Page 19 - Studio International - September 1967

paper hats and garments to suit their person- infiltration which these events aspire. In the sent. She had arrived three hours earlier and
ality while wandering around the Palace— thirties poetry might have been seen as a revo- had spent the first hour knitting, which she
thus a tired businessman could become a lutionary weapon; today the creative aspect continued to do even after a crowd of people
Rudolph Valentino and an overripe secretary of be-ins is permeated with a quality of had appeared. Police arrived an hour later
a Marilyn Monroe. In this way the Fun appeasement, something the Fun Palace plan- and demanded an explanation for the gather-
Palace was to explore the beneficial role of ners may not have anticipated. Since World ing of the oddly assorted crowd. They could
the cathartic process for which the everyday War II there has been a gradual but notice- not understand that the people had gathered
routine provides few opportunities, though a able move away from the heroic, which has there for nothing, and demanded to see the
proviso that people wearing inappropriate recently culminated in the work of people like literature which they assumed was being
hats or costumes would be banned from Yoko Ono. Either Yoko Ono is so aware of distributed. Eventually the police left having
certain activities was a disturbing indication the needs of the younger generation that she first issued a warning that kite flying was
of the proposed systematization of fun and plans her events with them in mind, or, what against the law.
enlightenment. Role-acting facilities were also is perhaps more likely, the relationship be- It is immaterial that the be-in lasted some
to incorporate business management games tween her ideas and theirs is accidentally five hours, and that some people were obvi-
allowing people to assume the guises of sympathetic. Whatever the reason, she has ously veterans of such events, whereas the
tycoons and politicians, and there was a plan established the role of the artist as that of a presence of others was only incidental. What
for 'regions where people can engage in the catalyst. was remarkable, however, was that a poster
art of sculpture, possibly under the guidance Early in June I found in my letter box this was sufficient to bring the people there and
of qualified supervisors and talent scouts'. poster : that the instigator of the proceedings was con-
This Fun Palace parnassus was also to in- tent to remain totally inactive. Some of those
corporate theatrical productions where the present had anticipated, quite rightly, that
audience by manipulating various levers the only entertainment available would be
would have some say in the outcome of the what they themselves provided, and had come
play, gradually influencing the course of prepared.
events and choosing from among the many Perhaps Yoko Ono's open air be-in wasn't
possibilities inherent in a multiple plot. Last typical. Possibly the more elaborate environ-
though not least, the Fun Palace was to have ments of UFO, the Round House and Alex-
its own hierarchical system whereby members andra Palace, where sound and visual stimuli
who passed various tests of loyalty and ability simultaneously reach an optimum level of
would be initiated into the organization's assault, are more representative of the am-
higher mysteries and be allowed to wear bience within which experiments in theatrical
appropriate badges. To judge from the presentation, music, or just 'togetherness' are
various proposals put forward it seems that realized. The atmosphere surrounding these
the very loose and flexible structure that the events is completely devoid of the aura of
Palace was to assume could be described as a patronage which anticipated disaster in the
kind of network in which people's free time Fun Palace project. Be-ins are above all demo-
would be manipulated for their own good and cratic—they may look like a substitute for
delight. political commitment or some more demand-
When this project was discussed in some ing occupation with which young people
detail with a number of first- and second-year could involve themselves, but they are
students at Cardiff College of Art it became organic, self-regulating and self-supporting.
clear that the Fun Palace wasn't for them. What have be-ins to do with art? Can art
A few said they would visit it once, just result from any undirected group activity
out of curiosity, but that the entire project such as this ? No one would challenge the fact
seemed too close to a new type of cultural that the best art today is produced in studios
Butlins holiday camp which would appeal by individuals, and that the ephemeral activi-
neither to the people who actually did go to ties of be-ins hardly provide a measure of com-
Butlins, nor to those whose cultural aspirations parison. But be-ins have more links with what
demand a more individual approach. The might be the art of the future than with the
Fun Palace hierarchy system was quite un- art of today. The aesthetic experience of the
acceptable; it had little or nothing to do with future may be entirely unrelated to what we
natural selection and the ways in which some Forewarned by the phrase 'It's all in your today refer to as an art object. In years to
individuals become leaders, others followers, mind' I proceeded to the kite flying hill. By come, when three-dimensional constructions
some initiators, and others developers. 3.3o p.m. between 200 and 30o people were and sculptures assume the form of illusionistic
What the Fun Palace project did foresee present. Some wore elaborate costumes, some hologram projections, when a painting will be
quite accurately, however, is the merging of were playing musical instruments, others an image transformed by the events taking
the fun fair/amusement complex with the dancing, kites were flying, incense sticks were place around it, when the merger of music,
aspirations towards ideology/avant-garde which being passed round, soap bubbles floated in poetry and the visual arts will no longer seem
activities of young people manifest today. The the air. The actual structure of the event unusual or remarkable, then art may well
various be-ins (which have adopted their could be described as follows: become identified with the process of creation
name from the American teach-in in the early A circular area was filled by people sitting on rather than the result.
sixties) espouse a combination of creativity, the grass; around them and enclosing them These may be mere speculations. Meanwhile,
amusement and freedom. The term avant- stood a ring of people; beyond were passers- however, one emphatic point emerges: that
garde, as someone quite rightly has pointed by. The proximity to the centre seemed to the difference between the Fun Palace and
out, can now safely be returned to the ranks indicate the measure of involvement of the the be-in is that one is an ambitious hypo-
of the French army. The new term 'the under- various participants. Beyond the numerous thesis and the other a very concrete fact with,
ground' (also adopted from America) evokes personal pursuits it was difficult to say that it seems to me, startling possibilities for the
more clearly the quality of influence-by- anything was happening. Yoko Ono was pre- future.