Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 
 

Files

File List

Full text release has been delayed at the author's request until May 13, 2025

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

In Relation to the Immense: Experimentalism and Transnationalism in 20th-Century Reykjavik

Buffington, Adam

Abstract Details

2020, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Music.
In recent years, scholars have commenced to reevaluate the advent and origins of 20th-century artistic movements, with the repositioning of experimental artistic networks like Fluxus as a decentralized, transnational network of artists, a component as integral to Fluxus’ identity as its interdisciplinarity. Despite such claims, many art historical and musicological inquiries remain focused upon the activities of Fluxus artists within historically conceived artistic “centers” in the United States and Western Europe, as opposed to a more holistic investigation of Fluxus’ “transnational” aspect. Informed by archival and ethnographic research, and engaged with art historians, musicologists, and cultural anthropologists, this dissertation interrogates these dominant narratives through three interrelated, yet distinct case studies involving Icelandic and non-Icelandic artists: Nam June Paik and Charlotte Moorman’s scandalous performance at Reykjavik’s Theatre Lindarbær, the emergence of the Icelandic collective SUM, and Magnus Palsson’s role in experimental arts pedagogy. Such an investigation is not only concerned with examining Iceland’s (and the Nordic region more broadly) historical and socio-political position within this transnational milieu, but also the individuals who cultivated, embodied, and lived these cross-cultural exchanges, who have been relegated to the periphery of contemporary historiography.
Arved Ashby (Advisor)
Ryan Skinner (Advisor)
Richard Fletcher (Committee Member)
195 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Buffington, A. (2020). In Relation to the Immense: Experimentalism and Transnationalism in 20th-Century Reykjavik [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1587637102245713

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Buffington, Adam. In Relation to the Immense: Experimentalism and Transnationalism in 20th-Century Reykjavik. 2020. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1587637102245713.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Buffington, Adam. "In Relation to the Immense: Experimentalism and Transnationalism in 20th-Century Reykjavik." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1587637102245713

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)