george maciunas
George Maciunas (November 8, 1931 – May 9, 1978) was an American artist who was a founding member of the Fluxus movement. He is generally credited with having invented the name “Fluxus.”
George Maciunas (Lith. Jurgis Maciunas, pronounced machunas) was born in Kaunas, Lithuania, to a Lithuanian father and Russian mother. As a young man he moved to Germany, apparently to escape either the Soviet occupation of Lithuania or his creditors.
Maciunas owned several apartment buildings in SoHo New York and a farm in the Berkshire Mountains of Great Barrington, Massachusetts. He largely created SoHo as a haven for artists by converting tumbledown buildings into lofts and living space.
listen to: Nam June Paik and Joseph Beuys / In Memoriam George Maciunas
His real estate ventures were usually several steps ahead of the law and in 1975 he was seriously injured in an assault, arranged by an unpaid contractor, that left him blind in one eye. After suffering from cancer and the injuries received in the 1975 assault, he died in a hospital in Boston, USA. Three months before his death, he married one of his tenants, Billie Hutching. Their wedding was a performance piece called “the Black and White” during which the bride and groom traded clothing.
He was close to fellow artists Jonas Mekas, La Monte Young, Emmett Williams, Nam June Paik, and Yoko Ono, and did much to advance their careers.
An oratorio about Maciunas, entitled Machunas, was premiered in August 2005 as part of the St. Christopher Summer Festival in Vilnius, Lithuania. Machunas was conceived of by Lucio Pozzi, with music by Frank J. Oteri.
Posted:
Monday, July 24th, 2006, 14:21.
Filed under: artist portrait.
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