BEN PATTERSON Cont'd
BOLLYWOOD LOVE: OBJECT OF DESIRE
June-August 2010

Ben Patterson was born in Pittsburgh, PA. and currently is based in Wiesbaden, Germany. He graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor of Music degree and briefly performed as a Double-Bass player in symphony orchestras in Canada. In 1960 he moved to Cologne, Germany and became a part of the radical contemporary music scene and began performing internationally. He assisted George Marciunas in organizing the art historically significant 1962 Fluxus Festival event in Wiesbaden, Germany. Patterson participated actively in Fluxus events until the early 1970’s. During the 1970’s Patterson retired from art-making until 1988 when he came out of retirement with his exhibition, Ordinary Life, at Emily Harvey Gallery. Since then, Patterson has actively exhibited internationally and additionally continues to exhibit with Fluxus artists.

Selected Recent Works:
Museum for the Sub-Conscious Annex at El Milagro (Installation), Salta Province, Argentina, 2010.
Symphony Nr.6, Schlacthof, Wiesbaden (Performance with 8 “hip-hop” DJs), 2010.
Ben Patterson's Fluxus Conspectus, 2010 (Performance), Maison Rouge, Paris, 2010.
Ben Patterson and Yam Day Memorial Concert (Performance), Auditorium, Parco della Musica, Rome, 2010.
12 Towers, Novomestska radnice (Exhibition and Performance) Prague, 2010.

Please view BOLLYWOOD LOVE exhibition and video and stills of Patterson’s Paper Piece performed at JEMA

> View video of PAPER PIECE @ JEMA
> View stills of PAPER PIECE
> View BOLLYWOOD LOVE: OBJECT OF DESIRE

PAPER PIECE @ JEMA

On June 4th, 2010, Ben Patterson presented his iconic Paper Piece performance at JEMA as part of the larger JEMA exhibition Museum All-Over/Museo Ovunque at the Raccolte Frugone museum in Genoa, Italy. The exhibition was curated by Maria Flora Giubilei (Raccolte Frugone Museum), Caterina Gualco, and Sean Miller with the assistance of Alessandra Gagliano Candela, in organizing student performers (Genoa JEMA Annex) from Accademia Ligustica di Belle Arti. On June 9th, Paper Piece was performed a second time at JEMA in Golden Thread Gallery in Belfast Northern Ireland.

PAPER PIECE INSTRUCTIONS BY BEN PATTERSON

5 performers
instrumentation:
15 sheets of paper per performer approximate size of standard news-
paper, quality varied, newspaper, tissue paper, light cardboard,
colored, printed or plain.
3 paper bags per performer; quality, size and shape varied

duration:
10 to 12 1/2 minutes

procedure:
A general sign from a chairman will begin the piece. Within the
following 30 seconds performers enter at will. The piece ends when the
paper supply is exhausted.

By each performer,
7 sheets are performed
SHAKE
BREAK- opposite edges of the sheet are grasped firmly and sharply
jerked apart
TEAR- each sheet is reduced to particles less than 1/10 size of the
original

5 sheets are performed
CRUMPLE
RUMPLE
BUMPLE-bump between hands

3 sheets are performed
RUB
SCRUB
TWIST- twist tightly to produce a squeaking sound

3 bags are performed
POOF- inflate with mouth
POP!

dynamics are improvised within natural borders of approximate ppp of
TWIST and fff of POP!
each performer previously selects, arranges, materials and
sequence of events. arrangement of sequence may concern not only
general order - sheet no. 1 SHAKE, BREAK, TEAR; no. 2 RUB, SCRUB
TWIST; no. 3 POOF, POP! - the inner order may also be considered-
TWIST, SCRUB, RUB. method of performance should be marked on each
sheet.

benjamin patterson
sept. 1960, koln