A plastic box with offset printed labels containing various animal droppings.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

The plastic box has seven compartments. Three compartments contain small tubes containing animal droppings, four compartments contain larger samples. A label attached to the underside of the lid is printed with the source of the droppings and reads top to bottom and left to right, Feces passeriformis Napoleonae (ploceidae); feces testudines graecae (chelonia); feces felis catae (Felidae); feces equvi caballi (Equidae); feces ovis (Bovidae); feces larvae tinea pellionellae (lepidoptera); and, feces cricetid aurati (rodentia). The cover of the box is printed with a diagram of the human colon, with numbers, at the bottom the words “Excreta Fluxorum by GM ‘73”.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
M26449
People
George Maciunas, American (Kaunas, Lithuania 1931 - 1978 Boston, MA)
Published by Fluxus, American
Title
Excreta Fluxorum
Classification
Multiples
Work Type
multiple
Date
1973
Places
Creation Place: North America, United States
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/29154

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Plastic box with offset printed labels containing various animal droppings
Technique
Mixed technique
Dimensions
box: 9.3 x 12 x 2.5 cm (3 11/16 x 4 3/4 x 1 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Barbara Moore, Bound/Unbound, New York, New York, partial gift partial purchase; to Harvard University Art Museums, June 28, 2005.

State, Edition, Standard Reference Number

Standard Reference Number
S. 272

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Barbara and Peter Moore Fluxus Collection, Margaret Fisher Fund and gift of Barbara Moore/Bound & Unbound
Copyright
© George Maciunas Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Accession Year
2005
Object Number
M26449
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
Excreta Fluxorum seems to have been one of Maciunas' favorite works, existing as it does in several different versions. Except for the single sample included in Flux Yearbox 2, this is the smallest. Others include a version with 24 specimens, one with 36, and one with 34. Barbara Moore has recalls that Maciunas often had all sorts of animal droppings "curing" on top of the large furnace in the basement of 80 Wooster St. The contents of the Fogg version are remarkably similar to those of the version in the collection of the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth University.

Publication History

  • Jon Hendricks, Fluxus Codex, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (New York, 1988), pp. 337-8

Exhibition History

  • Multiple Strategies: Beuys, Maciunas, Fluxus, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 02/24/2007 - 06/10/2007
  • 32Q: 1100, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 10/10/2019 - 10/04/2021

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu