This symposium will expand the defining attributes of Fluxus film by addressing the problematic role of documentation within Fluxus practices, the documentation of performances as material film objects and the performativity of media, and the politics of presence in Fluxus film and performance. Includes screening of film and video works by Wolf Vostell, Eric Andersen, Nam June Paik, Ludwig Schönherr, Paul Sharits, and Carolee Schneemann, among others.
Presented by the Department of Art History, Department of Cinema and Media Studies, and the Film Studies Center. Additional funding and program support has been generously provided by the Goethe-Institut, and the University’s Humanities Division, Franke Institute for the Humanities, Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society, and the Counter Cinema/Counter Media Project at the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality.
Schedule:
Day One: Friday, May 5th, 2017Logan Center Penthouse, room 901
4:00-4:10 PMWelcome: Christine Mehring, University of Chicago
4:10-4:30 PMFluxus | Film: An IntroductionLisa Zaher, University of Chicago
Panel 1: FluxFilm – Grounded4:30-5:00 PMFluxus Films? A Crypto-cine-logical StudyJonathan Walley, Denison University
5:00-5:30 PMFluid Time in Fluxus FilmsHannah B Higgins, University of Illinois at Chicago
5:30-5:55 PMDiscussionRespondent: Bruce Jenkins, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
6:00-7:00 PMReceptionGray Center Lab, University of Chicago929 East 60th Street, Chicago, Illinois 60637
7:00-9:00 PMScreeningLogan Center room 201- George Maciunas, Artype, 1966- Yoko Ono, Four, 1967- Paul Sharits, Word Movie, 1966- Paul Sharits, Sears Catalog 1-3, 1965- Paul Sharits, Wrist Trick, 1965- George Brecht, Entrance to Exit, 1965- Mieko (Chieko) Shiomi, Disappearing Music for Face, 1966- Yoko Ono, Eye Blink, 1966- Eric Andersen, Opus 74 ver. 2, 1966- George Maciunas, 10 Feet, 1966- Robert Watts, Trace, 1965- Albert Fine, Readymade, 1966- John Cale, Police Car, 1966- Joe Jones, Smoking, 1966(intermission)- Carolee Schneemann, Meat Joy, 1964-2010 (10:35 min)- Jerry Aronson and Howard Sturges, Options, 1969, (7 min)- Ludwig Schönherr, Zoom Dokumentation, 1967-69 (18:00 min)- Eric Andersen, The Sunlawn, 1982/2013 (7:00 min)- Eric Andersen, Marianne, 1986/2013 (4:00 min)- Wolf Vostell, Sun In Your Head, 1963 (5:26 min)- Wolf Vostell, Starfighter, 1967 (4:30 min)- Wolf Vostell, 20 Juli, 1967 (7:00 min)
Day Two: Saturday, May 6th, 2017Logan Center, room 201
9:00 AMWelcome: Lisa Zaher, University of Chicago
Panel 1: Mediation and Documentation9:05-9:35 AM Material Memory, Captured Experience: David H. Katzive’s Documentation of the MCA, 1968-70Michelle Puetz, Chicago Film Archives
9:35-10:05 AMMeat Joy, MediatedElise Archias, University of Illinois at Chicago
10:05-10:15 AMBREAK10:15-10:45 AM Stupid Structures, Happy Structures: Documenting Ludwig SchönherrMarc Siegel, Goethe University10:45-11:15 AM TV Buddhas: Video, Vietnam, and the Ultimate ProtestSoyoung Yoon, The New School11:15-11:45 AMDiscussionRespondent: Mechtild Widrich, School of the Art Institute of Chicago11:45 AM-12:45 PMLUNCH BREAKPanel 2: Performing Scores12:45-1:15 PMFlux Pour: Non-Language in the works of Paul SharitsMelissa Ragona, Carnegie Mellon University1:15-1:45 PM Precious Error: Nam June Paik’s Computational ImaginaryZabet Patterson, Stony Brook University1:45-2:15 PM Nam June Paik: Computer FilmmakerGregory Zinman, Georgia Tech2:15-2:40 PMDiscussionRespondent: Seth Brodsky, University of Chicago2:40-3:00 PMRefreshment BreakPanel 3: Intermedia and Abstraction3:00-3:30 PM Mechanical Labyrinths Ring Us: Carolee Schneemann’s Studies for Testing EnergyKenneth White, Sarah Lawrence College3:30-4:00 PM Draw a Straight Line: Fluxus, Film and Infrastructural SensibilitiesIna Blom, University of Oslo4:00-4:25 PM DiscussionRespondent: Jennifer Wild, University of Chicago4:30-5:30 PM KeynoteEric Andersen (Artist) in Conversation with Simon Anderson (School of the Art Institute of Chicago) and Lisa Zaher (University of Chicago)5:30-6:00 PMConcluding Discussion
About Concrete HappeningsThis film symposium is part of Concrete Happenings, a year-long series of events, happenings, and performances presented by UChicago Arts. Concrete Happenings invites art-lovers and car-lovers, artists and scholars, drivers and pedestrians to confront the power of public art—the strange power of a massive sculpture produced by Fluxus artist Wolf Vostell in 1970. The product of that “happening,” a 1957 Cadillac covered in concrete, Concrete Traffic, was installed in the University of Chicago Campus North Parking Garage in September 2016.
