Henry Flynt, Blueprint for a Higher Civilization, 1975, Softcover, 206 pages, 22 × 16 × 1 cm
Courtesy of Archivio Conz, Berlin
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Book collects the artist's early philosophical writings on concept art (Flynt coined the term in 1961) and cognitive nihilism. Includes photographs by Jack Smith and Tony Conrad of Flynt's anti-art demonstrations against MoMA and the Lincoln Center in 1963.
First edition.
Published by Multhipla Edizioni, Milan. Edited by Germano Celant. Curated by G. Celant
Black&white print
Language: english
- Henry Flynt (1940 ,Greensboro, North Carolina) is an influential American philosopher, musician, artist, and writer, recognized for his significant contributions to the avant-garde movement. Flynt grew up in Greensboro, where his father worked as a portrait photographer, and his mother was a schoolteacher. He showed an early passion for music, learning classical violin, and developed an interest in logical positivism during his adolescence. Flynt attended Harvard University on a scholarship, where he studied mathematics and encountered the works of John Cage and other figures in the "New Music" movement. In the early 1960s, Flynt coined the term "concept art," which emphasized the concept or idea behind the artwork over the finished piece itself. He became associated with the Fluxus movement and participated in anti-art protests in New York during the early 1960s, challenging traditional cultural institutions. As a musician, Flynt sought to create a distinctive "new American ethnic music" by merging avant-garde methods with traditional country and blues sounds. His recordings include works like New American Ethnic Music Volume 2: Spindizzy and Graduation and Other New Country and Blues Music. Since 1983, Flynt has focused primarily on philosophical writing, exploring topics such as nihilism, scientific and mathematical logic, post-capitalist economics, and concepts of personhood. His philosophical work advocates for a new kind of civilization based on radical empiricism and challenges conventional scientific paradigms. Flynt's interdisciplinary approach to art, music, and philosophy has left a lasting legacy, influencing both contemporary thought and the evolution of avant-garde art.