Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
This event occurred on March 6, 2026.
This performance and talk engages with the art and legacy of Benjamin Patterson (1934–2016), a postwar experimentalist of sound and performance. A classically trained double bassist, Patterson increasingly developed an antiauthoritarian sensibility in response to his surroundings: his history is regularly framed by a rift with tradition as a co-founder of the Fluxus movement, which enabled a much needed psychic break from professional barriers created by de facto segregation. Yet Patterson maintained a love of classical music alongside that of experimental music, pushing back against the idea of a clean break. This program considers the depth of Patterson's artistry by enacting and documenting live performances of work created before Fluxus: "String Music" (1960) and "Paper Piece" (1960). The goal is to center his postwar integrationist sensibility within his art practice.
Learn more about Benjamin Patterson’s "Paper Piece" (1960) in "The Scores Project: Essays on Experimental Notation in Music, Art, Poetry, and Dance, 1950-1975," available for free online.
https://www.getty.edu/publications/scores/04/
Performers and Speakers:
-Valerie Oliver Cassel, curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
-Peter Frank, art critic, Historian, curator, and poet
-Sean Griffin, musician
-julia elizabeth neal, assistant professor, History of Art, University of Michigan
-Scott Worthington, musician
Learn more about this event:
https://www.getty.edu/calendar/variations-on-a-theme-benjamin-pattersons-scores/
______________________________________________________________________
The Getty Research Institute is dedicated to furthering knowledge and advancing understanding of the visual arts and their various histories through its expertise, active collecting program, public programs, institutional collaborations, exhibitions, publications, digital services, and residential scholars programs. Its library and special collections of rare materials and digital resources serve an international community of scholars and the interested public. The Research Institute's activities and scholarly resources guide and sustain each other and together provide a unique environment for research, critical inquiry, and scholarly exchange.
Getty Research Institute: https://www.getty.edu/research/
This event occurred on March 6, 2026.
This performance and talk engages with the art and legacy of Benjamin Patterson (1934–2016), a postwar experimentalist of sound and performance. A classically trained double bassist, Patterson increasingly developed an antiauthoritarian sensibility in response to his surroundings: his history is regularly framed by a rift with tradition as a co-founder of the Fluxus movement, which enabled a much needed psychic break from professional barriers created by de facto segregation. Yet Patterson maintained a love of classical music alongside that of experimental music, pushing back against the idea of a clean break. This program considers the depth of Patterson's artistry by enacting and documenting live performances of work created before Fluxus: "String Music" (1960) and "Paper Piece" (1960). The goal is to center his postwar integrationist sensibility within his art practice.
Learn more about Benjamin Patterson’s "Paper Piece" (1960) in "The Scores Project: Essays on Experimental Notation in Music, Art, Poetry, and Dance, 1950-1975," available for free online.
https://www.getty.edu/publications/scores/04/
Performers and Speakers:
-Valerie Oliver Cassel, curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
-Peter Frank, art critic, Historian, curator, and poet
-Sean Griffin, musician
-julia elizabeth neal, assistant professor, History of Art, University of Michigan
-Scott Worthington, musician
Learn more about this event:
https://www.getty.edu/calendar/variations-on-a-theme-benjamin-pattersons-scores/
______________________________________________________________________
The Getty Research Institute is dedicated to furthering knowledge and advancing understanding of the visual arts and their various histories through its expertise, active collecting program, public programs, institutional collaborations, exhibitions, publications, digital services, and residential scholars programs. Its library and special collections of rare materials and digital resources serve an international community of scholars and the interested public. The Research Institute's activities and scholarly resources guide and sustain each other and together provide a unique environment for research, critical inquiry, and scholarly exchange.
Getty Research Institute: https://www.getty.edu/research/
