Alison Knowles (American, born 1933) was a core member of the avant-garde Fluxus movement, as well as the sole woman associated with Fluxus early on (she participated in the 1962 Wiesbaden performances). In later years, Knowles became known for her installations, event scores, performances, prints, and publications. She would often use ordinary objects such as books, beans, shoes, and strings as her points of departure. She also performed her event scores around the world, inviting audiences to participate and assist in the events. In 2022, the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive hosted the first retrospective devoted to her work.

This collection of objects related to “Duets,” one of Knowles’ events held in the 1970’s.  They were acquired from the estate of Fluxus artist Rudolf Reiser.  In addition to 17 found objects, the collection includes dried beans of different types, which were housed in a padded envelope from the Dany Keller Galerie addressed to George Brecht, with handwritten dedication to verso from Knowles to Rudolf Rieser. 

Each object has an attached tag bearing handwritten poetry in the form of instructions for how to utilize the object together with a bean. One can’s instructions reads: “Drop single bean on can while on flat surface. Repeat.” The instructions with the hinge read, “Place among Beans. Admire colors.” Some instructions encourage the user to make sounds: “Place bean on dish tip and shake quietly.” Some have instructions for a particular action, or to achieve a certain goal: “Drop buckle over bran. Keep trying to get into opening.” And some encourage further introspection or questioning, such as the instructions that accompany the key: “In what way is a key like a bean?” Or the shoe heel: “Place bean (white) on inside of heel (black). Consider contrast.”

In a 2016 interview with ARTnews, the interviewer asked Knowles about her connection to beans throughout her career. Knowles responded, “It’s that, during the wars, especially if one didn’t have a lot of money, beans were a staple…The thing I like, too, is that I can go over the world, and there’d always be beans. There might not be meat, there might not be whiskey, but there’ll be beans.” (Greenberger, Alex. “Her Ordinary Materials: Fluxus Artist Alison Knowles on Her Carnegie Museum Show.” ARTnews. 30 June 2016.)