25 June – 13 July 2008
A season of Fluxus inspired activity featuring rare film, participation, food and performance.
FLUX FEST launched with its own dumpling party hosted by artist Feng-Ru Lee. Visitors were invited to eat dumplings whilst watching the first UK presentation of the performance Car Bibbe by Sean Carillo and Bibbe Hansen – originally peformed by Al Hansen (Bibbe’s father) in 1958/9.
A selected film programme provided the audience with a rare opportunity to view original Fluxfilm by Nam June Paik, Yoko Ono, Joe Jones, Paul Sharits, Alison Knowles and George Maciunas, and interviews and documentaries of Fluxus activity by Larry Miller, Takahiko Iimura and Jonas Mekas.
A series of new works echoing the spirit of Fluxus were commissioned; Typographically charged works by award-winning Birmingham based designer James Langdon; The Re:Flux Fluxconcert curated by a.a.s and Ensemble Interakt; Flummoxed, an evening greeted in the spirit of Fluxus by 7 inch cinema and associates which included silent raving, limited edition flickbooks and performance; Journey with Fluxus, a family friendly outing along Birmingham’s canal systems whilst playing Fluxus style games; and FluxFeast, a spectacular Fluxfood event from SharedTable.
VIVID also collaborated with Capsule to present Mecanologie (1997) by Pierre Bastien which comprised robotic installation of everyday objects – a teapot, a comb, some toothbrushes – that together formed an ensemble of sounds.