Publishing Shadow Event

Shiomi’s work was first published with other Fluxus artists in 1964 during her year in New York. Her Endless Box and Events in Wood Box were covered in the January 1964 issue of V TRE, which served to promote Fluxus performances, artworks, news, various quotations, and jokes.[v] Over the course of the Spatial Poems project, Shiomi’s work was included in all facets of Fluxus publications. George Maciunas designed world maps of each Spatial Poem’s report and included them in Fluxkits and Fluxboxes. These physical boxes serve as archives, documenting various years of Fluxus activity around the world. Some Spatial Poems are included in a 1966 Fluxkit, becoming one element of numerous other Fluxus artworks held in a vinyl case. Maciunas also produced a Fluxus Edition of Spatial Poem No. 4: Shadow Event. The edition consists of a plastic box, which contains an offset card and microfilm with a plastic viewer displaying the SHADOW text. The edition served to mass-produce Shiomi’s work in a democratic fashion – any person around the world can experience the Shadow Event through the use of the Fluxus Edition. The offset card features the distinctive Fluxus font, emphasizing Shiomi’s practice within the collective’s social network. In a poetic return to Shiomi’s performative communication practices, the Fluxus Edition was available through Maciunas’ mail-order warehouse of Fluxus distribution.

[i] Owen Smith, “Fluxus: A Brief History,” 49.