81:"Takako Saito engaged with Duchamp's practice but also with masculinist cold war metaphors by taking up chess as a subject of art. Saito's fluxchess works... question the primacy of vision to chess, along with notions of perception and in aesthetic experience more generally.... Her "Smell Chess," "Sound Chess" and "Weight Chess" reworked the game of chess so that players would be forced to hone non-visual perception, such as the olfactory sense, tactility, and aurality, in order to follow chess rules."
319:, in which the opponents' pieces, all white, sit on each side of an all-white board, the warring factions indistinguishable from one another. This elegantly placed anti-war statement, particularly taken in the context of the Vietnam War... attention to the deeply militaristic metaphors embedded in... games by conscientiously objecting to their implicit narratives of combat and enmity."
194:, and 'found it amusing that both Duchamp and he were chess fanatics.' As a homage to Duchamp's assertion that 'all chess players are artists', Maciunas asked Saito to create a series of artworks based on chess in late 1964. The series she created relegated or removed the dominant visual aspect of the game, replacing it with sets that relied upon the honing of other senses to play.
331:
160:, Saito's opportunities to exhibit work were severely limited. After taking English lessons, Saito arrived in New York in 1963 on a work visa as an assistant textile wholesaler, 'vaguely of engaging herself in the unknown New York avant-garde'. Unaware of Fluxus, she concentrated on her own work for a few months before meeting George Maciunas through a mutual friend,
168:
boxes he owned, which had been made to protect expensive ceramics. Her skill exceeded expectations, leading him to write that 'her craftmanship springs from
Japanese tradition for perfection and is unmatched among contemporary artists working in wood and paper.'
365:
was published in 1989, there was a general confusion concerning dates and authorship of the key Fluxus pieces, since few were ever sold, and even fewer were signed or dated. Saito's place within the group has gradually become more established, and the playing of
198:'In Saito's chess, strategy is undermined by the physical need to utilize the five senses...by involving senses that were normally unrelated to the traditional game, Saito transformed the ultimate conceptual game into a play of sensuous interactions.'
173:
307:), in which all the pieces are white on a totally white board (with a brass plaque underneath reading 'Chess Set for playing as long as you can remember where all your pieces are' ) was originally made for Ono's exhibition at
19:
148:. The board is also made of transparent plastic. To start the game, both players have to familiarise themselves with each of the 12 smells involved, instead of the more normal reliance on sight.
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to the series in 1973, in which a chess board was to be attached to a toilet door allowing for a game to continue whilst one of the players was on the loo, and
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50:. Originally manufactured winter 1964–65, and offered for sale March 1965, the work is one of a famous series of disrupted chess sets referred to as
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The sets were originally sold through
Maciunas' newly opened Fluxshop in unsigned, unattributed and unnumbered editions. At least one set,
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All of these sets were mentioned in Vacuum
Trapezoid #5, March 1965, but it is possible that some were never actually manufactured.
537:'I have come to the conclusion that while all artists are not chess players, all chess players are artists' Marcel Duchamp. quoted
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234:"When I gave all the chess sets to George, I said, 'he can use them as fluxus chess without mentioning my name." Takako Saito
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The piece has been reconfigured a number of times, including an edition of 20 produced by Bag
Productions, UK, 1970, and as
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230:(different liquids in vials). All of these sets were advertised for sale in Maciunas' Fluxus shop in SoHo, March 1965.
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has become an integral part of a number of recent Fluxus exhibitions. An original example of
25:, 1965 This example is in the Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection, Detroit, Michigan
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288:) in which players have to taste various different drinks to ascertain each piece's value.
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filled with different spices for each of the different pieces. The set includes white
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Maciunas, quoted in Into
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According to Munroe, p136, this work 'appears not to have been realized'
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Performance, Yoshimoto, Rutgers University Press, 2005 p128
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Into
Performance, Yoshimoto, Rutgers University Press, 2005 p126
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Into
Performance, Yoshimoto, Rutgers University Press, 2005 p123
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Into
Performance, Yoshimoto, Rutgers University Press, 2005/p122
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Into
Performance, Yoshimoto, Rutgers University Press, 2005 p119
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sets held in the Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection,
311:, London, 1966, and was never produced as a Fluxus edition.
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Offered in Vacuum TrapEzoid Fluxus Newspaper #5, March 1965
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Into Performance, Yoshimoto, Rutgers University Press, 2005
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210:(different objects hidden in identical sealed boxes),
611:
Visible Language by Celia Pearce, 2006 on BNet Online
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have been added to the series since Maciunas' death.
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The most famous of these disrupted sets, Yoko Ono's
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Cold War Games and Postwar Art / Claudia Mesch 2006
277:intended for the Fluxfest April 1970 Saito added
689:Tate Online article about Duchamp's love of Chess
622:Yes, Ono & Munroe, Harry N Abrams, 2000, p138
601:Yes, Ono & Munroe, Harry N Abrams, 2000, p136
242:that he 'even took credit for it on occasion.'
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8:
222:(the only known example having been lost ),
218:(different weights hidden in sealed boxes),
394:Yes, Ono & Munroe, Harry N Abrams, 2000
214:(a series of tactile drill bit polishers),
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702:
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574:Takako Saito, quoted in Fluxus Codex, p456
487:Fluxus Codex, Hendricks, Abrams, 1989 p461
179:, 1965 This example Reflux Edition, 1990
238:Maciunas was said to be so delighted by
226:, (made from different fake jewels) and
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275:Pieces Hidden In Look-a-Like Containers
269:made of sand timers, May 1966) and by
156:As a 'basically untrained' artist in
407:Oto Housebooks, Fluxus and Happenings
391:Fluxus Codex, Hendricks, Abrams, 1989
7:
88:The set follows the normal rules of
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263:Color Balls in Bottle Board Chess
46:, while she was resident in the
945:Topographie Anécdotée du Hasard
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684:Game Design as Cultural Theory
651:Tate Modern, Long Weekend 2008
1:
1013:Fluxus at Rutgers University
261:sets were made by Maciunas (
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361:Before Hendrick's seminal
1090:Japanese contemporary art
1085:American contemporary art
674:Biography of Takako Saito
144:, and the black queen is
152:Ay-O and George Maciunas
1037:Critics and historians
613:, retrieved 03-10-2008
403:, retrieved 03-10-2008
374:is one of a number of
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660:retrieved 03-10-2008
469:Retrieved 03-10-2008
460:Reconstruction, 2006
450:Retrieved 03-10-2008
414:retrieved 03-10-2008
250:sets and Yoko Ono's
220:Nut & Bolt Chess
1003:Art & Language
927:Carolee Schneemann
784:Geoffrey Hendricks
679:A longer biography
656:2008-10-06 at the
641:retrieved 03-10-08
637:2008-05-02 at the
544:2007-10-17 at the
446:2005-11-10 at the
412:Liquid Chess, 1975
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305:Yoko Ono's Myspace
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953:Poème symphonique
917:Charlotte Moorman
358:editions series.
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190:Maciunas revered
36:artist's multiple
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912:Richard Maxfield
883:Related artists
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128:. The black
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981:Spice Chess
922:Dieter Roth
907:Ray Johnson
902:Henry Flynt
854:Ben Vautier
372:Spice Chess
339:Tate Modern
335:Smell Chess
240:Spice Chess
228:Smell Chess
224:Jewel Chess
208:Sound Chess
204:Spice Chess
202:As well as
140:is made of
58:, made for
31:Spice Chess
23:Spice Chess
1059:Categories
1018:Intermedia
967:Grapefruit
936:Flux-works
386:References
341:, May 2008
294:Book Chess
290:Wine Chess
267:Time Chess
142:asafoetida
56:Flux Chess
1070:Fluxworks
960:Water Yam
897:John Cale
892:John Cage
794:Joe Jones
779:Al Hansen
376:Fluxchess
368:Fluxchess
259:Fluxchess
248:Fluxchess
185:Fluxchess
166:Paulownia
52:Fluxchess
1023:Neo-Dada
998:Anti-art
974:Fluxus 1
824:Yoko Ono
654:Archived
635:Archived
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444:Archived
346:Editions
271:Yoko Ono
112:, white
104:, white
102:cinnamon
100:made of
63:Fluxshop
40:Japanese
380:Detroit
130:bishops
114:knights
65:at his
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38:by the
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725:Fluxus
356:Reflux
257:Other
246:Later
118:ginger
110:nutmeg
69:loft,
34:is an
419:Notes
303:(see
158:Tokyo
134:cumin
126:anise
122:queen
106:rooks
98:pawns
94:vials
90:chess
749:Ay-O
292:and
162:Ay-O
138:king
132:are
71:SoHo
273:, (
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116:of
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54:or
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492:^
474:^
73:,
717:e
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