Maciunas_Neo+Dada.doc

Neo-Dada Manifesto by George Maciunas

• A draft essay/manifesto by George Maciunas (1931-1978) presented at the Fluxus concert, Wuppertal, West Germany in 1962.

• Published in 1965 in the book titled Happenings, Fluxus, Pop Art, Nouveau Réalisme.

Overview of Neo-Dada

• Neo-Dada manifests across various creative fields, identified as follows:

  • Time Arts: Literary arts, music associated with time.

  • Space Arts: Graphic arts and the relationship between time and space in art.

• Absence of strict boundaries between categories; many works fit into multiple categories.

Concept of Concretism

• Works by artists often demonstrate varying degrees of Concretism:

  • Ranges from pseudo-concretism to anti-art.

  • Concretism: Emphasizes unity between form and content, expressing raw reality rather than artificial abstractions.

• The transition between different forms of art can be charted on:

  • Horizontal Coordinate: From time arts to space arts and vice versa.

  • Vertical Coordinate: From extreme artificial art (illusionistic) to anti-art and nature.

Characteristics of Concretist Works

• Concretists express objects and sounds as they are, without alteration:

  • Example: A rotten tomato is presented as it is, not as an illusionistic representation.

• In music, concretists focus on material sounds that reveal their origins:

  • Example: Striking a piano produces a sound that connects directly to its material source, unlike controlled pitches that detach from reality.

Concrete Sound vs. Abstract Sound

• Concrete sounds possess a recognizable nature indicative of their source:

  • Examples include sounds from the human body (speech, eating) which are richer and more authentic.

• "Noises" are often deemed more concrete due to their pitchless and polychromatic qualities.

Idea of Indeterminacy and Improvisation

• Rejection of artistic pre-determination leads to increased concretism:

  • Allowing nature or chance events to determine the form can enhance authenticity.

  • Artists create frameworks or methods that let independent processes shape the artwork.

Art-Nihilism

• Concretism can evolve into art-nihilism, which opposes the notion of art as inherently artificial.

• Anti-art champions life and reality, rejecting distinctions like creator and audience, or the purpose of art:

  • Examples of anti-art: natural occurrences (rainfall, crowd sounds) are as valid as traditional art.

• Suggests that if people could perceive the world with the same depth as they do art, the role of artists may become unnecessary.

Sources

• The manifesto is included in various publications:

  • Ubi fluxus ibi motus 1990-1962

  • Fluxus: Selections from the Gilbert and Lila Silverman Collection