fluxus friends

Alison Knowles' Loose Pages. CUNY Segal Theater. 11/09

2009-11-16T15:17:00.000-08:00

Plah Plah Pli Plah. Alison Knowles book launch at Printed Matter

2009-11-16T15:09:00.000-08:00

Geoff Hendricks, Sara Seagull, Simon Anderson & Alison Knowles

Simon Anderson, Alison Knowles and Picasso Gaglione

http://www.sararanchouse.com/plahtext.html

Plah Plah Pli Plah
By Alison Knowles

Book Launch and Performance Friday, November 6, 2009, 5-7 PM

Printed Matter is pleased to announce a book launch and performance for Alison Knowles’ new book, Plah Plah Pli Plah. Please join us along with the artist and her Bean Turner Ensemble on Friday, November 6, 2009 from 5:00 – 7:00 PM. Printed Matter is located at 195 Tenth Avenue, between 21st and 22nd Street.

Published by Sara Ranchouse Publishing, Plah Plah Pli Plah documents the sounds, performance and material of Knowles’ handmade paper and dried bean instrument “Bean Turners.” It includes scores transcriptions of the instruments’ sounds, and images of Knowles performing. The book also includes the special insert of a “bean page instrument,” fabricated especially for this project at the Columbia College Chicago Center for Book and Paper Arts, Chicago.

Knowles and members of her Bean Turner Ensemble will perform her instruments throughout the evening.

Plah Plah Pli Plah is 84 pages and is printed in both black and 4-color with a special instrument insert. The book is being offered for an introductory price of $40 and is available in store and online. Please contact us to arrange signed copies if you are unable to attend the launch.

Alison Knowles is a visual artist known for her soundworks, installations, performances, publications and association with Fluxus, the experimental avant-garde group formally founded in 1962. Since the early 1960s, she has traveled and performed throughout Europe, Asia and United States. Artists’ books have formed an integral part of Knowles’ artistic output for many years and numerous titles are still available through Printed Matter: by Alison Knowles(1965), More (1979), Natural Assemblages and The True Crow (1980), A Bean Concordance (1983), Spoken Text (1993), Bread and Water (1995), and by Alison Knowles (1965 / 2007).

Sara Ranchouse Publishing was founded in 1993 to promote printed matter, especially the book, as a space in which to make and read visual art and unconventional texts. The press demonstrates an interest in found, rearranged and recontextualized texts, images and materials; in the significance of the physical make-up and production requirements of a publication in relation both to its content and to its subsequent functional and economic life; and in the pursuit of collaborative projects, especially those that resuscitate material that has been under acknowledged.

For more information, please contact Catherine Krudy, ckrudy @ printedmatter.org

Printed Matter Inc. is an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1976 by artists and art workers with the mission to foster the appreciation, dissemination, and understanding of artists'' books and other artists'' publications.

Printed Matter, Inc. has received support, in part, through grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the Milton & Sally Avery Arts Foundation, The Cowles Charitable Trust, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, the Erste Foundation, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, The Gesso Foundation, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, Tekserve, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and individuals worldwide.

VendorBar E/AB'09

2009-11-16T14:58:00.000-08:00

MoMA benefit in which Alison Knowles and I invited people to draw on some of Alison's prints. Beans in a bag, blind chosen. Colours from a group on the table.

info:

VENDORBAR
VendorBar is part of an ongoing series of itinerant exhibitions and interventions, organized by Kirby Gookin and Robin Kahn, in which art is presented to the public that is either free, with no copyright, or sold inexpensively. The goal is to open up direct lines of communication between artists and the public in order to make ideas and artwork more accessible. Past projects include Free Show, Disappearing Act, Holiday Shopping, Copiacabana, Copilandia and To Market to Market. For E/AB'09 VendorBar is inviting artists to directly engage the public by presenting actions, exchanges and services that result in the production and distribution of artists editions made specifically for the event. Participating artists will include ARTifariti-Western Sahara Collective, Mike Bidlo, Gaye Chan & Nandita Sharma, Kirby Gookin, Geoffrey Hendricks, Nancy Hwang, Robin Kahn, Amanda Keeley, Alison Knowles & Alan Bowman, Cary Leibowitz, Larry Miller, Ken Montgomery, Peter Nadin, Yoko Ono, Tom Otterness, Sal Randolph, Showpaper, and Elaine Tin Nyo.

Alison at work.

Robin Khan with a finished drawing. AB bottom left, AK bottom right two really nice guys top L & R - if anyone knows who they were, let me know the should have credit here as they helped produce perhaps the best drawing.

Alison Knowles, Alan Bowman: "Beans in Paper Sound". Academy for Media Arts, Cologne, Germany

2009-09-01T15:50:00.000-07:00

In April 2009 Alison Knowles performed at the Academy for Media Arts in Cologne. We produced an audio accompaniment for Alison's film of the 'shoreline' performance in san diego. we also performed emmett williams' 'four directional song of doubt for five voices', alison knowles' 'nivea cream piece' and 'loose pages'.

There are some images of the actual performances here:
http://www.gabrieleseifert.net/en/Alison%20Knowles.html

Here is the press release (in german only)

Nocturne 23: Alison Knowles und Alan Bowman mit "Beans in Paper Sound"

Performances.
Im Gespräch mit der Künstlerin:
Prof. Klaus Schöning und Prof. Anthony Moore

23. April, 19 h
Aula der KHM, Filzengraben 2

Alison Knowles (*1933 in New York), weltweit bekannte Intermedia-Künstlerin, gilt seit den frühen sechziger Jahren als herausragende Persönlichkeit der Fluxus-Kunst. Seit Jahrzehnten ausgedehnte Tourneen in den USA, in Europa und Asien mit Performances, Workshops und Präsentationen ihrer bildnerischen Arbeiten in großen internationalen Museen. In ihren Performances arbeitet sie zumeist mit einfachen, alltäglichen Objekten (found objects) und ihrer Stimme und erreicht dabei im Einklang von visuellen und akustischen Ereignissen (events) eine ganz eigene, faszinierende Wirkung.

Zusammenarbeit mit John Cage u.a. an den Publikationen der Notations, 1969, ebenso wie am Reprint der Couers Volants mit Marcel Duchamp, 1968. Seit den 60er Jahren erste Buch-Objekte: ihr ‚canned book’ Bean Rolls im Whitney Museum NY, ihr ‚begehbares Buch’ Big Book und 1983 das Book of Bean für die Biennale Venedig. Zahlreiche internationale Auszeichnungen u.a.: Guggenheim Fellowship für eines der ersten Computer-Poems The House of Dust. Karl-Sczuka-Preis für Radiokunst für Bean Sequences, eines ihrer für das WDR Studio Akustische Kunst realisierten Fluxus-Hörspiele. Von 1970–72 Lehrtätigkeit in CalArts/Los Angeles, 1996 Gastprofessorin der documenta X an der Kunstakademie Kassel und 2009 Artist-in-Residence der Harvard University. Künstlerische Aktivitäten 2008/2009 u.a.: Event Scores und Make a Salad, Tate Gallery London, Event Threads, Genua/Berlin und Giant Beanturner, Guggenheim Museum NY, The rd Mind: American Artists Contemplate Asia.

Mit Beans in Paper Sound stellt Alison Knowles zusammen mit dem Künstler Alan Bowman mehrere kurze, klassische Fluxus-Stücke, kuratiert von Prof. Klaus Schöning, vor. Die anschließende Performance reflektiert den kompositorischen Einsatz von Objekten und Sound in der Kunst.

Alison Knowles, Alan Bowman: "Beans in Paper Sound". Academy for Media Arts, Cologne, Germany

2009-09-01T15:36:00.000-07:00

Alison Knowles Event Threads and A Rake's Progress

2009-09-01T15:09:00.000-07:00

Alison Knowles Event Threads and A Rake's Progress

17. April 2009 – 30. April 2009
Mi. – Sa.: 14°° – 19°° Uhr

Eröffnung:
Do., 16. April, 19 - 21 Uhr

Alison Knowles
Event Threads and
A Rake's Progress

17. April 2009 – 30. April 2009
Mi. – Sa.: 14°° – 19°° Uhr

Eröffnung:
Do., 16. April, 19 - 21 Uhr

Wir freuen uns, Ihnen eine Ausstellung mit neuen Arbeiten "Objekte und Graphik" von Alison Knowles anzukündigen.
Alison Knowles zählt zu den Gründungsmitgliedern der Fluxus-Gruppe und erarbeitete zahlreiche Fluxus- Performances wie Make a Salad (1962) oder The Identical Lunch (1969). Sie arbeitete auch im Bereich der Klangkunst und sie konzipierte Hörspiele, wie das vom WDR produzierte Bohnen Sequenzen (1982), für das sie den Karl-Scuka-Preis erhielt.

Sie studierte Malerei bei Josef Albers und Richard Lindner am Pratt Institute und schloss 1954 dort ihr Studium ab. 1962 kam sie zusammen mit Dick Higgins u.a. nach Europa, um bei den ersten, von George Maciunas organisierten Fluxus-Veranstaltungen mitzuwirken. Zu ihren Arbeiten gehören Buchobjekte wie The Big Book (1967), ein begehbares Buch, das Knowles' eigenes Lebensumfeld in New York abbildete, das Book of Bean (1983) für die Biennale Venedig und auch das frühe Multiple Bean Rolls (1963), in dem Texte über Bohnen als ein "canned book" in eine Konservendose eingeschlossen wurden. Die poetische Transformation von alltäglichen Ereignissen und Erfahrungen ist charakteristisch für ihr Werk.

Zu ihren Event Threads schreibt sie: The artwork I do attempts to find an expressive link with nature and to settle with the constancy of change. I pick up things, hang them in a line and dip the line in wet flax pulp. Even though the origins are lost in fragmentation and mutation in time what remains like a dream remembered is helpful finding out who we are right now. Tiny tickets give us clues.

(In meiner künstlerischen Arbeit versuche ich einen Ausdruck für die Verbindung zur Natur und das Zulassen des beständigen Wandels zu finden. Ich sammle Dinge, hänge sie an eine Schnur und tauche die Schnur in nassen Flachsbrei. Auch wenn dabei die ursprünglichen Dinge in Fragmentierungen und Verwandlungen verloren gehen, bleiben sie wie ein Traum in der Erinnerung und helfen, herauszufinden, wer wir zum gegenwärtigen Zeitpunkt sind. Kleine Etiketten geben uns Hinweise.)

Es ist uns eine besondere Freude, daß Alison Knowles zur Eröffnung anwesend sein wird. Wir möchten Sie zu der Ausstellung: Alison Knowles, Event Threads and A Rake's Progress herzlich einladen.

Dorle Döpping, Michael Behn

http://www.stella-a.de/knowles.htm

alison knowles: a rake's progress. galerie stella a. berlin. 2009

2009-09-01T14:44:00.000-07:00

galerie stella, berlin http://www.stella-a.de/knowles.htm

ann noel and alison knowles

ann noel at home

alison at ann noel's house

the museum fluxus+, potsdam

http://www.museumderunerhoertendinge.de/

roland albrecht with alison knowles at Museum der Unerhörten Dinge, berlin
http://www.museumderunerhoertendinge.de/

galerie stella a, berlin

"Ay-O's Venice Exhibition, Dedicated to Emily Harvey - Object Mandala Floor Pieces with Words"

2009-08-12T14:36:00.000-07:00

"Ay-O's Venice Exhibition, Dedicated to Emily Harvey - Object Mandala Floor Pieces with Words"

Press Release (pdf)

Ay-O's 2007 Venice show "Object Mandala Floor Pieces with Words" consists of the two main 'Floor Pieces' which in turn are the direct result of two interconnected performances which took place at the Taverna Remer, Campiello Remer on the Grand Canal on Sunday, 1oth June 2007. The Floor Pieces are accompanied by a show of his famous 'Rainbow' prints from the 1960s to the present.

The exhibition was also supported by a series of three evenings of performance events:

Homage to Emily Harvey: Thursday, June 7 at Archivio Emily Harvey.
Homage to Emmett Williams: Sunday, June 10, Taverna Remer, Campiello Remer
Homage to Fluxus Friends Who Have Gone to Heaven or Hell: Saturday, June 16. A series of Fluxus events beginning at Archivio Emily Harvey and taking place in a range of Venetian campi and calli, including Piazza San Marco.

See a selection of images from the show, including from early on at the opening (before the performance and the gallery becoming too full to photograph!) HERE!

See images from the performance "Homage to Emily Harvey" HERE

Images from the series of events "Homage to Fluxus Friends Who Have Gone to Heaven or Hell" in which Ay-O and performers travelled the streets of Venice performing a variety of classic Fluxus performances and more, can be seen HERE

"Object Mandala Floor Pieces with Words"

2009-08-12T13:48:00.000-07:00

the irrepressible ay-o!

gracie mansion & geoff hendricks

"Object Mandala Floor Pieces with Words"

ay-o preparing an "homage to charlotte moorman"

ay-o and george!

our assistants who all strangely looked familiar

'homage to charlotte moorman', grand canal

alan bowman performing a much abridged 'zyklus'

ay-o performing bob watts' '2 inches'

geoff performing a variation of emmett williams' 'song of uncertain length' which saw him several hundred metres along the 'riva dei schiavoni', venice with a glass of wine on his head. a large crowd of tourists in tow. quite an amazing event to see.

geoff hendricks, with an ice cream on his head (for wolf vostell!)

ay-o performing 'one for violin solo' (paik)

gallery view, on the table is the object mandala with words, set up for an homage to emily harvey. (white wine and summer fruits)

ay-o - rainbow prints at the emily harvey foundation

geoff hendricks with caterina gualco

geoff hendricks and ay-o

Flux on a United Front (Shoreline) Waygood, Newcastle Upon Tyne, 2007

2009-08-12T13:17:00.000-07:00

helen smith of waygood sets up the sewing machine for alison's shoreline piece

in preparation for the 'zyklus' which was not performed. i asked for newcastle brown ale bottles and they brought me them, full! the folks at waygood are great!!

the red bean turner

fishing on the tyne (for water)

alison knowles on high bridge, newcastle upon tyne

knowles & bowman (who always enjoy gallery openings, well the bar bit anyway!)

alan bowman in conversation with joel fisher
(photo alison knowles)

Alison Knowles: Loose Pages, Museo Fortuny, Venice 2006

2009-07-31T05:41:00.000-07:00

In 2006 Alsion Knowles came to Venice with her 'A Rake's Progress' show, to accompany this an evening of performances was held in the Museo Fortuny, here are some images:

materials from giovanni orsini

the roll from an industrial embroidery machine - starting point for my "orsini pattern" project:

http://bowmansramblings.blogspot.com/2008_06_22_archive.html

materials in the gallery

i can't remember the name of this piece. it is a tea stained shirt with flax and printed/handwitten pages - rather beautiful when scene up close, fascinating to read too!

materials from giovanni orsini

a mock up for an installation - AK

striking a rather fetching pose!

alison in the emily harvey foundation gallery space.

piano nobile, museo fortuny the walls had been scraped back revealing traces of something like 600 years of continual redecoration. guest numbers were limited to a max of 50 due to the age and structural weaknesses of the floors. if this place hasn't got ghosts nowhere has!

bean turners and chicken thingy toy

museo fortuny, getting ready

5 minutes peace, with caterina gualco of unimedia modern, genova

a fire extinguisher point - with spooky eyes peering out? this photo really freaked me out, especially after knowing the age and the history of the walls.

alison knowles introduces proceedings

loose pages: getting dressed in the loose pages.

loose pages: look out for the late arrivals!

loose pages: exiting stage right. what you can't see is the couple who, after arriving late, decided to sit quietly on the floor out of the way. right in the path of our exit. they didn't know what to do and stayed put, apparently for fear of disturbing the performance. alison walked me out right over the top of them. i the loose pages i am blind, i had no idea what was going on until i stood on what felt like a thigh.

loose pages: on the way out...

loose pages: exiting. the performance ends.

onion skin song

onion skin song: stretching out the cling film!

onion skin song: sprinkling the onion skins.

onion skin song: the second layer of film.

onion skin song: treading the skins, making the score.

onion skin song: playing the score. alan bowman playing the large red bean turner, alison knowles the round bean turner.

onion skin song: playing the score

onion skin song: playing the score

onion skin song: instrument change. i read the score from left to right, alison from right to left. when we met in the middle we exchanged instruments.

Alison performing "shoes of your choice".

performing ay-o's rainbow with alison.

Bob Watts: Trace for Orchestra

aftermath of trace for orchestra

with our able assistants!

The Fluxus Constellation & The 40 Years of Fluxus Tour. Genova & N. Italy, 2002

2009-07-29T06:44:00.000-07:00

In 2002 The Museo Villa Croce in Genova held a large exhibition celebrating 40 Years of Fluxus. The Opening of the event was accompanied by a Fluxus tour around Northern Italy including Verona, Modena, Milano and Genova. Good food was eaten, good wine was drunk and good Fluxus fun was had by all. The amount of fun may be guaged by just how sketchy my memories actually are!

The Fluxus Constellation & The 40 Years of Fluxus Tour. Genova & N. Italy, 2002

2009-07-26T05:39:00.000-07:00

emmett williams: four directional song of doubt for five voices. conductor - emmett williams. performers (l-r) - alan bowman, eric andersen, alison knowles, ben patterson, ann noel.
still on of my most profound fluxus experiences.
(photo. emily harvey)

in memoriam to adriano olivetti (G.maciunas, 1962)

ah! the 'official speeches' bit...zzz...zz..z...zzz... .. .

just in case anyone was wondering what ben and larry were doing.

ben and eric. they're ice-cream is rubbish.

you'll have to ask geoff about this one.

behold! the biro of flux....

larry struggles with european standard measurement trumpet gloves.

one down, rest of the brass section to do.

emmett, alison and ben patterson reminisce.

philip corner: piano activities.

ben videos phil

ben and friend video phil

phoebe neville, co-performer par-excellence!

a rather fine finale

emily harvey videos larry miller setting up his video of larry miller eating a chocolate crucifix.

still fine tuning...

1 hour and 45 minutes later...emily's tape runs out just as larry gets the balance right!

lunchtime at the old fluxpeople's home.

an example of serious geriatric delinquency.

what?

'octet for winds' (g. brecht, 1964). there was a type of civic welcome for the fluxus tour when it arrived in genova. a number of performance were performed. this one took the place by storm, well it confused the press anyway.

(photo: sur rodney (sur))

practising our individual tunes all together.

(photo: sur rodney (sur))

(photo: sur rodney (sur))

larry miller: bob watts' "2 inches", beneath the bell tower.

snip!

hi-jinks in verona - the real spirit of fluxus on show!
(photo - emily harvey)

(photo - emily harvey)

larry miller, ann noel, eric andersen, geoff hendricks, emmett williams, philip corner, ben patterson, davidson gigliotti.

(photo - emily harvey)

performing tomas schmit's 'zyklus' at villa croce, genova. after about twenty minutes the shoes came off and i changed to a more comfortable but much less photogenic seated position. i got thrown out when the musuem closed so i never actually finished the performance - very disappointing. one day...one day...!
(photo - emily harvey)

geoff hendricks, larry miller and emmett williams - having a jolly old time at genova's villa croce museum.

geoff hendricks in familiar pose. now this was taken at the top of a bell tower somewhere on the tour, i have no idea where. geoff, larry, sur and i were the only ones brave (fit) enough to climb to the top. we rang the bells too in an attempt to confuse the religious of the parish!

geoff, in two bits.

larry miller and geoff hendricks, mugging for the camera.

emmett williams: story lines, 2002

2009-07-26T05:05:00.000-07:00

Emily Harvey Gallery
537 Broadway at Spring
New York NY 10012
tel: 212 925 7651   fax:  212 966 0439

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

EMMETT WILLIAMS – STORY LINES
April 10 - May 4, 2002
tuesday - saturday  11 - 6pm
opening reception: wednesday april 10 . 6 - 8pm

Emmett Williams returns to New York City and the Emily Harvey
Gallery with Story Lines, an exhibition of recent verbal/visual
collages that reflect a personal tradition which first took shape in
the early 1960s with a group of ‘Hieroglyphics for Do –It-Yourself
Translations’.

The artist and poet describes these pieces as finding their source
in a vast collection of old fashioned decals – “transfer pictures
depicting life and lore galore in France and her colonies, some of
them dating back to the first world war and beyond” -  to which he
offers new life and adventure as the cast of characters in a world of

cryptic narrative.  It’s also a world in which they make the
acquaintance of the personal images of “little Fluxus people,” a
constant hallmark of Emmett Williams’ work.  As always, these
“little Fluxus people” are quite surprising, since they seem so very
“low-brow” – so intimate – in a world of far more peregrine riddles,
and of far more philosophical procedures.  Each of the collages is
completed by a phrase that helps it make sense, while also
making it clear that although meaning is something our minds
require, actual experience may not supply it, and at times may
even deride it.

Willaims was born in Greensboro, South Carolina, in 1925, and
was one of the  original points of lights in the Fluxus constellation
espied by George Maciunas in the early 1960s. He was a
participant in 1962 at the first famous Fluxus Festival on New
Music in Wiesbaden, Germany.

Before that time, however, he was already well know as a
Concrete Poet.  If that mix seems odd, it’s odder still that Williams’
activities have always belied that touch of something doctrinaire
which hovers in the air near these terms.  As a performer, he’s
also known to reach astounding levels of lyricism,and a kind of
erotic calm.

Williams has lived most of his life in Europe.  After his discharge
from the Army in 1946, he worked his way to Poland and Greece
on cattleboats.  Graduating from Kenyon College in 1949, he went
to Paris, and remained in Europe for seventeen years.  His
friendship and collaboration with Daniel Spoerri, Dieter Roth,
Robert Filliou and other European artists began in the 1950s.

Williams returned to the United States as editor-in-chief of Dick
Higgins’ Something Else Press in New York.  In 1976 he toured
Japan with his friend and Fluxus colleague, Ay-O, and returned to
Tokyo a decade later as a artist in residence at the Machida-shi
Museum of Graphic Art, living at the Ryodenji Temple.  He was
artist in residence and research fellow at the Carpenter Center for
the Visual Arts at Harvard University from 1977 until his return to
Europe in 1980.

Williams lives in Berlin, performs and exhibits widely throughout
Europe, and is president of the international Artistss’ Museum in
Lodz, Poland.  In 1997 the prestigious Brerlinische Galerie
awarded him the first Hannah Hoch Prize for a “lifetime of
achievement in the arts”.

His ‘Anthology of Concrete Poetry’ (1967) is considered one of the
best guides to the innovations and experiments in visual and
concrete poetry.  And John Updike wrote of the “pleasure and
wonderment” that Williams’ ‘Selected Shorter Poems’ (1974) gave

him.  Williams’ autobiographical ‘My Life in Flux – And Vice Versa’
was published in 1992 by Thames & Hudson.  ‘Mr Fluxus’, a
collective portrait of George Maciunas edited by Williams and his
wife, the English artist Ann Noel, was published in 1997, also by
Thames & Hudson

Emmett Williams, Story Lines at Emily Harvey Gallery, 2002

2009-07-26T04:45:00.000-07:00

for some unknown reason i have only a few photographs from this opening and even more strangely even less from the celebrations for emmett's birthday which i'm sure was around the same time.
unfortunately i don't have anything from the performance of 'the boy and the bird' at anthology film archives. if my memory serves me correctly i made a film of the performance but that will be in the emily harvey archives somewhere.
it was a wonderful evening....if that helps!
ay-o, happy as ever, enjoying the opening of his dear friend's show.
jeff perkins and emmett discuss the "story lines".

ay-o and john giorno catch up.

ay-o and peter frank sit down.

jeff perkins

alison knowles

Ay-O: Rainbow Mandala. October 4 to November 3, 2001

2009-07-20T16:51:00.000-07:00

Ay-O: Rainbow Mandala
October 4 to November 3, 2001
Reception for artist: Thursday, October 4th, 6-8pm

Emily Harvey Gallery
537 Broadway at Spring (2nd floor)
New York, NY 10012
Tel. 212 925-7651
Fax 212 966-0439

Ay-O, one of Japan's most innovative artists, has oven-baked a stunning series of tasty new paintings for his exhibition, Rainbow Mandala, at the Emily Harvey Gallery. These eye-catching representations of tits, large and small, like most of his prints, paintings and sculptures, are rendered in the color bands of the spectrum.

These new works have evolved from the veteran Fluxus artist's "Boil and Fry" performances in New York in the early sixties, and, more recently, his conversion of objets trouvées including several antique violins, a portable TV, plastic rainbow trout and pages from Goethe's "Faust, Part 1", into objets d'art by coating them with tempura batter and deep-frying them.

He says that TITS MANDALA, one of the largest works in the show, evokes for him "the sound of the heart, the fragrance of the earth, the taste of the world, the most delightful touch of the universe, and my rainbow, a mandala I have prayed to for most of my life." These sensuous and sensual baked paintings justify his lifetime decision to forego line and form and put the rainbow to work on the objects around him, transforming them into events.

One of the leading Japanese-born modern artists of the postwar period, Ay-O represented Japan at the Venice Biennale in l966 and the Sao Paolo Biennale in l97l. He also built the famed Tactile Rainbow at the Osaka World's Fair in 1970.

Ay-O has been a vital member of the international Fluxus group since it began almost four decades ago. His Finger Box series became an icon of Fluxus exhibitions and his performance events provided some of the most memorable images of the Fluxus festivals and concerts.

Press Release 18 September 2001

Ay-O, Rainbow Mandala at Emily Harvey NYC & Birthday, 2001

2009-07-20T15:35:00.001-07:00

ay-o's "black hole" in the basement of 537 broadway, nyc, ny

ay-o's "black hole" in the basement of 537 broadway, nyc, ny

emily harvey & alison knowles at the noho star (?)

emily and davidson at ay-o's

alison knowles and larry miller perform for ay-o's birthday

alison knowles and larry miller

ann tardos and jackson mac low perform for ay-o's birthday

olga adorno and jean dupuy

olga and jean

my rainbow cake for ay-o

dinner: sara seagull, sur rodney (sur), alison knowles, emmett williams, ann tardos, jackson mac low, ann noel

ayo's birthday dinner at emily harvey gallery, 537 broadway, nyc

geoff hendricks

emmett and ay-o

fun and games for ay-o's birthday: in this photo - ann tardos, jackson mac low, larry miller (w/video camera), geoff hendricks, jan dupuy (seated below geoff), christian xatrec, ann noel (seated), emily harvey, ay-o, ikuko.

geoff hendricks' handstand for ay-o's 70th birthday.

carolee schneemann.

ay-o & ikuko

ann tardos & jackson mac low perform for ay-o.

ikuko makes tempura prawn, ay-o's loft, mercer st.

ay-o makes sushi

yasunao tone and jeff perkins at 537 broadway.

bowman & a cardboard ken friedman.

ay-o, rainbow (tits mandala) opening.

Press Release: 537 Broadway Comes to Venice! 2001

2009-07-20T15:31:00.000-07:00

537 Broadway Comes to Venice!

Emily Harvey opens a new exhibition space in Venice, Italy, on Tuesday,
June 5; the title of her inaugural show is 537 Broadway Comes to Venice!

The Broadway address is that of the Emily Harvey Gallery in New York, which is housed in the nineteenth-century cast-iron loft building founded as a co-op in 1974 by George Maciunas -- ringmaster, Doge and eminence grise of the Fluxus movement.

In addition to celebrating two full decades of international activity on the part of Emily Harvey, 537 Broadway Comes to Venice! also launches Emily Harvey Associazione Culturale, a non-profit center for exhibitions in Venice, Italy.

Emily Harvey Associazione Culturale will focus on Fluxus, intermedia, video installations and poesia visiva. In addition to exhibitions, the association will sponsor projects and publications that explore these areas of research.

537 Broadway Comes to Venice! will feature artists with whom Harvey has long been associated: Ay-O, George Brecht, Henning Christiansen, Philip Corner, Jean Dupuy, Albert Fine, Henry Flynt, Ken Friedman, Al Hansen, Geoffrey Hendricks, Dick Higgins, Joe Jones, Alison Knowles, Larry Miller, Yoko Ono, Nam June Paik, Ben Patterson, Takako Saito, Carolee Schneemann,
Serge III, Berty Skuber, Daniel Spoerri, William Stone, Ben Vautier, Yoshi Wada, Bob Watts, Emmett Williams, Christian Xatrec, La Monte Young, and Marian Zazeela.

Emily Harvey Associazione Culturale is located at the foot of the Rialto Bridge Arcade at:

San Polo, 387
I-30125 Venezia
Italia

Telephone: +39.041.522.6727
Telefax: +39.041.523.5147

The opening of the exhibition will take place on Tuesday, June 5, 2001, at
6 p.m.

537 Broadway Comes to Venice! runs from June 6 to July 7. The center is open every day from Tuesday through Saturday, 4-7 p.m.

537 Broadway Comes to Venice! 2001

2009-07-20T15:03:00.000-07:00

537 broadway comes to venice was emily's first show in the new venice space. a 'fluxus' group show, it packed a large number of works by the artists shown plus works by joe jones, ben patterson, serge III, henning christiansen, carolee schneemann, ken friedman, eric andersen, larry miller, jean dupuy (whose piece alison and i, through desperation, were forced to use as the base for the drinks table at her 'rakes progress' opening...shh - don't tell jean!), yoko ono, wolf vostell (i think) and others.
and it all took place in the one room. later emily acquired a second, adjoining space and knocked through - creating the wonderful space which became 'archivio emily harvey' and the current emily harvey foundation space right at the heart of venice' rialto area, complete with a view of the bridge. one of the best places i have ever worked.

alan bowman, ay-o and davidson gigliotti announce the launch of their beach boys tribute band.

emmett williams and ay-o performing in the garden of the peggy guggenheim museum, venice.

yoshi wada, ay-o, emmett williams, geoff hendricks, philip corner, takako saito and alain arias-misson in the EHF gallery, san polo, venice.

takako saito installing her work.

emmett williams and ay-o performing in the garden of the peggy guggenheim museum, venice.

emmett williams and ay-o performing in the garden of the peggy guggenheim museum, venice.

yoshi wada, emmett williams, ay-0 (kneeling), philip corner, takako saito & alain arias-misson.

takako saito