Eric Andersen (b. 1940, Antwerp) has been linked to Fluxus from the very beginning, taking part in the second Fluxus manifestation, a festival held in the Nikolai Church in Copenhagen, and contributing to The Roll, the first Fluxus publication. For Andersen, one of the intermedia art pioneers, art is the constant exploration of human expression, as everything on the world is prone to changes and the making of new combinations. Andersen investigates the open interaction between performer and audience, the geographical space, he creates works that altered themselves, and he was active in mail art. He travelled Central and Eastern Europe in 1964 and gave local artists and musicians in many places their first contact with Fluxus.
Eric Andersen shows us for the project his living space and that he is gradually becoming invisible during the quarantine. He also sends his working space – while it clearly invites to fun and swinging, now is reserved only for the artist.
Eric Andersen as well brings a compilation of works which on its own, or taken together, comment on what we need most in the present situation. Andersen currently lives in Copenhagen, Denmark, a country first in Europe to relax coronavirus restrictions on education, and which was before widely praised for its swift action in restricting movement before COVID-19 infections were able to spread across the population.
1. The Crying Space is indeed appropriate. This sound piece compilation holds music and sounds to spawn tears.
2. Installation The Crying Space. "Crying is the only means of human communication that cannot be decoded and interpreted with certainty. You can observe a person Crying but can never determine why without additional information. It could be sadness, joy, pain, exhaustion, pleasure, relief or a particle of dust in the eye.
However, if you analyse the hormones and crystals in each tear, you can with scientific certainty declare the specific reason for that particular Crying session."
3. The Headrest performance is all about resting the head and being touched. Exactly what we need in the present situation.
4. The concert has the title The Hope and Baptism of Fire, with the dancer performing Pandora.
Copenhagen, 21/04/2020
"Artists Respond" project was started by the Institute for the Research of the Avant-Garde and the Marinko Sudac Collection. Addressing the current global pandemic, the project aims to virtually present the thoughts and attitudes of neo-avant-garde artists, their energy and the message they have for the present moment. This is the moment in which the world as we know it is on hold and the moment in which we need optimism and solidarity more than ever. We wish for the public to welcome the creative energy of these artists - artists who are ready to point out the state of things, to respond with art and creativity, as they have done in all difficult times in the past.
Eric Andersen was a participant of our Artist on Vacation project in 2013, organised by the Institute for the Research of the Avant-Garde and the Marinko Sudac Collection, with Valamar Riviera d.d. in whose facilities they reside in Poreč.
See more: Artist on Vacation