Robert Watts,
Larry Miller, Geoff Hendricks, Ben Patterson, & Pamela Kraft.
Fluxlux:
The Last Event of Robert Watts, Sunday October 16th, 1988.
1988.
Flyer, double-sided.
8 1/2 × 14".
Near fine.
Two rubber stamps, one "TRACE ROBERT WATTS" and
the other "DO NOT CONFUSE THIS WITH THE IMPRINT
OF A RUBBER STAMP" which is a Bill Gaglione piece.
Participants include:
Eric Andersen, David Behrman, George Brecht,
Robert Delford Brown, Greg Calvert & Juliet Mondot,
Buster Cleveland, Peter Cohen, Philip Corner,
Bob Daily, Letty Eisenhauer, Robert Filliou, Peter Frank,
Ken Friedman, William Gaglione, John Geldersma,
Daniel Goode, Coco Gordon, Al Hansen, William Hellerman,
Geoff Hendricks, Dick Higgins, Alice Hutchins, Joe Jones,
Allan Kaprow, Milan Knizak, Alison Knowles, Pamela Kraft,
Jackson Mac Low & Anne Tardos, George Maciunas,
Larry Miller, Barbara Moore, Peter Moore, Francois Morelli,
Charles Morrow, Haig Oundjian, Rafael Montanez Ortiz,
Ben Patterson, Chas. Phillips, Ely Raman, Peter Van Riper,
Takako Saito, Paul Ryan, Diane Siprelle, Laurie Steelnik,
Allan Tannenbaum, Yasunao Tone, Ben Vautier, Yoshi Wada,
John Wilkes, Emmett Williams, and Helen Wong.
"
FluxLux was a set of written instructions by Watts for his Last Event, a ceremony that he directed Larry Miller and Sara Seagull to execute with Fluxus friends. They, together with Ben Patterson, Joe Jones, Alison Knowles, Dick Higgins, Philip Corner, Yoshi Wada, Rafael Ortiz, myself, and others realized the event. George Brecht, Eric Andersen, Milan Knížák and Ben Vautier sent scores or texts. A phone call from Al Hansen in Cologne was amplified over the PA system. Francesco Conz came from Italy and Michael Berger from Germany. Many of Bob’s former students and my graduate students were all actively engaged in the organization and performance of the various activities and events. It began with Bob’s iconic piece 2 Inches on the porch roof, and then helium filled balloons stamped with TRACE BOB WATTS were pushed out of the window of the room where Bob died to float up into the blue sky and join Bob’s spirit. It was a fantastically beautiful day. The day was filled with food, music, performance, conversation and fellowship among a great gathering of friends.
There was an auction to raise funds for a Robert Watts Scholarship for the Rutgers’ MFA graduate program that Bob had helped to start. Phil Corner was auctioneer. Joe Jones, Larry Miller and Ben Patterson collaborated to adapt a remote controlled battery-powered boat with a paddle wheel dispenser to spread some of Bob’s ashes into the pond. It took some coaxing from them for it to achieve its mission. There was a 21-gun salute with a variety of funny guns and some real ones fired by members of the local gun club. Ben Patterson as Flux Admiral fired the final shot, a rocket from the canon of his USS Robert Watts that he had built and which capsized when launched. As events at the pond drew to a close, a small plane, at Eric Andersen’s request, circled overhead with a banner saying "MOON." The pilot waved. We waved back. The day ended with a score sent by Allan Kaprow, What’s Watts’ Watts, where we added up the wattage of all the lights in Bob’s house, turning them on as we counted, with Larry Miller announcing the totals, and leaving the house ablaze as we departed into the fading evening light."
- Geoff Hendricks,
From Job Interview to FluxLux,
a 32 year friendship with Bob Watts
