Monday, January 7, 2008

What is Art's Birthday?

Art's Birthday is January 17th
What is Art's Birthday?In 1963, French artist, Robert Filliou declared "One million years ago, on January 17, Art was born...when someone dropped a dry sponge into a bucket of water. Modest beginnings, but look at us now. Close the schools and the factories! Let them eat cake and make art! And the next year let it be two days of holiday, then three days, then four, five, six and so on, until everyday is art's birthday, at which point we can all get on with life".

The point Filliou was making concerns the making of art as an everyday activity accessible to everyone, not a rarefied object.

Since then, a loose network of artists and organizations has celebrated Art's Birthday honouring the Fluxus spirit of art being made not to be bought, sold or traded as a commodity, but given "freely" as a gift.

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