Art’s Birthday 2018

[Lars Schumacher]

Art’s Birthday 2018 – A Global Gesture for Art
On January 17, 2018, Susanne and Lars Schumacher launched a participatory art project celebrating the symbolic birthday of art—known as Art’s Birthday. With an open call, they invited people around the world to take a selfie with a flower or a cake and send it by email. The action was intentionally simple, poetic, and open to everyone, regardless of background, medium, or artistic training. It was part of an international network of Fluxus-inspired events that gather each year on the same day to celebrate art—not as a commodity, but as a social, creative, and connecting force.

The process was straightforward: anyone who wanted to join took a photo of themselves with a symbolic birthday gesture—a flower, a cake, or something personal—and sent it to a eMail adress. The submissions were collected and partially published, documenting a quiet yet far-reaching movement: art as collective experience, as a moment of attention, as a sign of appreciation.

The origin of Art’s Birthday goes back to Fluxus artist Robert Filliou, who in 1963 declared that art was born one million years ago—when someone dropped a dry sponge into a bucket of water. This absurd yet profound gesture became the foundation of a tradition that sees art not as an object, but as an idea, an action, a social sculpture. Filliou wanted to free art from the museum and return it to everyday life—as something anyone can create, share, and celebrate.

Today, more than sixty years later, Art’s Birthday remains deeply relevant. In a time shaped by market pressures and media overload, this symbolic holiday offers space for slowing down, for collective creativity, and for reconnecting with what truly matters. The 2018 project by Susanne and Lars Schumacher showed how this idea can be reimagined in a contemporary way—digitally connected, open, participatory, and poetic.

This form of networked art can be seen as a modern version of Mail Art and social sculpture. It’s based on communication, exchange, and the belief that art doesn’t happen in isolation but in dialogue. The images sent from around the world weren’t spectacular artworks—they were small, personal gestures. And that was their strength: they showed that art still has the power to connect. That it asks questions rather than gives answers. That it moves—in every sense.

Art’s Birthday 2018 was more than an event. It was a statement. An invitation. A reminder that art is alive—where people meet, share, and celebrate. And that its birthday is not just a date, but a principle: art begins again and again. In every image. In every gesture. In every person.

Participating artists: Adrian Lis, Ales Pushkin, Alessandra Prato, Alexander Limarev, Allan Revich, Ana Marta Austin, Andrea Pagnacco, Angelika Holzbach, Anja Mattila-Tolvanen, Anna Karina Fries, Antonella Prota Giurleo, Armine Harutyunyan, Barbara Nocluak, Bruno Chiarilone, Celeste Illazki, Cinzia Farina, Claude Nguyen, Daniel de Culla, Edda Glesel, Elena Cristea, Enzo Correnti, Esther Landolt, Fernando Calhau, Francesco Mandrino, France Della Vedova, Gabriella Gallo, Giancarlo Da Lio, Gianni Moi, Holger Wendland, Horst Tress, Hyppolyte de Saint Rambert, Ignacio Navarro Cortez, Ilmar Kruusamäe, Ina Ripari, Isabel Aaron, Ieda Ferreira Mariano, Jürgen Olbrich, José Carlos Velázquez, Juan Ortiz-Apuy, Jutta Koukal, Kazuko Ogawa, Kevin Gillen, Kerstin Römhild, Lars Schumacher, Lars und Sigrid Pickehahn, Lancellotto Bellini, Leonora Arnao, Linda & Iveta Vladovicová, Luc Fierens, Maik Hermanns, Marcel Fodor, Maria Chorianopoulou, Maurizio Follin, Maya Lopez Muro, Monica Sánchez Vergara, Nadine Gabriel, Nihal Gures, Nilda Call Semino, Paola Telesca, Pier Roberto Bassi, Piroska Horvath, Poul Poclade, Reiner Langer, Reka Gyorgypal, Roberta Savolini, Roberto Scala, Rodni Hipp, Rosemary Remstedt, Ruggero Maggi, Sabine Köster, Sabela Bara, Sandro Bongiani, Seda Martirosyan, Stella Velasco, Sue Sheehan, Susan Gold, Susana (Mexico), Susanne Schumacher, Tamara Jelaca, Terry Cazzaro, Timm Kronenberg, Tiziana Baracchi, Ursula Pankne-Felder, Uli Steinböck, Uwe Klein, Virginia Milici, Wolfgang Faller, Zikilato Krstevski