Cole, R orcid.org/0000-0001-6281-3099 (2024) Fluxus and the Democratic Mundane. Modernism/Modernity, 31 (4). pp. 677-698. ISSN 1080-6601
Abstract
This essay argues that Fluxus was an experiment in utopia. Drawing on Jacques Rancière, I suggest that its subversiveness lies neither in avant-garde shock nor Marxist critique, but rather in a visionary extension of the aesthetic. This approach can be seen in works such as Benjamin Patterson's Variations for Double-Bass, Nam June Paik's Zen for Film, and Flux Year Box 2. Fluxus was grounded in radical equality, making visible and audible a range of ordinary, marginal things. In so doing, it established new forms of political possibility bound up with sensory play, nature, mass culture, intermedia, and creative agency.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: | |
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | This item is protected by copyright. This is an author produced version of an article published in Modernism/Modernity. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Fluxus, experimental music, avant-garde, 1960s, utopia |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures (Leeds) > School of Music (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 21 Oct 2022 10:45 |
Last Modified: | 13 Jun 2025 06:18 |
Published Version: | https://muse.jhu.edu/article/961640 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Johns Hopkins University Press |
Identification Number: | 10.1353/mod.2024.a961640 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:192183 |