Hi Red Center | Bundle of Events

Hi Red Center
Bundle of Events
New York City, USA: Fluxus, 1965
56.2 x 43.2 cm (un-crumpled poster)
Edition size unknown

Like many early Fluxus editions, George Maciunas had conceived this as a "complete works by" project. Edited by Shigeko Kubota and designed by Maciunas, the double-side poster features documentation of the Japanese group's various "events and exhibits". These include performances such as Cleaning Event, where the trio washed city streets by hand.

Continuing Genpei Akasegawa’s series of bundled objects wrapped in rope or fabricated 1,000-Yen-Notes (and possibly referencing Marcel Duchamp's poster design for the DADA 1916 - 1923 exhibition, below), the poster was also sold crumpled and rolled, tied together with rope.

The poster version seems to have sold for fifty cents, and the crumpled version for $5.00. It was also included in various Fluxus anthologies and kits. The above examples are in the collection of the MOMA and Harvard, including the third image, which is Genpei Akasegawa’s prototype.

Hi Red Center consisted of Akasegawa, Natsuyuki Nakanishi, Jiro Takamatsu. The name was based on the meanings of the first kanji of each of their surnames — “taka” (high), “aka” (red) and “naka” (center).

Genpei Akasegawa died last week. Brief obituaries can be read in ArtNet, here, and The Japan Times, here. Details of a retrospective of Hi Red Centre activities at the MOMA last year can be found here. Their Mystery Can multiple can be seen here.