Fluxus Artist Ken Friedman -- Book Published

Kalmar Art Museum releases the book 92 Events, a playful documentation of the thought processes behind Ken Friedman's conceptual works.

“Good art often makes us understand the world and the people in it in a new and sometimes unexpected way. (…) Ken Friedman’s 92 Events show that the things around us and our everyday actions can be something other than they seem. An event can appear exceedingly simple through its visual form and ephemeral content, but upon closer reflection, simplicity hides radical possibilities. It can challenge the way we see the world, the things around us and our actions, thereby shifting our perspective and calibrating our gaze based on these new insights. As Friedman urges us in Centre Piece (2003):

Imagine a life.

Live it.”

So writes art historian Magdalena Holdar of Stockholm University in her text about Fluxus artist Ken Friedman, “The Sound of 92 Events” in the recently published book 92 Events.

Ken Friedman’s events are instructional texts that navigate a fine line between sculptural proposition, absurd action, and concrete poetry. The works are deliberately playful and sometimes absurd. They describe actions that break with traditional notions of art, leaving the realization of the works in the hands or minds of the viewer. The book 92 Events publishes 92 conceptual, language-based works spanning over six decades of Friedman’s practice. The book also includes Friedman’s essays on several of the works as well as a biography of the artist by Ditte Mauritzon. 92 Events is designed by Oskar Laurin and William Jokijärvi Andersson. The book is available for purchase at

https://konstigbooks.com/art/ken-friedman-92-events.html

Fluxus artworks are often made to be shared widely. An event score can be published in a catalog, nailed to a public noticeboard, or even printed as postcards. The book is accompanied by a separate box with all 92 of Friedman’s events as postcards, also designed by Oskar Laurin and William Jokijärvi Andersson. The postcard box is sold separately and will soon be available for purchase at

https://konstigbooks.com/art/ken-friedman-92-events.html

In addition to the book and the box, Kalmar Art Museum has published a free open-access edition of the book in .pdf format.

https://www.kalmarkonstmuseum.se/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/friedman-2023-92-events-kalmar-art-museum_open-access.pdf

It is available on the museum website at the 92 Events

https://www.kalmarkonstmuseum.se/en/exhibition/92-events/

Ken Friedman was born in 1949 in New London, Connecticut. He joined Fluxus in 1966 as the youngest member of the original group. Friedman collaborated closely with other artists and composers in Fluxus, among them Dick Higgins, Nam June Paik, Bengt af Klintberg, and John Cage. Friedman was key in establishing Fluxus West, a node for Fluxus related activities in the western states of the USA. During the 1960s and 1970s Fluxus West expanded to Great Britain. 

In 1976 Friedman completed a Ph.D. in behavioral science while working as an artist. In the 1990s, Friedman worked as a management consultant and designer. He later shifted to a career in academia: first as Professor of Leadership and Strategic Design at the Norwegian School of Management in Oslo, later as Dean of the Design Faculty at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, where he is now Professor Emeritus. Friedman is now Chair Professor of Design Innovation Studies at Tongji University in Shanghai.

 

For press photos and review copies, please contact:

Madeleine Petersson
Communications Manager
+46-709-593-242