Benjamin Patterson (May 29, 1934 – June 25, 2016) was an American musician, artist, and one of the founders of the
Fluxus
Fluxus was an international, interdisciplinary community of artists, composers, designers and poets during the 1960s and 1970s who engaged in experimental art performances which emphasized the artistic process over the finished product. Fluxus ...
movement.
Biography
Benjamin Patterson was born in
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...
on May 29, 1934. He attended the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
from 1952 to 1956, where he studied the
contrabass, Composition, and Film Direction. As an African-American musician, he found it impossible to get a job at a symphony orchestra in the United States, so he started playing with Canadian orchestras. From 1956 to 1960, he worked as a double bassist at the
Halifax Symphony Orchestra (1956–57), the US Army
Seventh Army Symphony Orchestra
The Seventh Army Symphony Orchestra was the only symphonic orchestral ensemble ever created under the supervision of the United States Army. Founded by the composer Samuel Adler, its members participated in the cultural diplomacy initiatives of ...
(1957–59) and the
Ottawa Philharmonic Orchestra (1959–60). In 1960 he moved to
Cologne, Germany
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 million ...
, where he became active on the contemporary music scene of the most radical, focusing its activities at the studio of
Mary Bauermeister and "against the festival." Between 1960 and 1962 he played in Cologne, Paris, Venice, Vienna and other places. At Bauermeister’s atelier, Patterson also met
Nam June Paik
Nam June Paik (; July 20, 1932 – January 29, 2006) was a Korean American artist. He worked with a variety of media and is considered to be the founder of video art. He is credited with the first use (1974) of the term "electronic super h ...
, through whom he met Fluxus founder
George Maciunas
George Maciunas (; lt, Jurgis Mačiūnas; November 8, 1931 – May 9, 1978) was a Lithuanian American artist, born in Kaunas. A founding member and the central coordinator of Fluxus, an international community of artists, architects, composers ...
and came to play an integral role in organizing the early European Fluxus festivals. Patterson was a founding member of Fluxus and participated in the first Fluxus Festival in Wiesbaden (1962).
[Smith, Owen. ''Fluxus: The History of an Attitude''. San Diego State University Press, San Diego, California, 1998, pages 73–75.]
Returning to New York and receiving his master's at the end of 1965 decided to retire from art, to live a "normal life". Despite the "retreat" he participated in the
São Paulo Biennale
SAO or Sao may refer to:
Places
* Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD
* Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso
* Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U.S. ...
in 1983, and his works are featured in the Silverman Collection exhibitions around the United States.
After quitting artistic activity, he continued his career in art. He worked as general manager in the
Symphony of the New World (1970–72), as Assistant Director of the Department of Cultural Affairs for New York City (1972–74), as director of development for the Negro Ensemble Company (1982–84), and as National Director for Pro Musica Foundation Inc. (1984–86).
In 1988 he left his retreat, with a solo exhibition of new assemblages and installations at Emily Harvey Gallery in New York. He participated in several Fluxus Festival, and exhibitions of the group.
Between 1988 and 2003, he participated in nine group and four solo exhibits at the gallery.
Patterson cited the artists
Robert Watts
Robert Watts (born 23 May 1938)Adam Pirani, ''Robert Watts: Secrets of "The Temple of Doom"'', Starlog #94, April 1985, pp 23–26,62. is a British retired film producer who is best known for his involvement with the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana ...
,
George Brecht
George Brecht (August 27, 1926 – December 5, 2008), born George Ellis MacDiarmid, was an American conceptual artist and avant-garde composer, as well as a professional chemist who worked as a consultant for companies including Pfizer, Johnson ...
and
Dick Higgins
Dick Higgins (15 March 1938 – 25 October 1998) was an American artist, composer, art theorist, poet, publisher, printmaker, and a co-founder of the Fluxus international artistic movement (and community). Inspired by John Cage, Higgins was an ...
as his greatest influences.
Patterson was the subject of an episode of the
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
series ''An Alternative History of Art'', presented by
Naomi Beckwith and broadcast on March 14, 2018.
Selected exhibitions
* ''Pianofortissimo'' (Milan and Genoa)
* ''Ubi Fluxus ibi Motus'' (Venice Biennale, 1990)
* ''
Fluxus
Fluxus was an international, interdisciplinary community of artists, composers, designers and poets during the 1960s and 1970s who engaged in experimental art performances which emphasized the artistic process over the finished product. Fluxus ...
'' (Museion in Bolzano, Cortona, Volpaia, Bassano del Grappa)
* ''The Fluxus Constellation'' (Museum 'Arte Contemporanea di Villa Croce, Genoa),
Wiesbaden Festival 2002
* ''4TFLUXUS'' (Paris)
* ''L'Avventura Fluxus'' (Museum of the Absurd – Castelvetro of Modena),
* ''Benjamin Patterson, Born in the State of FLUX/us,'' November 6, 2010 - January 23, 2011 at Contemporary Arts Museum Houston
* ''Benjamin Patterson, Born in the State of FLUX/us'', March 31, 2011 – June 26, 2011 at The Studio Museum in Harlem.
* ''Benjamin Patterson, Born in the State of FLUX/us'', June 2 – September 23, 2012 at Nassauischer Kunstverein Wiesbaden
"Benjamin Patterson, Born in the State of FLUX/us, June 2 – September 23, 2012"
at Nassauischer Kunstverein Wiesbaden.
References
External links
Archivio Conz
Fluxus Portal
at Ubuweb
UbuWeb is a web-based educational resource for avant-garde material available on the internet, founded in 1996 by poet Kenneth Goldsmith. It offers visual, concrete and sound poetry, expanding to include film and sound art mp3 archives.
Philo ...
On Not Forgetting Fluxus Artist Benjamin Patterson
by Hannah Higgins
Hannah B. Higgins (born 1964) is an American writer and academic living in Chicago, Illinois. Higgins's research examines various post-conceptual art historical subjects (visual, musical, computational and material) in terms of two philosophicall ...
at Hyperallergic
{{DEFAULTSORT:Patterson, Ben
1934 births
2016 deaths
American male musicians
Musicians from Pittsburgh
Artists from New York City
University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance alumni
African-American musicians
20th-century African-American people
21st-century African-American people