They were dealing in public magic, in other words. Want some?

Fluxkit (1965)

Everything is connected, somewhat

Fluxus was about as networked as you could be in 1962, with the web just a twinkle in the Pentagon’s eye. Fluxus society was a pretty loose affiliation, one linked by postcards, parties, posters, phonecalls and xeroxed memos, boxes of toys, mail art and mailing lists for very many never-realised events. Mail-art would eventually become (in curator-speak) ‘telematic’ art, which in turn became ‘net.art’, and well… here we are today.

Not only did Fluxans embrace communications as a conduit, but what was being communicated (and this is where Fluxus starts to feel doubly modern and relevant again) is often this: rules for play.

Endless fluxpieces (the “Event Scores”) are simply instructions for playful human programming: stand here and imagine this, take these five keys at random, tell someone this lie, tear those papers in half, etc. Diagrams for a poem, notes for a drawing, words for a game, or a musical score written as a gentle imprecation to not worry too much if anything goes wrong.