A House of Glass: 50 Years of Fluxus
Marking the 50th anniversary of Alison Knowles’ groundbreaking House of Dust, CalArts honored the Fluxus artist’s legacy with “Reframing The House of Dust: Activations.” This month-long series of performances and Fluxus happenings, hosted within the House of Glass, brought together CalArts students, faculty, and artists from Los Angeles and beyond to explore the intersections of art, technology, and community.
Type of Project:
Collaborative Storytelling+ Community Engagement + Performance
My Roles: Event Coordinator, Director, Performer, Featured Artist
The Story Behind House of Dust
Originally created in 1967 using the Fortran programming language, House of Dust is one of the first computer-generated poems. Each quatrain of the poem—generated through chance operations—describes a house by its material, location, lighting, and inhabitants.
Inspired by one stanza, Knowles constructed a physical structure at CalArts (1970–72):
A HOUSE OF PLASTIC / IN A METROPOLIS / USING NATURAL LIGHT / INHABITED BY PEOPLE FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE
This poetic experiment reimagined language as a tool for architectural and social design, influencing generations of artists and thinkers.
A Modern Iteration
In collaboration with Alison Knowles, CalArts students and faculty revisited House of Dust, designing and building the House of Glass. Based on a new quatrain—
A HOUSE OF GLASS / ON AN ISLAND / USING ALL AVAILABLE LIGHTING / INHABITED BY VARIOUS COLLECTORS OF ALL TYPES
The structure was designed in just four days and built in 12 hours. The House of Glass later traveled to the MAK Center for Art and Architecture at the Schindler House in Los Angeles, where it became part of an exhibition and events co-curated by Art by Translation and France Los Angeles Exchange (FLAX), extending its exploration of language, form, and performance.
Fifty years later, CalArts revisits ‘House of Dust’
CalArts students and faculty are marking the fiftieth anniversary of the conceptual “House of Dust” project by building a new house inspired by a computer-generated poem.
A School Based on What Artists Wanted to Do: Alison Knowles on CalArts
This interview with Fluxus artist Alison Knowles took place in her Soho apartment in June 2011. Janet Sarbanes was the leader and advisor for the House of Glass six years later.
