Archivio Conz

George Maciunas (1931, Kaunas, Lithuania – 1978, New York City, USA ) was a Lithuanian-born American artist, architect, and the founder of Fluxus, one of the most influential avant-garde movements of the 20th century. He sought to dismantle traditional distinctions between art and everyday life, advocating for collective, anti-commercial, and participatory art practices. His work in art editions revolutionized the distribution of art, emphasizing mass production, accessibility, and the rejection of artistic elitism. After immigrating to the U.S. in 1948, Maciunas studied architecture at Cooper Union and art history at NYU. In 1961, he formally launched Fluxus, a movement that embraced experimental music, performance, visual art, and conceptualism, heavily influenced by Dada and John Cage’s indeterminate compositions. He collaborated with artists such as Yoko Ono, Nam June Paik, Joseph Beuys, Alison Knowles, Dick Higgins, and Wolf Vostell, organizing Fluxus events, performances, and mail-art projects. Maciunas' most important works include the Fluxus Manifesto (1963), which outlined the movement’s core principles; Fluxkits (1964–1975), small boxes containing interactive objects by various Fluxus artists; and the Fluxshop (1964), a storefront in New York where he sold Fluxus multiples, radically challenging the art market. He also pioneered Fluxfilms(1966–1967), a series of experimental short films by artists like Paik and George Brecht. Archivio Conz holds George Maciuna’s several collaborative works, such as : Flux Year Box 2 (1965-68) with Eric Andersen, George Brecht, Ken Friedman, Yoko Ono, Benjamin Patterson, Willem de Ridder, Paul Sharits, Ben Vautier, and Robert Watts; Fluxus Anthology 30th Anniversary (1962-1992) with Eric Andersen, Giuseppe Chiari, Henning Christiansen, Jean Dupuy, Robert Filliou, Ken Friedman, Al Hansen, Dick Higgins, Joe Jones, Milan Knížák, Alison Knowles, Bob Lens, Gustav Metzger, Larry Miller, Carolee Schneemann, Paul Sharits, Mieko Shiomi, Wolf Vostell and Robert Watts; and Spice Box for Francesco Conz (1975).