Conférence : Fluxus et le Japon

Through the links between Fluxus and Japan, Alexandre Quoi, deputy director and head of the scientific department at MAMC+ Saint-Étienne Métropole, will look back at the history of this international avant-garde movement, its artistic experiments and its influence on several generations of Japanese artists. A lecture echoing the exhibition “L’Écologie des choses”, presented at the MCJP in 2025.

In 2025, the MCJP presented the exhibition “L’Écologie des choses – Regards sur les artistes japonais et leurs environnements de 1970 à nos jours” *.

The project drew links between contemporary artists and the activities of the Mono-ha movement, which emerged in the archipelago in the late 1960s, and those of major Fluxus figures in Japan: Yoko Ono, Takako Saito and Mieko Shiomi.

An international avant-garde movement that emerged in the same period as Mono-ha, Fluxus is known for its performative and ephemeral experiments, at the crossroads of visual arts, music and literature.

Popularised in Japan by Yoko Ono and the composer Toshi Ichiyanagi, the movement also influenced many Japanese artists of the following generations.

Deputy director and head of the scientific department at MAMC+ Saint-Étienne Métropole, Alexandre Quoi was one of the curators of the exhibition “L’Écologie des choses”. He will analyse the links between Fluxus and Japan and present its emblematic figures.

*The second part of this project, the exhibition “L’Écologie des relations : la Forêt amante de la mer”, is on show until November at the Frac Sud in Marseille.