Fluxus artist Dick Higgins describes a branch
of American post-modernism from the 1960s that reflects the
tumultuous social atmosphere of the era and its impact on the
arts. Higgins attention is focused on Intermedia, a myriad of
emerging genres that spilled across the boundaries of traditional
media. In the interseces between the arts, mixed-media forms
coalesced: Happenings,
performance art, kinetic sculpture, electronic theater, as well
as a variety of deliberately uncategorizable works such
as in Philip Corner's Piano Activities and his own Danger
Music #2 from 1962.
Following the example of Marcel Duchamp,
Higgins suggests that artists explore the territory that lies
between "the general area of art media and those of life media."
He calls for unusual combinations of art, including, for instance,
the mixing of painting and shoes (as in the art of Claes Oldenburg).
With Intermedia, any available object or experience can be incorporated
into the artwork.
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