Maciunas, George.

[FLUXUS] Diagram of Historical Development of Fluxus and Other 4 Dimentional, Aural, Optic, Olfactory, Epithelial and Tactile Art Forms.

New York: self-published, ca. 1973. 169.5 × 61 cm. Offset lithograph on glassine paper. Rolled. Text very lightly abraded and faded in upper portion; else very good. Item #54817

Exceptionally rare first edition of the third and last Fluxus diagram by Maciunas. He was constantly working on lists and tables, which enabled a seemingly bureaucratic archiving and historiography of the Fluxus movement. However, these were not secondary activities, but were themselves decidedly artistic practices. While administrative infrastructures such as business relationships, contracts, and other types of documents, names, and addresses were not part of the artwork itself (at least not decidedly) until Fluxus, in Fluxus the administration itself became artistic production. (See: Magdalena Holdar, Fluxus as a Network of Friends, Strangers, and Things, Leiden 1923, p. 113f.)

How natural the fusion of documentation and artwork was for Maciunas is evidenced by a letter he wrote to Daniela Palazzoli, which he then published himself. It says, among other things: "I am working on the chart, but very slowly (...) That could conceivably be included in such an anthology as a wall-paper (...) you could arrange a worthwile fluxfest (...) [including a] flux-history room with exhibit of all original prototypes of objects produced, interesting documents, etc. like my chart like calendar (...)" ((Quoted from Hendricks, p. 329) In doing so, Maciunas did not limit himself to including in the diagram what he already knew, but called for materials to be sent to him. Thus he wrote in the Fluxusnewsletter of April 1973: "(…) I have been working on an extensive chart-diagram showing growth and development of fluxus, also preceding, bordering, allied, following and imitative trends. I would like to request all recipients of this letter to send me as many facts as possible on any performances (and what was performed), exhibits, events, environments, productions – with exact dates!, flux pieces or flux–like pieces by yourselves or others." (Quoted from Hendricks, p. 333.) The network thus collaborated on the work. Whoever had their name on the diagram became part of the Fluxus historiography if it was circulated, disseminated among art practitioners, and archived in museum collections. (See Holdar, p. 114)

Hendricks, Fluxus Codex, p. 329ff.; Fondazione Bonotto Code FX0871, 3a.

As of December 2024, KVK, OCLC locates only one copy of the first edition of 1973 worldwide (Getty).

Price: €4,500.00

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