Henry Flynt born
1940, Greensboro, North Carolina, is an American philosopher, musician,
writer, historian, activist, and artist connected to the 1960s New York
avant-garde.
In
1961, he dropped out from Harvard University where he was studying
mathematics after being introduced to jazz, to the "New Music" of John
Cage, and to country blues music. Through his classmate Tony Conrad - in
1960 - he met La Monte Young, then the leading figure of the New York
avant-garde scene and took part in the monthly concert series held at
Yoko Ono's Chambers Street loft.
Flynt’s
work developed from what he called "cognitive nihilism,” a concept he
derived from insights about the vulnerabilities of logic and
mathematics, and aims to turn the principles of scientific positivism
and analytical philosophy against themselves.
In
1961 Flynt coined the term "concept art" in Young’s proto-Fluxus book
An Anthology of Chance Operations released in 1963. Flynt maintained
that to merit the label concept art, a work had to be an critique of
logic or mathematics in which the material is a linguistic concept, a
quality which he claims is absent from subsequent "conceptual art."
In
1962 Flynt began to campaign for an anti-art position. He advocated
that avant-garde art and its institutions be superseded by the terms of
veramusement and brend—neologisms meaning approximately pure recreation.
He demonstrated against cultural institutions in New York City (MoMA
and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts) with Tony Conrad and Jack
Smith in 1963 and against Karlheinz Stockhausen twice in 1964 (accusing
Stockhausen of cultural imperialism). Flynt read publicly from his text
From Culture to Veramusment at Walter De Maria's loft on February 28,
1963
In
1965, Flynt published the article "Communists Must Give Revolutionary
Leadership in Culture" in collaboration with George Maciunas,
criticizing the white supremacist cultural touchstones of the left-wing
tradition and championing African-American music.
In 1987 he revived his "concept art" for tactical reasons
Henry
Flynt is also known for his musical work that attempts to fuse
hillbilly music with the avant-garde. Other influences included the free
jazz of Ornette Coleman; rockabilly and country blues music; and the
North Indian classical music he learned with Pandit Pran Nath.
Flynt
performed duets with La Monte Young in the 1960s, played briefly with
the Velvet Underground, and in 1966 recorded several rehearsal demo
tapes with Walter De Maria et al. in the garage rock band the
Insurrections, which were later compiled as I Don't Wanna. In the 70s,
Flynt led the group Nova'Billy and formed the jazz-rock group Dharma
Warriors with C. C. Hennix (1978)
In
1975, Flynt's early philosophical writings on logic and epistemology,
was published in Milan in the book Blueprint for a Higher Civilization.
During the same decade he earned a Ph.D. in economics at The New School, New York.
From
1980, Flynt has written on philosophy and economics focusing on two
concepts which did not achieve yet the notoriety of the early actions:
his concepts of meta-technology and personhood theory. These concepts
continue his work in sketching a worldview which would supersede
scientific objectification.
