In order to properly celebrate FLUXUS’s 50th anniversary, Ben organized artist performances in a ring. It’s a murky place, filled with sweat, an admirably reconstructed boxing gym at Villa Arson, where artists appear one after another in 3 minutes and 33 seconds rounds—a short yet long time to perform and make their work memorable for everyone. There are dance, body expression, music, theater, and commedia dell’arte.
The boxing gym, adorned with photos that evoke Fluxus and its history, features exhibitions of this artistic movement and covers the significant events that made headlines. One might think of Pinoncelli and his many antics, the late Bruno Mendonça, and so many other creators from Nice.
Each round is a challenge in which the artist must not fall KO and must win. For some, it is possible; for others, it is intentional, like the ballerina on roller skates who reminds us of Hoffmann’s tales and his mechanical doll. All genres are addressed. “To create is to doubt,” says Ben. Doubt has its place here: doubt about our certainties, which the artist invites us to question.
Ben skillfully directs these fights, which are actually living illustrations of the history of Fluxus, from the last half-century when the artists from Nice multiplied their creations and left their mark on the history of art. Ben is unique; he speaks about himself and Ben with talent, but he is not Narcissus in a pejorative sense.
“I me myself,” said Guitry, and no one ever criticized him. Ben is the same; he is forgiven a lot, like the violin broken over a Mottard’s helmet; Armand did worse.
The ballerina miming a fight delivers uppercuts in a plastic ballet where her body offers itself and deforms to the rhythm of an electric guitar. Everything seems both true and false, a mix of genres that the audience can discover throughout these performances. Performances? Works of art? It’s hard to answer because it’s impossible to set boundaries between these two disciplines.
It’s fleeting, instantaneous, so it’s a performance; it’s memorized and recorded, so it’s preserved. So, what to respond? A visitor gives us the answer: “It’s Fluxus, and don’t try to define this term, as it doesn’t and should not have a meaning.” It seems this stranger is right, and we thank Ben for this wonderful gift: bringing together at Villa Arson, around a ring, the history of Fluxus with young artists who could express and offer us their emotions in a short yet long moment. Three minutes is very little, but imagine having to hold the stage during this time lapse.
They become prodigiously long, and you surely say ‘phew’ when the gong sounds. The spectator will be and, indeed, must be surprised for the effect to be impactful. This is the entire philosophy sought and successfully achieved by Ben, who became that evening the conductor of the impossible and challenging, the director and stage manager of an art that surpasses its rules and standards and challenges everything.
Performance, did you say? The greatest achievement was keeping the audience enthralled throughout the evening.
