Research Catalog

Title

Intermedia, Fluxus and the Something Else Press : selected writings by Dick Higgins / edited by Steve Clay and Ken Friedman.

Author

Higgins, Dick, 1938-1998

Publication

• Catskill, New York : Siglio, 2018.
• ©2018

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Clay, Steven, 1951-
• Friedman, Ken, 1949-

Description

363 pages : illustrations (some color); 25 cm

Summary

"There are few art-world figures as influential--and as little known--as Dick Higgins (1938-1998), co-founder of Fluxus, "polyartist," poet, scholar, theorist, composer, performer and, not least, the publisher of the Something Else Press. In 1965 he restored the term "intermedia" to the English language, giving it new dimension to recognize the dissolution of boundaries, the expansion of liminal spaces between traditional modes of art making, and the open field for new forms that cannot be compartmentalized. His own contributions to intermedia are many--as a participant and instigator of Happenings, as writer and composer straddling traditional and vanguard forms, among others--but it was the Something Else Press (1963-1974) that redefined how "the book" could inhabit that energized, in-between space. Something Else Press was as much a critical statement and radical experiment as it was a collection of books by some of the most luminary artists and writers of the twentieth century: Gertrude Stein, John Cage, Ray Johnson, Dieter Roth, Bern Porter, Emmett Williams, Robert Filliou, George Brecht, among many others. Along with his Great Bear pamphlet series and the Something Else Press newsletter, Higgins exploited and subverted conventional book production and marketing strategies to get unconventional and avant-garde works into the hands of new and often unsuspecting readers. Edited by Granary Books publisher Steve Clay and Fluxus artist Ken Friedman, this judiciously curated and indispensable compendium of essays, theoretical writings and narrative prose by Higgins dives deep into the ever-influential ideas that he explored in theory and practice. (It also includes a substantial, highly illustrated Something Else Press checklist including Higgins' jacket and catalog copy about the books he published.) Clay and Friedman have chosen works that illuminate his voracious intellectual appetite, encyclopedic body of knowledge, and playful yet rigorous experimentation in a selection that includes many writings long out-of-print or difficult to find."--Publisher's description.

Uniform Title

Works. Selections

Alternative Title

• Works.
• Selected writings by Dick Higgins

Subjects

• Higgins, Dick, 1938-1998
• Bibliographies
• Conceptual art
• 1900-1999
• Something Else Press History
• Something Else Press
• Criticism, interpretation, etc
• Higgins, Dick, 1938-1998 > Criticism and interpretation
• Fluxus (Group of artists)
• History
• Something Else Press Bibliography
• Performance art
• Arts, Modern > 20th century

Genre/Form

• Bibliographies.
• Criticism, interpretation, etc.
• History.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

Introduction / Steve Clay -- Thinking about Dick Higgins / Ken Friedman -- I. Fluxus, happenings, intermedia. Intermedia ; Games of art ; Intending ; Postface (excerpt) ; Postscript to Postface: Fifteen years later ; Fluxus: Theory and reception -- II. The Something Else Press. A Something Else manifesto ; What to look for in a book--physically & catalogue 1965-66 ; Two sides of a coin: Fluxus and the Something Else Press ; The Something Else Press: Notes for a history to be written some day ; Letter to Ray Johnson ; A Something Else Press checklist -- III. The Constant dialectic. Some poetry intermedia ; Five traditions of art history, an essay ; An exemplativist manifesto ; The strategy of each of my books ; A book ; Letter to Steve McCaffery -- IV. Pattern poetry, visual poetry, sound poetry. A short history of pattern poetry ; The strategy of visual poetry: Three aspects ; Points toward a taxonomy of sound poetry ; The Golem in the text -- Eleven snapshots of Dick Higgins / Hannah Higgins.

Call Number

JFF 19-1080

ISBN

• 1938221206
• 9781938221200

OCLC

1031154013

Author

Higgins, Dick, 1938-1998, author.

Title

Intermedia, Fluxus and the Something Else Press : selected writings by Dick Higgins / edited by Steve Clay and Ken Friedman.

Publisher

Catskill, New York : Siglio, 2018.

Copyright Date

©2018

Edition

First edition.

Type of Content

text

still image

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Chronological Term

1900-1999

Added Author

Clay, Steven, 1951- editor.

Friedman, Ken, 1949- editor.

Report No.

(Coutts)041772284

Research Call Number

JFF 19-1080