Travel Tip: Art and Archaeology in United States
George Maciunas 1953-1978, Charts, Diagrams, Films, Documents, and Atlases

Born to a Russian mother and Lithuanian father, George Maciunas was an artist, art historian, designer, architect, editor, producer, genealogist, typographer, mathematician, musicologist, and leader of the 1960’s international Fluxus movement. Influenced by Marcel Duchamp’s use of art beyond painting and John Cage’s experimental music, Fluxus deviated between the boundaries of art and non-art through Maciunas’ vision of artistic collaboration in various mediums. He combined music, performance, visual arts, and literature to create one of the most influential philosophies and artistic movements in modern art of the 20th century.

The works on view are Atlas of Russian History, Prehistoric Chinese Art (Shang and Chou Dynasties), European and Siberian Art of Migration, Biography Chronicling Activity between 1939-1978, and Diagram of Historical Development of Fluxus (incomplete). Created between 1953 and 1978, these “cultural timetables” reveal Maciunas’ interest in visually displaying diverse information about historical periods. Maciunas’ charts, diagrams, and atlases make clear his desire to record artistic and sociopolitical chronological evolution. With these charts, he introduced the 20th century as the era of “Art Genealogy”.