Ay-O | Flux Rain Machine

Ay-O

Flux Rain Machine

New York City, USA: Fluxus, 1965

12 x 9.5 x 2.5 cm.

Edition size unknown

Produced around the same time as Hans Haacke’s Condensation Cube (see below), Flux Rain Machine functions similarly: water sealed inside the plastic box condenses to form droplets. Versions advertised in Fluxus newsletters are more likely to have been made-to-order larger versions, even closer in design to Haacke's, given their price range of between $50 and $200. 

The label - as with all Fluxus editions - is designed by George Maciunas (see above). Both examples are from the MoMA collection in NYC. 

Ay-O | Fingerbox

Ay-O

Fingerbox

New York City, USA: Fluxus, c1964

10.2 × 45.7 × 30.5 cm.

Edition size unknown

A black vinyl attache case containing fifteen wood finger boxes, each 8.2 x 8.2 x 8.2 cm. The case features three labels designed by George Maciunas. 

Each box includes a circular hole into it, lined with a rubber membrane so that the viewer can insert a finger to feel the contents inside. 

The below list of contents is from a variation of the work (in the 1977 FluxCabinet) but gives a sense of the type of items found inside the fingerboxes: vaseline, water, rubber, foam, bristle brushes, bells, rice, beads, feather, etc. Other contents may include the smooth interior of a glass tube, a piece of stone, coins, sugar, salt, rubber balls, and so on. 

Maciunas described the work in a letter as including items ranging from "nylon stockings, feathers or even thumb tacks – are you willing to take the risk?”

AY-O | Finger Envelope

AY-O

Finger Envelope

New York City, USA: Fluxus, 1964

15.5 x 8.5 cm.

Edition size unknown

A cut envelope with a finger slot, often containing a piece of nylon stocking. 

The work relates to Finger Box (below), easily the artist's best known Fluxus work. Finger Boxes were made of both cardboard and wood, sold individually or grouped together in an attache case. A Finger Box drawer was part of the Flux Cabinet from 1977 (below, bottom). 

The works are intended to be Tactile (they are sometimes known as Tactile Boxes - see black & white images below), mysterious, seductive and even dangerous. Some were rumoured to contain sharp objects, though I have not been able to verify this. 

Japanese Schmuck

David Mayor [editor] Taii Ashizawa, Takehisa Kosugi [guest editors]
Japanese Schmuck
Cranleigh, UK; Beau Geste Press, 1976
[100] pp, 29 x 20.5 cm., softcover
Edition of 500

The eighth and final issue of Schmuck magazine is guest edited by Taii Ashizawa and Takehisa Kosugi and features work by Kazumichi Fujiwara, Myor Hayashi, Shoji Kaneko, Kiichi Kobayashi, Kunimasa Kuriyama, Yoshio Nakajima, Art Duck/Terry Reid, Takako Saito, and Hideki Yoshida. The issue features tipped-in pieces on tissue, wax and reflective mirror paper, die-cuts (see animated gif above), booklets and a label designed by Ay-O (Takao Iijima) pasted onto the front cover.

Available from Printer Matter, here, for $150.00 US.

Ay-O

Ay-O (seen above with Yoko Ono and Emmett Williams) turns 85 today.

Final selections from the AGO Library display: Pop-ups, Peep-shows, Accordions, and Pretzels