Sound Art Zone Sound Culture and Creative Freedom
1966, 5:20 min, b&w, silent
“5 O’clock in the Morning,” Pieter Vanderbeck. 1966.
This video shows the slow motion of chestnuts and rocks after they’ve been dropped on a hard surface. The objects ricochet off of each other, spiraling in different directions. It reminded me of what are typically used as objects in still life drawings/paintings being seen in motion. Each rock and chestnut continues to move long after you expect them to stop. (http://www.ubu.com/film/fluxfilm16_vanderbeck.html)
Dating from the sixties and compiled by George Maciunas (1931-1978, founder of Fluxus), Fluxfilm Anthology is a document consisting of 37 short films ranging from 10 seconds to 10 minutes in length. These films (some of which were meant to be screened as continuous loops) were shown as part of the events and happenings of the New York avant-garde. Made by the artists ranging from Nam June Paik and Wolf Vostell to Yoko Ono, they celebrate the ephemeral humor of the Fluxus movement.
Fluxus’ interdisciplinary aesthetic brings together influences as diverse as Zen, science, and daily life and puts them to poetic use. Initially received as little more than an international network of pranksters, the playful artists of Fluxus were, and remain, a network of radical visionaries who sought to reconcile art with life.