💬 Have been doing a deep dive into the Fluxus art movement of the 1960’s and am more than a little inspired by the anti-retail shop opened by Robert Filliou and George Brecht, which they named “La Cédille qui Sourit,” or “The cedilla that smiles.”

The thoughtfulness and spirit of the work speaks for itself, but I do adore this tidbit about Filliou, as quoted in JSTOR:

Filliou’s text suggests a fully relational model of subjectivity that, while individual, desires to be fulfilled or made able by connecting to others. It was a model lived by the artist himself, who depended for his survival upon the...

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@bradleyandroos An absolutely rollicking read along these lines is John Cage’s Silence. Lots of Fluxus (or adjacent) folks show up, and he’s just a hilarious writer and storyteller.

@isaacgreene my man! Cage’s name has popped up repeatedly and I haven’t dug in yet. Now I know where to start, thank you!

And yes— what characters! So much life and creativity. Cant wait to learn more.

@bradleyandroos Most people find his writing more appealing than his music, but you should at least give it a shot. Third Construction and In A Landscape are the two of my (very different) favorites.

@isaacgreene I’ll decide what I think about his As Slow As Possible when I’ve listened to the whole thing.

@bradleyandroos If you don’t already know it, you might also enjoy the long inheritance of that tradition among the projects beautifully collected in Living As Form

@isaacgreene 🫡 I will definitely give it a shot. I did notice,and was intrigued by, the way that so many Fluxus artists came from a music/composition background, as opposed to purely visual. No doubt is a huge factor in their singularity. Thanks for putting me on game!

@JohnBrady This is so, so funny to me. Lol A+ joke!

@ablerism I most certainly was not familiar—and this seems right up my alley. Many thanks for putting it on my radar; would never pass up a rec from you!

@JohnBrady I caught about 30 minutes of the Halberstadt performance in 2011. Missed a note change by several months unfortunately.

@bradleyandroos So glad. For many years that kind of work was a lifeline for me — and remains a big source of imaginative nourishment.

@bradleyandroos So glad you listened! There’s an essay about the organization of 3rd Construction in Silence - it’s all based on units of clock time rather than pitch or rhythm as we normally think about it. Internal organization that sounds chaotic. I saw it live once and it was electric, the place went wild when it was done. Like Sara said, there’s so much creativity here it’s inspiring even if I don’t always love the work itself.

@isaacgreene I found Kay Larson’s biographical account of Cage, Where the Heart Beats: John Cage, Zen Buddhism, and the Inner Life of Artists nourishing and inspiring. (Cage’s disquisition on Basho’s haiku “Matsutake ia” is a great treat, too.)