FLUXUS CODE | GERRY BEEGAN AND COLBY CHAMBERLAIN ON GEORGE MACIUNAS

On Saturday, September 12, at 4 PM, at the Kaunas Picture Gallery, Café “Kultūra” (K. Donelaičio St. 16, Kaunas), we invite you to public lectures by American art historians Gerry Beegan and Colby Chamberlain on George Maciunas as a design genius and creator of art communities.

A common thread runs through these lectures, connecting Maciunas’s diverse activities in architecture, music, performance, publishing, graphic design, film, and real estate. After emigrating to the United States after World War II, Maciunas constantly sought to turn Fluxus into a community, but he could only do so by using the methods and formats of everyday paperwork. As a result, his work unfolded in such unexpected spaces as postal service routes, the fine print of copyright law, urban zoning restrictions, and hospital corridors.

“Colby Chamberlain and Gerry Beegan have already devoted a large part of their lives to Fluxus and Maciunas. Chamberlain’s monograph is simply astonishing in its level of detail. Beegan, who is currently writing a biography of Maciunas from the perspective of design, calls him, without hesitation, a design genius. The journey of these two scholars to Lithuania is a great opportunity to exchange knowledge and bring new 

relevance to what we know about one of the most famous Lithuanians ever to have lived in America,” says Akvilė Kavaliauskaitė, Cultural Attaché of Lithuania in the United States.

About Colby Chamberlain

Colby Chamberlain is the author of Fluxus Administration: George Maciunas and the Art of Paperwork (University of Chicago Press, 2024) and an Associate Professor of Art History at the Cleveland Institute of Art. His research and critical writing have been published in such journals and publications as Artforum, Art Journal, ARTMargins, Cabinet, Grey Room, October, and Triple Canopy.

About Gerry Beegan

Gerry Beegan is a design historian, curator, and professor at Rutgers University. His current research focuses primarily on George Maciunas’s design practice. He has written for Spike about Maciunas’s Fluxhouses project. His writing has appeared in publications including The Graphic Design Reader, The New York Times, Design Issues, Journal of Visual Culture, dot dot dot, and Journal of Design History.

The event is dedicated to Fluxus founder George Maciunas’s 95th birthday, which we will celebrate on November 8.

The event is public and may be photographed and filmed. By participating in the event, you agree to appear in photographs and video recordings and acknowledge that these photographs and recordings may be published publicly.