George Brecht (born George MacDiarmid, Halfway, Oregon, United States 1924) is a minimalist artist and composer (although not in the conventional sense) and a professional chemist who has worked as consultant for such companies as Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and Mobil Oil to support his art. He was an early Fluxus artist. His nom de guerre is an homage to Bertolt Brecht. Brecht studied at John Cage's New School for Social Research in 1958 and 1959. He also wrote about Fluxus in The Fluxus Newspaper. Hannah Higgins, daughter of Dick Higgins and Alison Knowles, mentions and quotes Brecht several times in her landmark book about Fluxus, "The Fluxus Experience" (2002). Notable contributions to Fluxus from George Brecht include "Word Events", and "Fluxkits". Brecht was associated with the Fluxus artists of the 1960s including, Daniel Spoerri, Dick Higgins, and others. He taught at Rutgers University and took part in many of the Fluxus and Happenings activities there, including Yam Festival. He worked with artists such as John Cage, Ray Johnson, Ken Friedman, Alison Knowles and Robert Filliou. One of his most cited works is 'Water Yam' (1959-66) - a collection of cards bearing instructions for performance/events (Event Scores) including the creation of objects or tableaux. He lives in Cologne. 2006
