Benjamin Patterson
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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 performance art, art performances which emphasized the artistic process over the finishe ...
movement.


Biography

Benjamin Patterson was born in
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
on May 29, 1934. He attended the
University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...
from 1952 to 1956, where he studied the
contrabass Contrabass (from ) refers to several musical instruments of very low pitch—generally one octave below bass register instruments. While the term most commonly refers to the double bass (which is the bass instrument in the orchestral string family ...
, 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 o ...
(1957–59) and the Ottawa Philharmonic Orchestra (1959–60). In 1960 he moved to
Cologne, Germany Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and over 3.1 million people in the Cologne Bonn urba ...
, where he became active on the contemporary music scene of the most radical, focusing its activities at the studio of
Mary Bauermeister Mary Hildegard Ruth Bauermeister (7 September 1934 – 2 March 2023) was a German artist who worked in sculpture, drawing, installation, performance, and music. Influenced by Fluxus artists and Nouveau Réalisme, her work addresses esoteric iss ...
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 South Korean 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 highway" ...
, through whom he met Fluxus founder
George Maciunas George Maciunas (; ; November 8, 1931 Kaunas – May 9, 1978 Boston, Massachusetts) was a Lithuanian American artist, art historian, and art organizer who was the founding member and central coordinator of Fluxus, an international community of ...
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 * Serb Autonomous Regions (''Srpska autonomna oblast'', SAO), during the breakup of Y ...
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 The Symphony of the New World was a symphony orchestra based in New York City. It was the first Racial integration, racially integrated orchestra in the United States. The Symphony gave its debut concert on 6 May 1965 at Carnegie Hall, conducted ...
(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. He died in
Wiesbaden Wiesbaden (; ) is the capital of the German state of Hesse, and the second-largest Hessian city after Frankfurt am Main. With around 283,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 24th-largest city. Wiesbaden form ...
, during a trip to Germany. Patterson cited the artists
Robert Watts Robert Watts (23 May 1938 – 30 September 2024) was a British film producer who was best known for his involvement with the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' film series. Career Watts began working in the film industry in 1960, after two ye ...
,
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, Johnso ...
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 ...
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. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
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 performance art, art performances which emphasized the artistic process over the finishe ...
'' (Museion in Bolzano, Cortona, Volpaia, Bassano del Grappa) * ''The Fluxus Constellation'' (Museum 'Arte Contemporanea di Villa Croce, Genoa),
Wiesbaden Festival The Internationale Maifestspiele Wiesbaden (International May Festival, IMF) is a theater festival in Wiesbaden, Germany. Established in the late 19th century after the Bayreuth Festival, the festival is one of the most distinguished internationa ...
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 "a pirate shadow library consisting of hundreds of thousands of freely downloadable avant-garde artifacts." It offers visual, concrete and sound poetry, expanding to include film and sound art mp3 archives. The site was created by ...

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 philosophical ...
at
Hyperallergic ''Hyperallergic'' is an online arts magazine, based in Brooklyn, New York. Founded by the art critic Hrag Vartanian and his husband Veken Gueyikian in October 2009, the site describes itself as a "forum for serious, playful, and radical thinki ...
{{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 20th-century African-American musicians 21st-century African-American musicians