Catalog of 2012 FluxRus Exhibit (Taganrog, Russia) by Svetlana Pesetskaya & Victoria Barvenko w/ J. Bennett, Penn, Janssen, Tic Tac, Montalvetti, Vermeulen, Wahl, Moan Lisa, Brain Cell + more

[De Villo Sloan]

Catalog cover of the international exhibition at the FluxRus Gallery in Taganrog, Russia, organized by Svetlana Pesetskaya and Victoria Barvenko (aka Belka & Strelka). More than 70 mail-artists from 18 countries had work in the exhibition as well as numerous artists associated with 50 years of Fluxus.

March 18, 2013 - Svetlana Pesetskaya and Victoria Barvenko, also known as the performance group Belka & Strelka, are inventing their own avant garde style – FluxRus (Russian Fluxus) – drawing from the legacy of Fluxus and adapting it to the 21st century.

They are involved in the Eternal Network and the international exhibition they hosted last year in Taganrog (birthplace of Anton Chekhov) featured work by more than 70 networkers from around the globe. They sent a beautiful catalog to participants, excerpts of which are featured in this blog.

The catalog is over 100 pages and packed with fascinating text and images, including an essay by curator Mark Bloch (USA) that provides historical context as well as a model for mail-art, networking and Fluxus for the years ahead. It is not possible or even desirable to reproduce the whole catalog, so I picked out pieces by friends and people familiar to me to provide a sampler of the diversity of the work that appeared in the exhibition. I do not even manage to cover that but hope you will enjoy this snapshot.

Catalog statement by Svetlana Pesetskaya and Victoria Barvenko

A list of exhibition participants

MinXus relics included in the Taganrog, Russia, Fluxus exhibition

Victoria Barvenko (left) and Svetlana Pesetskaya (middle)

Taganrog exhibition with work by John M. Bennett (USA)

Cheryl Penn (South Africa)

Ruud Janssen (Netherlands)

Tic Tac (Germany)

Thierry Tillier (Belgium)

Skybridge Studios aka Lisa Iversen (USA)

Samuel Montalvetti (Argentina)

Guido Vermeulen (Belgium)

Svenja Wahl (Germany)

Superhero aka Moan Lisa (USA)

Grigori Antonin (USA)

Ryosuke Cohen – Brain Cell (Japan)

Carl Baker (Canada)

Brent Leopold (USA)

It was an honour to have work in the show. Deepest thanks to Svetlana and Victoria for their wonderful art and their hard work!

[De Villo Sloan]

Svenja, it's great to see you in the show AND you sent me copies of the work that was shown! A treasure for the archives. 

[Svenja Wahl]

Thanks for posting it, DVS, I'll have to look at the catalog! XX

[De Villo Sloan]

TICTAC, I like your Rayjo stamps especially. Great to see you participated in the exhibition.

[Ptrzia (TICTAC)]

great job Svetlana and Victoria. Many thanks!

[Ptrzia (TICTAC)]

wonderful collaboration, communication, connection..leaping over mental walls and geographical borders!

once again..fluxus.

thank you for posting it DVS!

[De Villo Sloan]

Phew, yeah, thanks! Check out the full catalog and draw your own conclusions. And remember the immortal vispo of Miekal And:

[Ruud Janssen]

The complete catalogue can be found on Facebook at:

 

http://www.facebook.com/groups/157924880955229/files/

[De Villo Sloan]

I vastly prefer looking at the mail-art in the FluxRus show. But in an effort to represent multiple perspectives, here is another point of view by Billie Maciunas that was in the catalog:

[De Villo Sloan]

Ruud, that is really interesting. Mark Bloch's essay was way too long to scan or summarize. I could not find an online version of the catalog either for people who would be interested in seeing all of it. 

From what I see, there are many points of view concerning Fluxus and sometimes contentious discussion.

Svetlana & Victoria put out a mail-art call. I think the individual artists who just wanted to celebrate & honour 50 years of Fluxus were able to do that.

[Ruud Janssen]

reaction on the catalogue by:

Allen Bukoff

Svetlana and Victoria,

Thank you for your WONDERFUL book and catalog, "Fluxus there Lives." This is a major contribution to Fluxus and its continued life and evolution. There is just one small mistake with your book: you let Mark Bloch trick you into giving him 12 pages of your book to spew his propaganda and his closed-minded ideas about Fluxus. I am sorry that I did not warn you that Mark would try to do this. MARK BLOCH HAS VERY CONSERVATIVE AND OLD-FASHIONED THINKING ABOUT FLUXUS.  His thinking is very narrow and restricted whereas the spirit of Fluxus is very open and very welcoming.  NO ONE I KNOW THINKS WE SHOULD RENAME IT "FIFOMA." Mark is a failed mail artist who desperately wants to be the leader of a new Fluxus-like art movement, but no one will follow him. Most importantly, he has no inspiring vision of what this movement should be or where it should go or how it should be organized--so no one CAN follow him. He just aligns himself with the small, closed minded idea that those of us continuing to develop, honor, and evolve and open Fluxus would be better off if we followed him...to some place where he has no new ideas.

While you are still at Chicago Fluxfest 2013, I suggest you ask many different people what they think of Mark Bloch and his ideas. Ask people there if Mark has been helpful to what we Fluxfesters have been doing or not. Also, please try to find an event that Mark Bloch has organized that anyone has participated in or contributed to. Mark Bloch has no real supporters or vision or energy for what we AND YOU are doing.

Mark Bloch went no where new with mail art and is going no where with his thinking about Fluxus.

Cheers, Allen