Scraps from the Attic

George Maciunas, one of the founders of the Fluxus art movement, made works of art called “Fluxkits” which contained various small objects and often focused on a specific theme, such as love or death. Above is a “suicide kit” created by Fluxus artist Ben Vautier. It contains a razor, a shard of broken glass, some matches, a pin, a stripped wall plug, some thread, and a fishing hook. Most of these are straightforward, but the most gruesome of the bunch is the thread and fishing hook. Quite simply, one was to tie the fishing hook to the thread, swallow the hook, then use the thread to pull it back out.