WATTS INDEXThe canonical database of visual culture

Artists›Benjamin Patterson

Benjamin Patterson

Artist

InstallationPerformance Art

Representation

None documented

Institutional Exhibitions

112

Works in Collection

226

Assets Indexed

Authority-backed Facts

Publications Referenced

80%

Profile Completeness

Cultural Positioning

Movements

• Performance Art

Related Artists

No edges recorded

Influence Graph

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About

Why this artist matters now

Benjamin Patterson was an American artist and musician who worked across sound, performance, and visual media, employing chance operations and indeterminacy as compositional principles. Active in postwar experimental art circles, he developed hybrid practices that rejected traditional boundaries between disciplines. His work engaged with the conceptual frameworks emerging from composers like John Cage and the interdisciplinary ethos of experimental performance in the 1950s and 1960s.

Source: Moma Bulk 2026 05 04 · Trust score: 92% · Updated 25d ago

Graph relationships

Taste overlap and adjacency

Movement

Performance Art

Medium

Installation

Related Artists

12 in graph

Institutional

Museum Collections

Museum of Modern ArtNew York

Canonical record

Artworks (112)

WattsOS

Gallery 360, Happenings for Sightseeing Bus Trip vol. 2 for Ben Patterson's Birthday Tour in Mt. Fuji, 2004 and Patterson: 3 Operas, 2004

1988 · Two stapled photocopies with stamped ink, containing wire, walnut, and light bulb attached with two twist ties

overall: 11/16 x 8 9/16 x 10 7/8" (1.8 x 21.7 x 27.7 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Trout Bag

1981 · Canvas satchel containing fabric patch, packet of metal sinkers, fishing license and ten altered fishing lures in plastic boxes

component (.a (satchel, irreg.)): 9 1/16 x 7 7/8 x 6 1/2" (23 x 20 x 16.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

WattsOS

Benjamin Patterson's Lick Piece (1962), performed by Olga Adorno and Robert Watts during Flux-Feast of Erotic Food and Flux Cabaret, Grommet Art Theater, 537 Broadway, New York City, February 25, 1978

1978 · Gelatin silver print

7 15/16 x 9 15/16" (20.1 x 25.3 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

WattsOS

Instruction No. 2 from Fluxkit

1965 · Plastic box with offset label, containing soap and hand towel with stamped ink additions

overall (closed): 4 3/4 × 3 15/16 × 11/16" (12 × 10 × 1.7 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

WattsOS

Instruction No. 2 from Fluxkit

1965 · Plastic box with offset label, containing bar of soap and cloth towel with stamp additions

overall (box): 3 15/16 x 4 3/4 x 1" (10 x 12 x 2.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Instruction No. 2 from Fluxkit

1965 · Plastic box with offset label, containing cloth towel with stamped ink

overall (closed): 3 15/16 × 4 3/4 × 1" (10 × 12 × 2.5 cm); component (towel, folded, irreg.): 1 x 4 13/16 x 3 11/16" (2.5 x 12.2 x 9.3 cm); component (towel, unfolded): 16 9/16 x 13 1/8" (42 x 33.3 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Instruction No. 2

1965 · Plastic box with offset label, containing soap and hand towel with stamped ink additions

overall (box): 4 11/16 x 3 15/16 x 1/2" (11.9 x 10 x 1.3 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

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Record

Images

Artsy

Art Institute of Chicago

Related artists

Adjacent in the graph

Njideka Akunyili Crosby

Also installation

Record

Movements and affiliations

Performance Art

Movement

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Institutional

Representation & Collections

In collection

Museum of Modern Art

New York, US

Record

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