Brecht, George, Dick Higgins, Alison Knowles, George Maciunas, Daniel Spoerri, Emmett Williams, and other artists.

[ONE OF THE EARLIEST FLUXUS EVENTS] Poesie et cetera americaine: Biennale internationale des jeunes artistes: Musée d'art moderne de la ville de Paris, le mercredi, 9 octobre 1963. A 19 heures [Poesie et cetera americaine: International biennial of young artists: Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Wednesday, October 9, 1963. At 7 p.m.].

Paris: Musée d'Art Moderne, 1963. Square octavo (20 × 20.2 cm). Original staple-stitched printed wrappers; [28] pp. and the small leaflet "Ear Piece" by Terry Riley loosely inserted, as issued. Very good. Item #55723

Rare first edition of the comprehensive program for the early Fluxus happeng in Paris. In his introduction to the event, gallerist and Fluxus patron Jean-Pierre Wilhelm writes, among other things: "The movement is enjoying a certain vogue in the United States. It is there that the composer John Cage lives, the inventor of the prepared piano, who introduced chance, randomness, into music… He may be considered the classical ancestor of this tendency, though only in a certain sense. The young Americans George Brecht, Al Hansen, Dick Higgins, Alison Knowles, George Maciunas (the founder of the Fluxus movement), Jackson Mac Low, Simone Morris, Benjamin Patterson, Terry Riley, Robert Watts, Emmett Williams, and La Monte Young, whose works we will see this evening, are already pursuing aims completely different from those of Cage, for whom they nonetheless retain a respectful affection… Events of the kind we will attend this evening take place in New York. It is there that the term 'Happenings' was coined, meaning events that simply occur and are more or less predetermined. This should not be confused with gags, even though there is a certain affinity. Everything that happens there is done very seriously, with great seriousness and deliberation. It is not meant for laughter… Yet laughter is an anticipated reaction, even an expected one, and forms part of the audience’s responses…"

John Gray, Bibl. of Artists' Performance, 1287; cf. Fondazione Bonotto Code FXC1661 (only the reprint).

As of April 2026, OCLC show only three copies in North America.

Price: €1,500.00

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