Rereflux

Thirty years ago now, the Museu Tàpies, then headed by Manuel Borja-Villel, opened In the Spirit of Fluxus, a comprehensive retrospective, curated by Elizabeth Armstrong and Joan Rothfuss, of the movement that revolutionised the foundations of art in the 1960s. The exhibition featured the work of artists including Joseph Beuys, George Brecht, Robert Filliou, Dick Higgins, Shigeko Kubota, George Maciunas, Yoko Ono, Nam June Paik, Benjamin Patterson, Carolee Schneemann, Mieko (Chieko) Shiomi, Ben Vautier, Wolf Vostell, Emmett Williams and La Monte Young, among many others, and of Zaj artists like Juan Hidalgo and Esther Ferrer.

The exhibition was also accompanied by a series of activities which included the Reflux project, a programme of re-enactments of Fluxus events curated by Oscar Abril Ascaso and executed by a group of young local performance artists: Borja Zabala, Jaume Alcalde, Denys Blacker, Lluís Alabern, Júlia Montilla, Joan Casellas, Quim Tarrida, Miquel Baixas, Alexis Tauler and Noel Tatú.

In the Spirit of Fluxus played a central role in catalysing a moment of effervescence in performance techniques in Catalonia in general, and in action art in particular in Barcelona. Intense and collaborative, but not free from criticism and disagreement, it set the pace for a generation of young artists and, among other ramifications, led to the creation of the first platform for performing artists in Spain, Club7, right here in the museum.

Rereflux is a programme of debate and action that sets out to commemorate that crucial moment in the history of action art in Barcelona and in the artistic practices of the 1990s in this country. With this aim, Rereflux is organising a round table with some of the protagonists of the Reflux project of 1994 and a programme of Fluxus actions executed by contemporary performance artists, in what would now be a new Re-Reflux Orchestra for the 21st century.

The initiative forms part of the ARTefACTe4 days, an event to foster contemporary performance practices that works as a laboratory for new cultural institutionality. A project by CLUB9, the platform that is the heir to Club7 and that was publicly launched in the auditorium of the Museu Tàpies on 29 May 2021.

PROGRAMME

6 pm. Talk by Oscar Abril Ascaso, curator of the project Reflux 1994.

7 pm. Round table with Manuel Borja-Villel, former director of the Museu Tàpies, and Lluís Alabern and Joan Casellas, artists on the project Reflux 1994.

8 pm. Fluxus performances by Estel Boada, Paloma Orts, Pia Sommer and Llapispanc.

Picture credits: Teresa Ramírez – Arxiu Aire

Performance by the Reflux Orchestra in the auditorium of the Museu Tàpies on 29 January 1995. From left to right: Borja Zabala, Joan Casellas, Júlia Montilla, Alexis Tauler, Noel Tatú, Quim Tarrida, Miquel Baixas, Lluís Alabern and Oscar Abril Ascaso.