Fluxus

Fluxus was an international avant-garde group and, at the same time, a way of thinking that arose and flourished in the 1960s and in some forms continues today. Its name comes from the Latin word meaning flow, reflecting its members' commitment to constant change, lightness and elusiveness. Fluxus brought together artists, composers, poets and designers from many countries around the idea that art should be simple, everyday, witty and accessible, erasing the boundary between art and life. Its participants created events—short instruction scores for performing ordinary or absurd actions—as well as multiples, mail art, concerts, performances and publications. The movement's organiser and theorist was George Maciunas, and among its well-known members were John Cage as an inspiration, Yoko Ono, Nam June Paik, George Brecht, Dick Higgins and Joseph Beuys. Fluxus inherited the spirit of Dada and Cage's ideas about chance and everyday sound. Although the group was deliberately informal and impermanent, its influence on conceptual art, performance, intermedia and video art proved exceptionally deep and lasting.