Terry Fox

Terry Alan Fox (May 10, 1943 – October 14, 2008) was an American conceptual artist known for his work in performance art, video art and sculpture. He was one of the first generation conceptual artists and was a central participant in West Coast conceptual art movements of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Early life Fox was born in 1943 in Seattle, Washington, United States. Several of his artworks referenced the cycles of illness and wellness. He continued his studies at Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma (1962). Fox moved often and lived in the following cities: Rome (1962), San Francisco (1963–1966, late 1968–1978), Paris (1967–early 1968, 1972), Naples (1983–1984), New York City (1978–1979). In 1980, he moved to Europe permanently and eventually settled in Liège, Belgium. Also in 1970, Fox collaborated on a performance, entitled Isolation Unit, with the German artist, Joseph Beuys. This was presented at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (where Beuys was teaching at that time); a sound work was produced in conjunction with the performance and published in the form of an EP record. He would later have another solo show at the same museum in 1987.

In 1985, the Kunstraum Munich presented a solo show; and in 1988, he created a permanent outdoor installation at Via Toscanella in Florence, Italy. This was followed, in 1989, with a show of sound works at the Het Appollohuis in Eindhoven. In 2000, another book on his work was published, Terry Fox: 30 Years of Speaking and Writing about Art, published in conjunction with the Gesellschaft für Aktuelle Kunst, in Bremen.

In 2019, eleven years after his death, a series of events titled Resonance, also referred to as The Terry Fox Extravaganza, were presented at eight different venues over the course of two months, beginning at Grace Cathedral.

Significant works

Levitation – In 1970, Fox produced an extended-duration sculptural performance, Levitation, that addressed the artist's emotions and physical symptoms of his Hodgkin lymphoma, while also addressing notions of wellness and health. To prepare, Fox fasted for days before the performance. During the performance, he lay on a mound of dirt for six hours attempting to levitate while holding long, flexible tubes of elemental fluids, as "a metaphor for transfiguration". While focused on leaving contact with the earth and "rising up into the air," he felt that he had "achieved a state of levitation that lasted more than two hours."

Instruments to be Played by the Movement of the Earth (1987) – This time-based sonic installation was presented at the Capp Street Project in San Francisco. In the article, Rethinking Acoustic Ecology: Sound Art and Environment, Gascia Ouzounian, writes that the installation embodies an acoustic ecology where the environment itself is "seen as possessing agency and voice." Consisting of a scattering of objects designed to be "acoustically activated" by the subtle movements arising from Earth itself. Rather than recording environmental sounds, Fox created an "unfixed" situation with "instruments" that created sound in response to seismic activity and earthly vibrations which are common in the San Francisco Bay Area. Fox wrote of the installation:

Thus the work was held in tension between silence, the expectation for possible sound and actual sound.

Works

Performance art

Filmography

Discography Berlino\Rallentando. LP record. Eindhoven, The Netherlands: Het Appollohuis, 1989. Isolation Unit (Terry Fox: Pipes; Joseph Beuys: Seeds). (Extended play record, produced by the artists), 1970. Edition 500. Linkage. LP record with text by Martin Kunz. Lucerne, Switzerland: Kunstmuseum, 1982. Mag Magazine #3: Joan La Barbara/Terry Fox. Audiocassette edition. Vienna, Austria: Galerie Grita Insam, 1979. Revolutions per Minute. One cut on record of artists' sound works. New York: Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, 1982. The Labyrinth Scored for the Purrs of 11 Different Cats. Audiocassette. Eindhoven, The Netherlands: Het Appollohuis, 1989.