Mobile No. 1 (2022) Occupies a space 24" in diameter by 41" tall The photo below shows the mobile displayed against a flat background and the elements arranged to show its typically hidden semantic meaning. Most of the time the mobile's letter elements will be arranged in a chance order and orientation that is asemic -- i.e., provides no semantic meaning (see the accompanying video below). "Chance" was a theme and operation that inspired a variety of early Fluxus works and some of the original Fluxus participants. More recent Fluxus work and participants have explored asemic writing as a way to provoke and play with the cognitive search for semantic meaning -- when it is absent. With its nearly continuous and unpredictable movement within typically invisible air currents, the mobile provides an ideal structure for providing the viewer with a direct sense of chance in three dimensions and for showing how chance can interact with semantic and visual "meaning." Mobile in motion

Mobile No. 2 (2022) Occupies a space 29" in diameter by 42" tall The structure of this mobile is a variation of the first one. Letters and campers. There can be a subtle spiritual aspect to these light and easily moving mobiles. When you suspend the mind's typical desire to find meaning or patterns in the movement of the elements of the mobile (the sort of "left-brained" Fluxus perspective), it becomes fairly easy to enter a more diffuse, meditative state where you can experience the gentle movement of the mobile and its connection to the air, the environment, your consciousness, and perhaps even the universe. Engaging this broader (and more "right-brained") sense of attention can bring about "awareness of awareness" -- a subtle shift to an awareness of our own consciousness. Mobile in motion

Mobile No. 3 (2022) Occupies a space 58" in diameter by 40" tall This mobile combines two mobiles. One focuses on "CAMP" and the other focuses on "FLUXUS." The CAMP section includes two elements related to archery -- an arrow and a target -- one of the classic activities of summer camps in the past. The arrow in the mobile is actually capable of "hitting" the target but actual contact is a fairly rare event (but worth looking for) that requires several of the mobile's elements to line up just exactly right. This "chance" event also taps into the longtime Fluxus interest in chance and probability. The other FLUXUS mobile includes two elements often at play in Fluxus art and activities: the "right brain" and the "left brain." As mentioned in our discussion of the previous mobile, the flowing, spinning movements of this mobile are best appreciated by the "right brain." The arrow, target, "right-brain" and "left-brain" elements can naturally elicit thinking and analysis -- the domain of the left brain. Compared to the first two mobiles, the interplay of right and left brain engagement can be stronger here and even closer to the heart of Fluxus. Mobile in motion

Mobile No. 4 (2022) Occupies a space 26" in diameter by 42" tall For our fourth mobile we challenged ourselves to create something that captured the spirit of a campfire gathering at night. Campers often sit around a campfire under the nighttime stars while telling stories, singing, or just sitting quietly. An inner loop was used to create the campfire circle that is placed under an arching canopy of nighttime stars and over a CAMP FLUXUS banner. This mobile reminds us of how connected we have sometimes felt to both our fellow campers around the fire, as well as to the vast and spacious emptiness of the universe while quietly gazing into the starry depth of space at night.

Mobile in motion

Mobile No. 5 (2022) Occupies a space 55" in diameter by 64" tall For our fifth mobile we created a display centered on a lake and surrounded by a forested camp environment. Our large blue "LAKE FLUXUS" is encircled by canoes, forest trees, campers, and a sky of billowing white clouds. As the mobile elements move in even the lightest indoor air currents, the dynamic and spacious energy of mother nature -- water, trees, humans, sky, and clouds -- can be experienced. Mobile in motion

FLUXUS PUNK -- an alternative way to exhibit When we started packing these mobiles up (for travel and storage) we noticed how great they looked on cardboard rectangles. We recommend these displays to be the most [Fluxus X Punk] way to exhibit this work.

Explore Camp Fluxus Online! Events and Participants Social Media Highlights Camp Fluxus Mobiles

Allen Bukoff, PhD 2023 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.