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10 steps for a live demonstration of MTAA's artwork in relation to the Fluxus concept of "Aktion" or as we use to say in America during the 60's - Hey, let's put on a "Happening." Groovy.
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The following is a misguided attempt to cross breed the work of the collaborative MTAA (founded 1997) and the historical art movement, Fluxus (founded 1961). This will be accomplished by way of an example text-based artwork - a script for creating an performance entitled: 10 steps for a live demonstration of MTAA's artwork in relation to the Fluxus concept of "Aktion" or as we use to say in America during the 60's - Hey, let's put on a "Happening." Groovy. Step 1 Get a space - An empty building, old theater, someone's basement, a park, your ex-friend's loft, an airport, a closed amusement park or a generic white gallery. It really doesn't matter what kind of space it is. Just get a location so that people have a place to show up at a prearranged time and date. Step 2 Get WiFi in the space. Some people will come to the space physically. Those who cannot come to the space physically can stop by via the Internet. Step 3 Get a bunch of gray industrial felt, a MIDI trigger player piano, 10 HDTVs, a small horse, 5 lap tops, two digital projectors, a linguist, an electrical engineer (preferably from MIT), one gallon of honey, eight bass guitars, a Gameboy, 10 sheets of 4' x 8' AC plywood, 30 sheets of 4' x 8'cardboard, a contractor box of 1 1/4 " course tread drywall screws, a Dewalt 14-volt cordless drill gun, a Dewalt 14 volt-cordless skill saw, a bunch of Christmas lights, a smoke machine, a few digital video cameras, a bunch of cables so that you can plug in everything to everything, a PA system with a microphone and, of course, a few cases of Budweiser beer. Step 4 Using an obscure and uncool typeface, make an 8.5" x 11" black and white Xeroxed flyer announcing the time, location and URL of the event. Paste up the flyers in hard-to-find locations in the vicinity of the event. Use the flyer layout to make an email announcement. Send the email to Internet lists under misleading subject lines like, "Cool Live Retro 60's Dance Party Tonight. Groovy!" Step 5 Recruit 10 performers. Assign materials from the list to each performer. For example, "Okay Bob, you get one gallon of honey, 30 sheets of 4' x 8' cardboard and the linguist." Step 6 Bring all the materials and people to the location before the scheduled start time. Arrange the materials and people in the space into a neat pile in the center of the space. Step 7 Assign each performer a 15-minute time slot. The time slots should be back to back so that the entire performance will take exactly 150 minutes. Inform the performers that once their 15 minutes is over, they should stop and leave the space. They should leave whatever material they assigned in the space. Inform the performers that once a material is placed into the performance, that material is available for use by the following performers. For example, once Bob is done pouring the gallon of honey over the linguist on top of the 30 sheet cardboard stage, this mess is available for the next performer to work with or ignore. Step 8 After you assign materiels and time slots, please read the following instructions to the performers: I don't remember the 60's. I don't remember Fluxus. I remember that America was at war then. America is still at war. Let's get up. Toss some shit together and call it art. Shout. Scream. Drag your fucking body across the floor. We know it's dumb. We know it's empty gestures. Fluxus was naive and now we're jaded. Let's do this with winks in our eyes and tongues in our cheeks. But, for a moment, lets' say Flux was right. Let's say random acts have meaning. Let's pretend, for one last second, that a poetic stance can mean anything at all. Let's just pretend. Step 9 Set up a laptop with a webcam to broadcast the event. Set up the PA with the microphone. Open the space 10 minutes before the event to the public. Begin the performance 10 minutes late. Step 10 Begin the performance by reading this text. After you read this text, the first performer should begin. M. River 12 - 27 - 04 |