Valdis Āboliņš: Miss Vietnam with a raw herring in her mouth
or: Fluxus, Realism and the Riga connection
Valdis Āboliņš fled the Red Army from Latvia to Cologne with his family in 1944. Later he studied architecture at Aachen Technical University where, as student culture officer, he organized the legendary Fluxus festival “20 July 64” with artists including Joseph Beuys, Robert Filliou, Stanley Brouwn, and Bazon Brock. Ten years later, he moved to West Berlin where he acted as executive secretary at the nGbK, supervising the working groups and their exhibition projects and working himself as a member of the RealismusStudio. This small book published by Elefanten Press can be understood as a loving tribute to Āboliņš who died far too young in 1984, having always maintained close contacts with the community of intellectuals and artists inside and outside Latvia, working to foster lively cultural exchange. He captured the cultural scene in comics and sent mail art with Dadaistic texts all around the globe. The book is a colorful collage with contributions from friends including Dieter Masuhr, Barbara Straka, and Wolf Vostell, as well as drawings, photographs, text fragments, sketches, and decorated envelopes.

Ed.: nGbK

Work group: Indulis Bilzens, Bianca Bon, Mārtinš Būmanis, Ilze Gulēns, Dieter Masuhr, Edvīns Paas, Maruta Schmidt, Olaf Schmidt, Brigitte Sonnenschein, Barbara Straka

With contributions by: Dieter Masuhr, Barbara Straka, Wolf Vostell, among others