An Alternative History of Art

A series exploring overlooked visual artists from the 20th century. Art history has been written from a white, western male perspective. What would an alternative canon look like? The series features artists selected by Iwona Blazwick (Director of Whitechapel Gallery), Hans Ulrich Obrist (Creative Director of Serpentine Galleries) and Naomi Beckwith (Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago)

Curator Naomi Beckwith continues the series exploring overlooked artists from the 20th century. Art history has been written from a white, western, male perspective. What if we could revise the canon?

This episode features Ben Patterson. Born in Pittsburgh in 1934, Patterson was the only African American member of the avant garde Fluxus movement. After rejection from the American Symphony Orchestra because of his race, Patterson left the USA for Cologne. There, he was instrumental in a series of musical and artistic experiments which gave birth to Fluxus. However, after just a few years, Patterson took an almost 20 year hiatus from the art world, only reappearing in the 1980s. Patterson redefined the boundaries of art but was, in many cases, quite literally written out of Fluxus history. Was his race the reason for his obscurity? Patterson died last year, just after his first invitation to take part in the prestigious documenta 14.