GEORGE MACIUNAS A LITHUANIAN WHO HAS CHANGED THE WORLD HISTORY OF ART

GEORGE MACIUNAS

George Maciunas (1931.11.08 -1978.05.09) is known worldwide as the founder and leader of the experimental Fluxus art movement, which emerged in the 1960s. This was a movement of creators from various fields of arts, so it encompassed wide spectrum of creative activities – from photography and street art to poetry and drama.

Maciunas was born in Kaunas. At the end of the war, he fled to Germany and later emigrated to the USA. Encouraged by his mother, former ballet dancer of the State Theatre, he studied architecture, graphic design and musicology. Maciunas was distinguished as a versatile and inventive artist, he never lacked new plans and ideas.

On 20 July 2017, G. Maciunas Square was opened at the three-way intersection connecting Vytauto Avenue, K. Donelaičio and Parodos Streets. Author of the project is Naglis Rytis Baltušnikas. It is the first square in the world that is practically inaccessible and not visible to pedestrians. A Fluxus Aztec sticking his tongue out, which eventually had become an emblem of the international Fluxus movement, is painted on the road surface in white paint. This place was chosen for the work because the intersection is in front of the Parodos Street house no. 1, in which George Maciunas had lived as a child.