MACIUNAS George
[Jurgis Maciunas] (Kaunas, Lituania 1931 - Boston 1978)
YOKO ONO
[Ono Yoko Lennon] (Tokyo 1933)
Fluxus Wallpaper [Based on two images from Yoko Ono «Film no. 4, 1966]
Luogo: New York
Editore: s. ed.
Stampatore: senza indicazione dello stampatore
Anno: ca. 1973
Legatura: poster
Dimensioni: 56,4x43 cm.
Pagine: N. D.
Descrizione: fotomontaggio in bianco e nero di George Maciunas costituito da un fotogramma raddoppiato tratto dal film di Yoko Ono «Film Number 4» (1966). Il fotogramma ritrae il fondoschiena di Yoko Ono. Stampa in off-set. Edizione di epoca successiva (presumibilmente nel 2010 in occasione della mostra al MOMA di New York «Pictures by Women: A History of Modern Photography»), con dicitura al verso, in basso a destra: "Fluxus Wallpaper, New York, ca. 1973 - Based on two images from Yoko Ono «Film No. 4, 1966 - © Yoko Ono/Courtesy Lenono Photo Archive". Esemplare non ripiegato, in ottimo stato di conservazione.
Bibliografia: Jon Hendricks, «Fluxus Etc. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Collection», Bloomfield Hills, Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum, 1981: n. 278
Prezzo: € 150ORDINA / ORDER
Varia e controversa è la storia di questa opera che ha dato luogo ad attribuzioni e date di pubblicazione diverse e contrastanti. Il poster riflette perfettamente il modo di operare degli artisti Fluxus: di fatto è un'opera a sei mani che sedimenta e mescola tempi differenti. L'idea originaria è di Ben Vautier che nel 1964 invia a George Maciunas un prototipo in legno («Trou portatif») per una edizione Fluxus (vedi: Clive Phillpot e Jon Hendricks, «Fluxus: selections from the Gilbert and Lila Silverman Collection», New York, The Museum of Modern Art, 1988; n. 145). Ma l'immagine originale è un fotogramma tratto dal film di Yoko Ono «Film Number 4» (1966): Ben Vautier dichiara che il fondo schiena ritratto è quello della stessa Yoko Ono (ibid. n. 151). L'immagine del poster è però un fotomontaggio di George Maciunas, che aggiunge in basso una replica del fotogramma spostata a destra rispetto al centro. Il poster, senza alcuna menzione al verso, viene accluso al «Fluxpack 3» (New York, 1973) con titolo «Assholes Wallpaper», e attribuito da Maciunas a Ben Vautier. E' questa la sua prima edizione, replicata con il «Fluxpack 3» edito in Italia da Flash Art nel 1975.
Yoko Ono ha definito «Film Number 4» come "una petizione senza scopo firmata da persone con i loro ani" («like an aimless petition signed by people with their anuses»).
"Yoko Ono had arrived in London, straight from the avant-garde art scene of New York’s Greenwich Village with her husband, fellow artist Tony Cox, the previous year. Quickly zoning in on the countercultural scene that was burgeoning around the Indica Gallery in Masons Yard, St James’s and the UFO Club. [...] But before all that came 1966’s Film No. 4: the working title of a new movie that Ono needed willing supplicants for. Those who heeded Ono’s request at the UFO Club soon found themselves riding in a van that took them from the cellar club to the Mayfair home of Victor Musgrave, a poet, chess master and therapist. He or she would be ushered into a little dressing room and told to remove everything from the waist down. They would then be ushered into a small, cosy sitting room with a fire and silk screens. In the middle of the floor was a six-foot turntable. Surrounded by a white cloth, a flood lamp and a 16mm camera on a tripod, the volunteer would walk on a makeshift turntable (supported by an L-shaped armature to the front and behind the waist) while their rear end was filmed. The final cut of the film was around 80 minutes long and shows nothing other than a series of close-up, 20-second long shots of different bottoms; ranging from the peachy to the corpulent. The idea behind (excuse the pun) the film was to show that it is impossible to recognise an individual’s celebrity by their bottom alone. Ono described the work as «an aimless petition signed by people with their anuses». Inevitably, the British Board Of Film Censors failed to recognise the wider artistic message of «Film No. 4» and refused to grant it a licence to be screened. Enraged by what they saw as typically English prudishness, Ono and Cox arrived outside the BBFC offices to mount a protest – armed with bundles of daffodils. What they found when they arrived was a slew of TV and print journalists along with 17 police officers. [...] Ono’s written score for her film came with the instruction to, «string bottoms together in place of signatures for petition of peace». But peace was manifested in the form of laughter from the English audiences who saw the film in its subsequent run at the Time cinema on Baker Street. Panned by the critics, the movie’s political message was lost amid the sniggering. Few viewers noticed Ono’s desire to focus their attention on an oft-defenceless part of the anatomy. In the process, Ono had created a radical new celluloid space where the female gaze replaced a male one" (Bob Crossan, «Bottom draw: Yoko Ono and the making of the controversial Film No. 4» LUXURY LONDON, 14 febbraio 2024).
Yoko Ono ha definito «Film Number 4» come "una petizione senza scopo firmata da persone con i loro ani" («like an aimless petition signed by people with their anuses»).
"Yoko Ono had arrived in London, straight from the avant-garde art scene of New York’s Greenwich Village with her husband, fellow artist Tony Cox, the previous year. Quickly zoning in on the countercultural scene that was burgeoning around the Indica Gallery in Masons Yard, St James’s and the UFO Club. [...] But before all that came 1966’s Film No. 4: the working title of a new movie that Ono needed willing supplicants for. Those who heeded Ono’s request at the UFO Club soon found themselves riding in a van that took them from the cellar club to the Mayfair home of Victor Musgrave, a poet, chess master and therapist. He or she would be ushered into a little dressing room and told to remove everything from the waist down. They would then be ushered into a small, cosy sitting room with a fire and silk screens. In the middle of the floor was a six-foot turntable. Surrounded by a white cloth, a flood lamp and a 16mm camera on a tripod, the volunteer would walk on a makeshift turntable (supported by an L-shaped armature to the front and behind the waist) while their rear end was filmed. The final cut of the film was around 80 minutes long and shows nothing other than a series of close-up, 20-second long shots of different bottoms; ranging from the peachy to the corpulent. The idea behind (excuse the pun) the film was to show that it is impossible to recognise an individual’s celebrity by their bottom alone. Ono described the work as «an aimless petition signed by people with their anuses». Inevitably, the British Board Of Film Censors failed to recognise the wider artistic message of «Film No. 4» and refused to grant it a licence to be screened. Enraged by what they saw as typically English prudishness, Ono and Cox arrived outside the BBFC offices to mount a protest – armed with bundles of daffodils. What they found when they arrived was a slew of TV and print journalists along with 17 police officers. [...] Ono’s written score for her film came with the instruction to, «string bottoms together in place of signatures for petition of peace». But peace was manifested in the form of laughter from the English audiences who saw the film in its subsequent run at the Time cinema on Baker Street. Panned by the critics, the movie’s political message was lost amid the sniggering. Few viewers noticed Ono’s desire to focus their attention on an oft-defenceless part of the anatomy. In the process, Ono had created a radical new celluloid space where the female gaze replaced a male one" (Bob Crossan, «Bottom draw: Yoko Ono and the making of the controversial Film No. 4» LUXURY LONDON, 14 febbraio 2024).
