Variations on a Theme: Benjamin Patterson’s Scores

Performance & Talk

String Music (detail), 1960, Benjamin Patterson. Ink on paper. Jean Brown papers. Getty Research Institute, 89-A269

Friday, Mar 6, 2026

5pm

Getty Center

Museum Lecture Hall

Free

Tickets are free, but required for event entrance. Your event ticket will also serve as your Center entrance reservation. Please note, there is a fee for parking.

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About

Join us for an evening to consider the art and legacy of Benjamin Patterson (1934–2016), a postwar experimentalist of sound and performance. A classically trained double bassist, Patterson increasingly developed an antiauthoritarian sensibility in response to his surroundings: his history is regularly framed by a rift with tradition as a co-founder of the Fluxus movement, which enabled a much needed psychic break from professional barriers created by de facto segregation. Yet Patterson maintained a love of classical music alongside that of experimental music, pushing back against the idea of a clean break. This program will consider the depth of Patterson's artistry by enacting and documenting live performances of work created before Fluxus: String Music (1960) and Paper Piece (1960). Our goal is to center his postwar integrationist sensibility within his art practice.

The conversation will be available on the Getty Research Institute YouTube channel following the event.

Visit the Getty Research Institute's Exhibitions and Events page for more free programs.

Learn about Benjamin Patterson’s Paper Piece (1960) in The Scores Project: Essays on Experimental Notation in Music, Art, Poetry, and Dance, 1950-1975, available for free online.

    Speakers

    1. julia elizabeth neal

      Assistant Professor, History of Art, University of Michigan

    2. Valerie Oliver Cassel

      Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

    3. Sean Griffin

      Musician

    4. Scott Worthington

      Musician

    Know Before You Go

    Duration
    Performance time: approximately 1 hour
    Short break
    Conversation: approximately 1 hour

    Planning your arrival
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    Event check-in
    Check-in begins 15 minutes before program start time in the Museum Lecture Hall.

    Seating
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    Accessibility
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