Date: Sat, 31 Oct 1998 09:13:25 -0800
Subject: Re: Dick Higgins, Fluxus Co-Founder, Dies
<html>
<font size=4 color="#000080">what a remarkable life!<br>
I hope to be able to share in his influence.<br>
thank you--<br>
jeff w<br>
<br>
<br>
</font><font size=3 color="#000000">At 07:42 10/31/98 -0500, you
wrote:<br>
>Dick was a sometime contributor here, witty, generous and<br>
>courageously outrageous -- online and in performance, this<br>
>his finale:<br>
><br>
> Thus Higgins' musical composition "Dangerous Music
No.<br>
> 17" of 1963 consisted of Higgins' wife, the poet
Alison<br>
> Knowles, shaving his head. "Dangerous Music No.
2,"<br>
> which Higgins had performed on Sunday at the colloquium<br>
> in Quebec City, involved screaming as loudly as<br>
> possible for as long as possible.<br>
><br>
><br>
>The New York Times<br>
><br>
>October 31, 1998<br>
><br>
>Dick Higgins, 60, Innovator in the 1960s Avant-Garde<br>
><br>
>By Roberta Smith<br>
><br>
>Dick Higgins, a writer, poet, artist, composer and<br>
>publisher who was a seminal figure in Happenings<br>
>and the concrete poetry movement and a co-founder of<br>
>the anti-authoritarian Fluxus movement in the early<br>
>1960s, died on Sunday while visiting Quebec City. He<br>
>was 60 and lived in New York City and in Barrytown,<br>
>N.Y.<br>
><br>
>The cause of death was a heart attack, his family said.<br>
>He was staying at a private home in Quebec City while<br>
>attending a colloquium on "Art Action, 1958-1998" at
a<br>
>performance space named Le Lieu.<br>
><br>
>Higgins, who invented the term "intermedia," had a
long<br>
>list of achievements, most of which he enumerated in a<br>
>carefully maintained curriculum vitae that ran to 47<br>
>pages. Its table of contents listed such headings as<br>
>Visual Art, Movies and Videotapes, Music and Sound Art<br>
>and "Selected Discussions of Dick Higgins," one<br>
>category of which was "articles, or interesting<br>
>reviews."<br>
><br>
>The bibliography reflected a polymorphic involvement<br>
>with language, literature and books. It included books<br>
>of theoretical essays, plays, poems, word scores,<br>
>musical scores, graphic music notions and performance<br>
>piece instructions.<br>
><br>
>Titles could be strange: "foew&ombwhnw," a 1969 book
of<br>
>essays, is an acronym for "freaked out electronic<br>
>wizard and other marvelous bartenders who have no<br>
>wings."<br>
><br>
>This volume was a characteristic combination of the<br>
>traditional and the iconoclastic: while its pages<br>
>featured columns of word scores, visual poetry and<br>
>essays that ran vertically from spread to spread, the<br>
>volume was bound like a prayer book, in leather, with a<br>
><br>
>ribbon bookmark.<br>
><br>
>Most of Higgins' books were published by companies that<br>
>he founded, funded and ran himself, the best known<br>
>being Something Else Press. During its brief life span<br>
>(1964-1975) it published books and pamphlets by<br>
>avant-garde writers and artists of several generations,<br>
>including Gertrude Stein, Richard Hulsenbeck, Merce<br>
>Cunningham, John Cage, Emmett Williams, Claes<br>
>Oldenburg, the Futurist painter Luigi Russolo and the<br>
>17th-century poet George Herbert, whose pattern poems<br>
>Higgins considered a precedent for concrete poetry.<br>
><br>
>As his books were extremely well made and Higgins was<br>
>prone to order reprintings on the slightest excuse,<br>
>many Something Else titles are still in print.<br>
><br>
>Higgins was born in 1938 in Cambridge, England, the son<br>
>of a wealthy family that owned Wooster Press Steel in<br>
>Wooster, Mass. He was educated at several New England<br>
>boarding schools, attended Yale University and received<br>
<font size=3>>a bachelor's degree in English from Columbia
University<br>
>in 1960.<br>
><br>
>He also studied at the Manhattan School of Printing,<br>
>attended John Cage's influential course on music<br>
>composition at the New School and studied with the<br>
>avant-garde composer Henry Cowell.<br>
><br>
>By the late 1950s, Higgins was working for a book<br>
>manufacturer while immersing himself in the flourishing<br>
>New York art scene, where the increasing dissolution of<br>
>boundaries between traditional art media fit his<br>
>sensibility. He was interested in anything that was new<br>
>and within a short time seemed to know nearly everyone<br>
>moving in that direction.<br>
><br>
>With Allan Kaprow and others he planned and performed<br>
>in the first Happenings. With George Macunius, he<br>
>established the loosely knit group known as Fluxus,<br>
>which accepted any activity as art and played fast and<br>
>loose with definitions.<br>
><br>
>Thus Higgins' musical composition "Dangerous Music No.<br>
>17" of 1963 consisted of Higgins' wife, the poet Alison<br>
>Knowles, shaving his head. "Dangerous Music No. 2,"<br>
>which Higgins had performed on Sunday at the colloquium<br>
>in Quebec City, involved screaming as loudly as<br>
>possible for as long as possible.<br>
><br>
>In 1966, Higgins' essay "Intermedia" -- published in<br>
>the first issue of the Something Else Newsletter --<br>
>drew on his experiences with Happenings, Fluxus,<br>
>concrete poetry and performance art. It formulated the<br>
>concept of works of art that combined different forms<br>
>-- film and dance, painting and sculpture -- that are<br>
>today often referred to as multimedia installation art.<br>
><br>
>In addition to Ms. Knowles, whom he married in 1960,<br>
>divorced in 1970 and remarried in 1984, Higgins is<br>
>survived by their twin daughters, Hannah, of Chicago<br>
>and Jessica, of New York; a sister, Lisa Null of<br>
>Washington; a granddaughter, and his stepfather,<br>
>Nicholas Doman of New York.<br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
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