Alison Knowles (1933 – present)
‘It is important to remember that we are free to make art and poetry out of anything: a loaf of bread, some beans, a hasty jotting on the train.’
– Alison Knowles
Alison Knowles’s association with Fluxus began when she stopped painting and met a group of people at the New School who were studying with John Cage and had, as she has described, a “non ego” approach to art-making. Knowles was attracted to the spirit of collaboration imbued within Fluxus.
Knowles is well-known for her ‘event scores’; the real meaning of the event is in the experience and ‘happening’ of it. Event scores challenge the notion that ‘music is the score’: in buying a score in a music shop, you would only come away with a piece of paper, not the experience. Event scores were not to be conflated with improvisation.
One of her most famous pieces, Make a Salad involves the preparation of a salad on stage, which is then eaten by the audience. Knowles made salads at Tate Modern, the High Line, and Art Basel. The emphasis is on the experience; the art itself disappears. Knowles placed huge emphasis on the power of performance:
“For me, a piece is not really living unless it’s presented, whether it’s music or an event score”.
– Alison Knowles
The role of gender played an important part in Knowles’ earlier pieces, including Make a Salad:
“I was a married woman with two children. [Salad] was something that I loved and understood how to cook…It was something that I knew I could do on a stage that maybe a man couldn’t do as well.”
– Alison Knowles
Knowles married fellow Fluxus artist Dick Higgins in 1960; they divorced later in 1970.
Official Website:
Official website: https://www.aknowles.com/
Knowles & Fluxus: https://www.aknowles.com/fluxus.html
Alison Knowles General Bio: https://www.aknowles.com/hannah.html
Official Instagram Account:
Alison Knowles official Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/alisonknowlesofficial/?hl=en
Works:
Shuffle, performed by Live Art Denmark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hAUDqbpDGU&ab_channel=LiveArtDenmark
Knowles discussing the Fluxkit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPi0UyHB95U&ab_channel=TheMuseumofModernArt
Live performance of Making a Salad at Tate Modern: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmqvnIXnmyM&ab_channel=Tate
Knowles on Fluxus ‘Event Scores’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=064qvwX_-kA&ab_channel=TheUniversityofChicago
Construction of the House of Dust: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V6qugctBLI&ab_channel=tinyBETV
Background to the House of Dust: https://tinybe.org/en/artists/alison-knowles/
Knowles on Identical Lunch and the Identical Lunch Symphony: https://vimeo.com/channels/807725/36770058
The Big Book and The Book of Bean: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaZIG2tJIoM&ab_channel=ArtistOrganizedArt
House of Dust: https://zkm.de/en/artwork/house-of-dust
Three Songs, March 1978: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBWEegvPRts&t=674s&ab_channel=MrKolshack
Newspaper Music: https://www.tate.org.uk/research/publications/performance-at-tate/case-studies/alison-knowles
The Big Book: https://anagrambooks.com/the-big-book
On the Identical Lunch: http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/news/nathan/alison-knowles-identical-lunch1-21-11.asp
Sounds from the Book of Bean: https://recitalprogram.bandcamp.com/album/sounds-from-the-book-of-bean
Written Texts:
by Alison Knowles (a list of Knowles’ event scores, published in 1965 by Something Else Press): http://artype.de/Sammlung/pdf/knowles_by.pdf
About by Alison Knowles: https://primaryinformation.org/product/by-alison-knowlesalison-knowles/
About Womens Work magazine: https://zabriskie.de/product/womens-work/
Articles:
‘Objects/Poems: Alison Knowles’s Feminist Archite(x)ture’: https://www.x-traonline.org/article/objectpoems-alison-knowless-feminist-architexure
‘When Making a Salad Became Groundbreaking Performance Art’: https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-making-salad-groundbreaking-performance-art
Article on The Boat Book: https://whitehotmagazine.com/articles/boat-book-alison-knowles/3113
‘For Fluxus Artist Alison Knowles, Anything Can Be Art’: https://hyperallergic.com/319150/for-fluxus-artist-alison-knowles-anything-can-be-art/
Salad, Art and Music, the Mix of Alison Knowles in Fluxus (German): https://fahrenheitmagazine.com/arte/ensalada-arte-y-musica-la-mezcla-de-alison-knowles-en-fluxus
Interviews & Talks:
‘Transvironments’: A Talk by Alison Knowles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RhcOQO04L8&ab_channel=ArtistOrganizedArt
Summary of oral history with Alison Knowles, 2010: https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-alison-knowles-15822
Oral history with Alison Knowles, 2010: https://www.aaa.si.edu/download_pdf_transcript/ajax?record_id=edanmdm-AAADCD_oh_290220
2005 interview: https://www.vdb.org/collection/browser-artist-list/alison-knowles-interview
Alison Knowles on the history of Fluxus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OA2TIxL9g0o&t=818s&ab_channel=NeumaRecords
Biographies:
‘Methods of Art’ biography: http://methodsofart.net/artist/alison-knowles/
Biography (German): http://forschung-kuenstlerpublikationen.de/Alison-Knowles.html
‘Archives of Women Artists Research & Exhibitions’ biography: https://awarewomenartists.com/en/artiste/alison-knowles/
‘Center for Book Arts’ biography: https://centerforbookarts.org/people/alison-knowles
‘The Center for Humanities’ biography: https://www.centerforthehumanities.org/programming/participants/alison-knowles
Conz Archive biography: http://archivioconz.com/artist/alison-knowles/
‘Harvard Radcliffe Institute’ biography: https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/people/alison-knowles
LA Phil biography: https://www.laphil.com/musicdb/artists/6394/alison-knowles
Biography: https://prabook.com/web/alison.knowles/773698
Biography (from Fluxus Networks in Eastern Europe): http://www.fluxus-east.eu/index.php?item=exhib&lang=en&sub=knowles
Visual Exhibits:
Biography & visual exhibits: https://www.wikiart.org/en/alison-knowles
Visual exhibits: http://www.hundertmark-gallery.com/artist-alison-knowles.0.html
Visual exhibits & performance photographs: https://www.fondazionebonotto.org/en/collection/fluxus/knowlesalison
Exhibitions:
‘Clear Skies All Week’ exhibition: https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/aia-reviews/alison-knowles-2-60929/
Knowles on her Carnegie Museum Show with a background of her life and works: https://www.artnews.com/art-news/artists/her-ordinary-materials-fluxus-artist-alison-knowles-on-her-carnegie-museum-show-6599/