Water Yam (artist's book)

The scores divide roughly into three sections; the earliest ones, 1959–62, describe events intended to be performed (such as Solo for Violin, Viola, Cello or Contrabass • Polish, July 1962); a second group of scores from '62-63 tend towards describing the temporary creation of assemblages; (such as Chair Event • on a white chair a grater, tape measure, alphabet, flag, black and spectral colors, April 1962).

When originally published, Maciunas decided to emphasize 14 of the more musical scores (such as the famous Drip Music; A source of dripping water and an empty vessel are arranged so that the water falls into the vessel, January 1962) by printing them on orange cards, whilst the rest (such as Keyhole •Through either side) were printed on Brecht's more usual plain white card.

George Segal stopped by, and so did Dine, Whitman and Oldenburg.Initially writing theatrical scores similar to Kaprow's earliest Happenings, Brecht grew increasingly dissatisfied with the didactic nature of these performances.

It was only while reading Robert Lebel's 1959 monograph on Duchamp and pondering the consequences of the readymade that Brecht truly understood what he was searching for: Just as the readymade is an object lifted from its mere commodity status by being transported into an art context, the "event" would be an act--often a simple one performed daily, such as turning on and off a switch--on which he would cast his spotlight in order to force us to pay attention to it, in order, as the Russian formalists would have said, to "make it strange" and "de-automatize our perception.

'[7] The final piece in the jigsaw, combining a Duchampian love of chance with a scientific belief in art as research, was an epiphany Brecht had in 1960, in which he decisively separated the artwork from the control of the artist; In the Spring of 1960 ... waiting for my wife to come from the house, standing behind my English Ford station wagon, the motor running and the left-turn signal blinking, it occurred to me that a truly 'event' piece could be drawn from the situation.Yam was a name thought up by Brecht and Watts in late 1962 to act as an umbrella project 'for all manner of immaterial, experimental, as yet unclassified forms of expression.

Designed to increase anticipation, the project reached a head with a month-long series of events in May 1963, in New York, Rutger's University and George Segal's farm.

The Yam Festival was held on a farm in South Brunswick, New Jersey on May 19, 1963, to actions and happenings by artists including Dick Higgins, Allan Kaprow, La Monte Young, and Wolf Vostell.

The festival was organized as a wide-ranging series of events taking place throughout the month, whose main objective was to bypass traditional gallery outlets, giving artists and 'receivers' greater freedom.

The International Fluxus Festival of the Newest Music (Festum Fluxorum), 1962–63, would feature the work of artists such as Cage, Raoul Hausmann and Nam June Paik.

The use of multiple fonts derived from his interest in experimental typography by Dada figures such as Hugo Ball and Raoul Hausmann, and was to prove crucial in defining a recognisable style for fluxus products.

Ironically, for an object conceived as an "inexpensive, mass-produced unlimited edition (designed) to erode the cultural status of art and to help to eliminate the artist's ego.