Alison Knowles

First name
Alison
Last name
Knowles
Born
Nationality
United States
Residency

New York, NY
United States

Short biography

Alison Knowles (born 1933) is an American  artist known for her installations, performances, soundworks, and publications. Knowles was a founding member of the Fluxus movement, the experimental avant-garde group formally founded in 1962. Criteria that have come to distinguish her work as an artist are the arena of performance, the indeterminacy of her event scores resulting in the deauthorization of the work, and the element of tactile participation. She graduated from Pratt Institute in New York with an honors degree in fine art. In May 2015, she was awarded an honorary doctorate degree by Pratt.

In the 1960s, she was an active participant in New York City's downtown art scene, collaborating with influential artists such as John Cage and Marcel Duchamp. During this time she began producing event scores, or performances that rework the everyday into art. Knowles's inclusion of visual, aural, and tactile elements in her performances sets her art apart from the work of other Fluxus artists.

(Source: Wikipedia entry on Alison Knowles)

Affiliations - Organizations
Record Status