performances. concert. exhibition. publication.
11-28 March 2014
“Shake, Break Tear, Crumple, Rumple, Bumple, Rub, Scrub, Twist, Poof, Pop” – these are some of the instructions for the composition PAPER PIECE by Ben Patterson – still one of the most frequently performed Fluxus works; here, paper is the instrument that is being crumpled, torn, and pierced. This work and other Fluxus classics helped broaden the notion of art and music, and to overcome boundaries between the artistic genres.
Benjamin Patterson, an American artist and composer, now living in Wiesbaden, will turn 80 on 29 May 2014. Together with Dick Higgins, Alison Knowles, George Maciunas, and Emmett Williams, he played an important part in the very first European Fluxus festivals in Wiesbaden, Düsseldorf, Wuppertal, and Paris. He is one of the few Fluxus artists that are still very active today.
How to celebrate the work of a contemporary artist, a radical innovator in music, and a Fluxus pioneer, without arranging a large-scale retrospective? With no expansive exhibition space, no loans, no documentation of all actions over the last fifty years, and only a minimal budget? How to interrupt the musealisation of action art (which the organisers themselves are involved with in other contexts) and offer an ephemeral alternative to a museum exhibition?
To celebrate Patterson and his work, a small series of events organised without institutional affiliation will begin on 11 March. The series is comprised of a performance tour through central Berlin, a concert at the AckerStadtPalast (both on 11 March 2014), and an exhibition at SCHAU FENSTER – Raum für Kunst, during the opening of which Patterson will perform what he calls, “Dr. Ben’s Medicine Show” (on 14 March). The celebration is accompanied by the publication of a catalogue – a lively portrait of the artist at eighty including documentation, essays, new works by Fluxus veterans and young artists, as well as haptic highlights.
The BENJAMIN PATTERSON – SNEAK REVIEW is inspired by an event that took place on 3 July 1962 in Paris (SNEAK PREVIEW. fluxus. happenings, environments, poèmes, danses, compositions), in which Ben Patterson and Robert Filliou meandered throughout the city for a whole day and sold small works of art from the Galerie Légitime, which was found in Filliou’s hat. This tour occupies a special place in the canon of European Fluxus activities in part because of its conspicuous lack of documentation. Hence, space for a “free-enactment” – a free interpretation of the Paris events as a review of singular aspects in Pattersons work. The events’ focus will be their encounter with an accidental audience.
PROGRAMME
BENJAMIN PATTERSON – SNEAK REVIEW. a free-enactment
11 March, 8 am to 8 pm – central Berlin
Performance tour, inspired by the historical SNEAK PREVIEW
with short events, mini-concerts, performances, and actions with an accidental audience
organised by Petra Stegmann
CONCERT EXAMINATION
11 March, 9 pm – AckerStadtPalast, Ackerstr. 169/170, Berlin-Mitte
A portrait concert including legendary and lesser known works from five decades on the occasion of Ben Patterson’s eightieth birthday. Organised by Bill Dietz and Christian Kesten, with Ben Patterson, Ensemble Zwischentöne and Maulwerker
Supported by initiative neue musik e.Vs
DR. BEN’S MEDICINE SHOW
14 March, 8 pm SCHAU FENSTER, RAUM FÜR KUNST Lobeckstr. 30-35, Berlin-Kreuzberg
Fluxus parody in which Ben Patterson will cure visitors’ lack of understanding of contemporary art with the help of brain scans and Fluxus elixirs
BENJAMIN PATTERSON – SNEAK REVIEW. exhibition
14-28 March, SCHAU FENSTER – RAUM FÜR KUNST, Lobeckstr. 30-35, Berlin-Kreuzberg
Documentation of the performance tour as well as instructions and ideas by Patterson’s colleagues and friends, curated by Petra Stegmann
BENJAMIN PATTERSON – SNEAK REVIEW. publication
Collection of statements, instructions, ideas, and memories by Patterson’s friends and colleagues, hand-bound, 136 pages, 30 €, ed. by Petra Stegmann, DOWN WITH ART! Verlag, Potsdam
(with contributions by: Eric Andersen, Chloë Bass, Alan Bowman, Valerie Cassel Oliver, Philip Corner, Bill Dietz, Werner Esser, Andreas Leo Findeisen, Gerhard Graulich, Charles Gaines, György Galantai, Malcolm Green, Elke Gruhn, Caterina Gualco, Jan Kage, Christian Kesten, Kiwa, Alexander Klar, Alison Knowles, Jarosław Kozłowski, Dorte Krogh, George E. Lewis, Mitch McEwen, Larry Miller, Ann Noël, Ben Patterson, Patrizio Peterlini, Maria Anna Potocka, Henar Rivière Ríos, Astrit Schmidt-Burkhardt, Gunnar Schmidt, Christel Schüppenhauer, Slave Pianos, Tamas St.Turba, Petra Stegmann, Benedikt Stegmayer, Aslı Sungu, Katharina Uhl, Robert Watts, Markus Zimmermann).
11-28 March 2014
“Shake, Break Tear, Crumple, Rumple, Bumple, Rub, Scrub, Twist, Poof, Pop” – these are some of the instructions for the composition PAPER PIECE by Ben Patterson – still one of the most frequently performed Fluxus works; here, paper is the instrument that is being crumpled, torn, and pierced. This work and other Fluxus classics helped broaden the notion of art and music, and to overcome boundaries between the artistic genres.
Benjamin Patterson, an American artist and composer, now living in Wiesbaden, will turn 80 on 29 May 2014. Together with Dick Higgins, Alison Knowles, George Maciunas, and Emmett Williams, he played an important part in the very first European Fluxus festivals in Wiesbaden, Düsseldorf, Wuppertal, and Paris. He is one of the few Fluxus artists that are still very active today.
How to celebrate the work of a contemporary artist, a radical innovator in music, and a Fluxus pioneer, without arranging a large-scale retrospective? With no expansive exhibition space, no loans, no documentation of all actions over the last fifty years, and only a minimal budget? How to interrupt the musealisation of action art (which the organisers themselves are involved with in other contexts) and offer an ephemeral alternative to a museum exhibition?
To celebrate Patterson and his work, a small series of events organised without institutional affiliation will begin on 11 March. The series is comprised of a performance tour through central Berlin, a concert at the AckerStadtPalast (both on 11 March 2014), and an exhibition at SCHAU FENSTER – Raum für Kunst, during the opening of which Patterson will perform what he calls, “Dr. Ben’s Medicine Show” (on 14 March). The celebration is accompanied by the publication of a catalogue – a lively portrait of the artist at eighty including documentation, essays, new works by Fluxus veterans and young artists, as well as haptic highlights.
The BENJAMIN PATTERSON – SNEAK REVIEW is inspired by an event that took place on 3 July 1962 in Paris (SNEAK PREVIEW. fluxus. happenings, environments, poèmes, danses, compositions), in which Ben Patterson and Robert Filliou meandered throughout the city for a whole day and sold small works of art from the Galerie Légitime, which was found in Filliou’s hat. This tour occupies a special place in the canon of European Fluxus activities in part because of its conspicuous lack of documentation. Hence, space for a “free-enactment” – a free interpretation of the Paris events as a review of singular aspects in Pattersons work. The events’ focus will be their encounter with an accidental audience.
PROGRAMME
BENJAMIN PATTERSON – SNEAK REVIEW. a free-enactment
11 March, 8 am to 8 pm – central Berlin
Performance tour, inspired by the historical SNEAK PREVIEW
with short events, mini-concerts, performances, and actions with an accidental audience
organised by Petra Stegmann
CONCERT EXAMINATION
11 March, 9 pm – AckerStadtPalast, Ackerstr. 169/170, Berlin-Mitte
A portrait concert including legendary and lesser known works from five decades on the occasion of Ben Patterson’s eightieth birthday. Organised by Bill Dietz and Christian Kesten, with Ben Patterson, Ensemble Zwischentöne and Maulwerker
Supported by initiative neue musik e.Vs
DR. BEN’S MEDICINE SHOW
14 March, 8 pm SCHAU FENSTER, RAUM FÜR KUNST Lobeckstr. 30-35, Berlin-Kreuzberg
Fluxus parody in which Ben Patterson will cure visitors’ lack of understanding of contemporary art with the help of brain scans and Fluxus elixirs
BENJAMIN PATTERSON – SNEAK REVIEW. exhibition
14-28 March, SCHAU FENSTER – RAUM FÜR KUNST, Lobeckstr. 30-35, Berlin-Kreuzberg
Documentation of the performance tour as well as instructions and ideas by Patterson’s colleagues and friends, curated by Petra Stegmann
BENJAMIN PATTERSON – SNEAK REVIEW. publication
Collection of statements, instructions, ideas, and memories by Patterson’s friends and colleagues, hand-bound, 136 pages, 30 €, ed. by Petra Stegmann, DOWN WITH ART! Verlag, Potsdam
(with contributions by: Eric Andersen, Chloë Bass, Alan Bowman, Valerie Cassel Oliver, Philip Corner, Bill Dietz, Werner Esser, Andreas Leo Findeisen, Gerhard Graulich, Charles Gaines, György Galantai, Malcolm Green, Elke Gruhn, Caterina Gualco, Jan Kage, Christian Kesten, Kiwa, Alexander Klar, Alison Knowles, Jarosław Kozłowski, Dorte Krogh, George E. Lewis, Mitch McEwen, Larry Miller, Ann Noël, Ben Patterson, Patrizio Peterlini, Maria Anna Potocka, Henar Rivière Ríos, Astrit Schmidt-Burkhardt, Gunnar Schmidt, Christel Schüppenhauer, Slave Pianos, Tamas St.Turba, Petra Stegmann, Benedikt Stegmayer, Aslı Sungu, Katharina Uhl, Robert Watts, Markus Zimmermann).