Colby Chamberlain

George Maciunas and the Art of Paperwork A new, innovative approach to the work of Fluxus artist George Maciunas. Though widely recognized as the founder of the legendary Fluxus movement, George Maciunas has long been a puzzling figure in the history of twentieth-century art. Many have questioned whether he should be considered an artist at all.

In 1964, the Fluxus artist Robert Watts set out to copyright the term “Pop art,” thereby, as Watts himself put it, “preventing its use.” After consulting with a lawyer, Watts discovered that his plan to assume control over “Pop art” would not be feasible under copyright law but could instead be partially enacted through United States trademark provisions.

In the art world, epics are necessarily parasitic. Like H. R. Giger’s xenomorphs in the Alien franchise, they assume the attributes of their host. Since 2015, A.K. Burns has been producing a cycle of video installations on ecological fragility called Negative Space, each concerned with a distinct physical system and supported by different institutions. A Smeary Spot (NS 0), 2015, which premiered at Participant Inc.