BENJAMIN PATTERSON – SNEAK REVIEW, publication
“Shake, Break Tear, Crumple, Rumple, Bumple, Rub, Scrub, Twist, Poof, Pop” – are some of the instructions for the PAPER PIECE by Ben Patterson – one of the most famous Fluxus works. Here, paper is the instrument that is being crumpled, torn, and pierced. This piece and other Fluxus classics helped broaden the notion of art and music, and to overcome boundaries between artistic genres.
Ben Patterson played an important part in the very first European Fluxus festivals in Wiesbaden, Düsseldorf, Wuppertal, and Paris. And he was one of the few Fluxus artists that were still active until very recently. To celebrate Patterson’s 80th birthday and his work, a series of events began in Berlin on 11 March 2014. it was comprised of a performance tour, a concert, an exhibition, and “Dr. Ben’s Medicine Show”. The event was accompanied by this catalogue – a portrait of the artist including documentation, essays, new works by Fluxus colleages and young artists.
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. 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. In addition to the artistic contributions, the catalogue is comprised of interviews and texts on the historical Sneak Preview and the potentials and challenges of reenactments.
BENJAMIN PATTERSON - SNEAK REVIEW
ed. Petra Stegmann,
DOWN WITH ART! Verlag, Potsdam
Authors: Eric Andersen, Chloë Bass, Valerie Cassel Oliver, Philip Corner, Charles Gaines, Geoffrey Hendricks, Jon Hendricks, Kiwa, Alison Knowles, Jarosław Kozłowski, George E. Lewis, Mitch McEwen, Larry Miller, Ann Noël, Ben Patterson, Willem de Ridder, Astrit Schmidt-Burkhardt, Slave Pianos, Tamás St.Turba, Aslı Sungu, Robert Watts and many others.
contributions in English, German, Italian
136 pages, numerous colour illustrations
hand-bound with binder screws, cover with different coloured translucent papers
print run: 500 copies
ISBN: 978-3-9815579-1-6
price: 30 €; postage (Germany: 1,50 €; other countries: 4,00 €)
Please order at: publications@downwithart.de