Ken Friedman

Ken Friedman, (born September 19, 1949 in New London, Connecticut) is a seminal figure in Fluxus, an international laboratory for experimental art, architecture, design, literature, and music. He had his first solo exhibition in New York in 1966. He has also been involved with mail art, and he has written extensively about Fluxus and Intermedia. Friedman has edited several Fluxus publications and has been widely published in peer-reviewed academic journals as well as in popular and small press publications. He has worked closely with other Fluxus artists and composers such as George Maciunas, Dick Higgins, and Nam June Paik, as well as collaborating with John Cage and Joseph Beuys. He was the general manager of Dick Higgins Something Else Press in the early 1970s.

Education

Friedman studied at Shimer College, a Great Books school then located in Mount Carroll, Illinois, from 1966 to 1967. His first published musical work, "A Fluxus Mandatory Happening", was composed and performed for the first time at Shimer College in May 1966. Friedman later received his Master of Arts degree in Interdisciplinary Studies in education, psychology, and social science from San Francisco State University in 1971. He received his doctorate in 1976 from the United States International University. In 2007 Loughborough University in the UK honored Friedman with the degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa, for outstanding contributions to design research.