Young Penis Symphony, Festum Fluxorum Fluxus: Musik und Antimusik, Das Instrumentale Theater, Staatliche Kunstakademie, Dusseldorf

Young Penis Symphony, Festum Fluxorum Fluxus: Musik und Antimusik, Das Instrumentale Theater, Staatliche Kunstakademie, Dusseldorf

Nam June Paik composed a series of Fluxus scores called Symphony, and the first one was Young Penis Symphony (1962). The score instructs ten young men to stand behind a large sheet of paper and poke their erect penises through the paper toward the audience one at a time. On writing this score, Paik added a note that its actual performance would be realized in around 1984, as he was also aware of the provocative nature of this work. Young Penis Symphony was premiered in Festum Fluxorum Fluxus: Musik und Antimusik, Das Instrumentale Theater held at Staatliche Kunstakademie, Düsseldorf in 1963. As indicated in the photograph, young male performers stuck their fingers through the paper instead of penises.