Editing Henry Flynt (section)

==Concept art and activism==
In 1961, Flynt coined the term "[[conceptual art#Origins|concept art]]"<ref>The Times literary Supplement, August 6th, 1964, p. 688 "Henry Flynt concept art" .</ref> in the proto-[[Fluxus]] book ''[[An Anthology of Chance Operations]]''<ref>Kristine Stiles & Peter Selz, ''Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art: A Sourcebook of Artists' Writings'' (Second Edition, Revised and Expanded by Kristine Stiles) University of California Press 2012, p. 955</ref> (co-published by [[Jackson Mac Low]] and La Monte Young), released in 1963,<ref>Flynt, Henry. [http://www.henryflynt.org/aesthetics/conart.html] "Essay: Concept Art. As published in ''An Anthology of Chance Operations'' (1963)</ref> alongside works by Fluxus artists such as [[George Brecht]] and [[Dick Higgins]]. Flynt's ''concept art'', he maintained, devolved from cognitive nihilism and described art in which the medium was [[concept]]s.<ref>[http://www.henryflynt.org/meta_tech/crystal.html Henry Flynt, "The Crystallization of Concept Art in 1961"]</ref> Drawing exclusively on the [[syntax]] of logic and mathematics, concept art was meant to surpass both mathematics and "serious" compositional practices by evacuating concepts of substance via [[logical paradox]]. Flynt maintained that, to merit the label ''concept art'', a work had to be a critique of logic or mathematics in which the material is a linguistic concept, a quality which he claims is absent from subsequent "conceptual art".<ref>Henry Flynt, "Concept-Art (1962)", Translated and introduced by Nicolas Feuillie, Les presses du réel, Avant-gardes, Dijon.</ref>

In 1962, Flynt began to campaign for an [[anti-art]] approach to the arts.<ref>Michel Oren (1993) Anti-Art as the End of Cultural History, [[Performing Arts Journal]], volume 15, issue 2.</ref> He advocated that [[avant-garde]] art and its institutions be superseded by the terms of ''veramusement'' and ''brend''—[[neologism]]s meaning (approximately) pure [[recreation]].<ref name=":1" /> As part of his campaign, he demonstrated against cultural institutions in [[New York City]] (such as [[MoMA]] and [[Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts]]) with [[Tony Conrad]] and [[Jack Smith (film director)|Jack Smith]] in 1963 and against the composer [[Karlheinz Stockhausen]] twice in 1964 (accusing Stockhausen of [[white supremacy]] and [[cultural imperialism]]).<ref>Interview with Henry Flynt in The Village Voice, September 10th, 1964, by Susan Goodman, "Anti-Art Pickets Pick on Stockhausen" .</ref> Flynt read publicly from his text, ''From Culture to Veramusment'', at [[Walter De Maria]]'s loft on February 28, 1963—an act which can, in hindsight, be considered [[performance art]]. In the mid 1960s, Flynt converted himself to [[Marxism]], joining the [[Workers World Party]],<ref name=":1" /> and published the article "Communists Must Give Revolutionary Leadership in Culture" in collaboration with [[George Maciunas]], criticizing the [[white supremacist]] cultural touchstones of the left-wing tradition and championing [[African-American music]]. From 1964 to 1966, Flynt wrote regularly for the WWP's ''[[Workers World (newspaper)|Workers World]]'' under the pseudonym "Harry Stone", and edited the newspaper briefly in 1965.<ref name=":1" /> He left the party in 1967 after becoming dissatisfied with the party's support of the [[Soviet Union]].<ref name=":1" />

In 1987 he revived his "concept art" for tactical reasons; and spent seven years in the art world.