rutgers University was an important center of Fluxus activity in the early 1960s and 1970s, and key members of the Fluxus group worked at Rutgers and lived in and around New Brunswick.

This exhibition focuses on the university’s legacy as a center of experimental art. The works on view include publications, games, and objects by Fluxus artists under the leadership of George Maciunas, as well as concentrations of works by Fluxus artists at Rutgers, including Geoffrey Hendricks and Robert Watts, who were long-time faculty members; Larry Miller, who was a student of Watts; and George Brecht, who, although not affiliated officially with the art department, was an important presence at Rutgers and a key early figure in Fluxus.

Because performance was and remains an essential aspect of Fluxus attitudes toward life and art, the exhibition includes photographs, films, recordings of music, and documents of Fluxus events that occurred on campus in the 1960s and 1970s. The exhibition also includes interactive games that allow visitors to the exhibition to directly engage in Fluxus experiences.

Organized by Donna Gustafson, Andrew W. Mellon Liaison for Academic Programs and Curator, and Eveline Baseggio Omiccioli, Graduate Assistant, Zimmerli Art Museum, with assistance from Heather Cammarata-Seale, Museum Intern

The exhibition and related programs are supported by an endowment established by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Class of 1937 Publication Fund, and the Dorothy Dehner Foundation for the Visual Arts.