Went to see the exhibition “Experimental Women in Flux” at the MoMA Library. There was much to like, although it’s a small exhibit. I got a kick out of this feminist blast:
fluxus can be lots of fun when the boys let you on their boat
sometimes they throw you off the boat
you have to be NEAT all your words games philosophy
and things you make have to be NEAT (except for wolf and claes
they can smear their pages its o.k.)
if you dont wear underpants or show your pussy you get pushed
over the side (except not by jean-jacques philip larry or ben)
in england the boys gave me the fluxus boat to steer we
traveled with water ropes bricks milk shoes and blood
when i came home george wrote a bad letter about my crimes
operatic political sexual metaphoric motors caressing mess and
showing my pussy i could always sneak onto the happenings boat
it was bigger with louder music and open all night
nitsch and muhl came there with their dead pets
it used to be fun making things with alison takako and yoko
it was o.k. if we rowed but not to steer
i dont know if charlotte’s embrace of all of us was flux-us or not
sometimes no one can read labels in the dark
fluxus from the far east moved by neon light and ironed wedges right into
canal street i never saw them fighting for a window seatgino and francesco always said we could all play together
that is because those italians dont want to listen
to two popes in one life time
This by Mary Beach caught my eye, too. Naturally. It comes from my old mag. (Here’s the cover of that issue. It’s a collage by Norman O. Mustill.) I don’t think Mary ever knew Carolee Schneeman, but I think they would have dug each other.
Jan, Carolee Schneemann was the subject of a recent large show at the Dorsky Museum at SUNY New Paltz…and she’s a provocative, deep, caring, and thoughtful artist and person. Check our website http://www.newpaltz.edu/museum/ under past exhibitions for more information or to order a catalogue. — Brian (Wallace, curator, Dorsky Museum.)
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Thanks, Brian. — Jan
PS: Here’s the exact page for her exhibition: http://www.newpaltz.edu/museum/exhibitions/exhibitions_5.html . It also has a link to a recent radio interview with her that’s worth hearing. The Schneeman interview begins at 13:08 of the soundtrack.