Al Hansen Yoko Ono Piano Drop for Art's Birthday 2006Please activate your speakers and drop the piano as many times as you like. On January 17th 1973, with the idea of uniting people of all times, Filliou celebrated the 1,000,010th Anniversary of Art at the Neue Galerie der Stadt in Aachen. "Art must return to the people to which it belongs." As 10 years had gone by since Filliou had begun his "Histoire chuchotée de l'art"[Whispered History of Art], 1,000,010 years corresponded to the arbitrary date of Man's appearance on Earth.... While serving in Germany in World War II, artist Al Hansen, one of the 14 original artists in the group known as Fluxus, pushed a piano off the roof of a five story building. This act became the foundation of one of his most recognized performance pieces, later dubbed the Yoko Ono Piano Drop. |
According to Filliou, art was born when someone dropped a dry sponge into a bucket of water. In recent years, the idea has been taken up by a loose network of artists and friends around the world. Each year the Eternal Network evolves to include new partners - working with the ideas of exchange and telecommunications-art. "I have never joined any group. I dislike -isms. In art, in life, I reject theories. Manifestoes bore me. The spirit in which things are done is what interests me." - Robert Filliou (1926-87) Piano footage is from the Cassie award winning advertisement created in 2001 by Ammirati Puris, Toronto for Clarica. Robert Labossiere, 17 January 2006 Art's birthday 2005 project: |