"Art as Experience"

24. Jänner 2012, 16.00 bis 18.00 Uhr

How can an amateur (Fluxus artist) reconcile John Dewey and the "Vienna School"?

Die Abteilung  Interface Cultures lädt zum Gastvortrag mit Ben Patterson.

"Art as Experience" - In the 1,000,049 years that have gone by since Art was born (see Robert Filliou), at least 37.5 trillion books and texts have been written discussing this strange activity (the making and appreciation of Art) … and very few, if any of the authors of these texts agree with the positions of the others.  Why is this so?

I would like to start with the simple  proposal: “You know it when you see it” and use this as a lens to examine a few more radical Fluxus-related works to see if and how they pass this test,- "You know it, when you see it” -, and try to find answers to why others don’t see it the way I do.   

Works by John Cage, George Brecht, Robert Watts, George Maciunas, La Monte Young and others will be discussed.

CV (short):
Ben Patterson, born 1934 in Pittsburgh, PA  is an American musician, artist and one of the founders of the Fluxus movement. In January 2012, Patterson is Artist in Residence of the group Transforming Freedom at the Museumsquartier Vienna and will celebrate  "Art´s Birthday" with the ORF-Kunstradio for the Future Fluxus project.

CV (long).pdf